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Kulwinder Pal, Lovely Professional University Unit 28 : Objective Type Test : Advantages and Limitations

Unit 28 : Objective Type Test : Advantages and Notes

Limitations

CONTENTS
Objectives
Introduction
28.1 Meaning of Objective Test
28.2 Objective Test Formats
28.3 Construction of Objective Test Items
28.4 Advantages of Objective Test
28.5 Limitations of Objective Test
28.6 Summary
28.7 Keywords
28.8 Review Questions
28.9 Further Readings

Objectives

The objectives of this unit can be summarised as below
• To explain the meaning the objective test
• To discuss about the objective test formats
• To explain about the Construction of objective test items
• To discuss about the advantages and limitations of objective test
• To describe the effect of objective test items of teaching and learning

Introduction

Objective tests began to be used early in the twentieth century as a means of evaluating learning
outcomes and predicting future achievement, and their high reliability and predictive validity led to
the gradual replacement of the essay test.
One common misconception about the objective test item is that it is limited to testing specific, often
trivial, factual details, which would sometimes lead to the use of an essay or performance test to
assess students’ comprehension of broader principles or their ability to apply them. However, as
Robert Ebel pointed out, well written objective tests (especially multiple choice tests) can actually
assess such higher-order abilities to some extent. While it is true that some types of knowledge or
abilities cannot be assessed by objective tests, educators also should keep in mind that what test
items can assess depends largely on the skills and effort of the test constructor, rather the test format
per se.

28.1 Meaning of Objective Test

An objective test item is defined as one for which the scoring rules are so exhaustive and specific
that they do not allow scorers to make subjective inferences or judgements; thereby, any scorer that
marks an item following the rules will assign the same test score.

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