Page 343 - DEDU504_EDUCATIONAL_MEASUREMENT_AND_EVALUATION_ENGLISH

Unit 29 : Short Answer Type Test : Advantages and Limitations

(c) It should admit only one correct fixed response. Notes
(i) Name one mammal. (Poor) ____ Multiple response
(ii) Name one mammal that flies. (Better) ____ Fixed response
(d) Specify the intended response through proper wording.
(i) Who put forward the theory of Organic evolution ? (Poor)
(ii) Write the name of the biologist who put forward the theory of Inheritance of acquired
characteristics? (Better)
(e) Use unambiguous language in wording of questions.
(i) An animal that has hair on its body and suckles its young is a ____ . (Poor)
(ii) An animal that has hair on its body and suckles its young can be classified as a ____.
(Better)
(iii) In the first question answer could be a man, tiger, dog, cow etc.
(f) Use concise language in wording the question.
(i) When a plant cell is put in salt water its cell contents are plasmolysed due to the process
of ____. (less concise)
(ii) Cell contents of a plant are plasmolysed due to the process of ____ .
(more concise language)
(g) Avoid using textbook phrases and stereotypes.
(i) The higher we go the ____ it is. (Poor)
(ii) Shimla is cooler than Chandigarh because its altitude is ____ than of Chandigarh. (Better)
(h) Avoid indefinite statements
(i) When was Mahatma Gandhi born ? (Poor)
(ii) In which year Mahatma Gandhi was born ? (Better)
(i) Avoid grammatical clues (and other clues).
(i) Group of tissues form an ____ (organ). It gives article clue ‘an’
(ii) An organ is formed by a group of ____ (tissues). (Better)
(j) Develop key that contains all acceptable answers.
(i) Which method is used for carrying ripe fruits to long distances?
Here acceptable responses could be refrigeration, preservation, cooling by ice etc. Unless VSQ are
used for testing the understanding of concepts, major ideas or a theme, there is no use in including
such questions in a question paper just to test merely recall of specifics, trivial details, factual
information, name, dates, events etc. because such questions would never evoke the exercise of
intended mental processes implied in assessment objective.
Short Answer Questions
Specific guidelines for construction of SAQ (free response) include all those enunciated for VSQ.
Besides, the following principles if observed by the framer of SAQ would lead to construction of
questions more relevant and of better quality. List is quite long, but here only 8 major principles are
listed.
1. Use SAQ whenever you fail to test a particular competency or specific objective with any
other type of questions such as MCQ or essay type.
Each and every assessment objective and competency is amenable to testing through SAQ. Let
us take one concept, say ‘osmosis’.
Ability to :
(i) recall : What is osmosis ?
(ii) translate : Define osmosis in your own words.

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY 337