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BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article

Front. Educ.
Sec. Assessment, Testing and Applied Measurement
Volume 9 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/feduc.2024.1442047

The Arrangement of Response Options in Multiple-Choice Test Items: Verticality Is Not Always Better

Provisionally accepted
Consuelo Soto Consuelo Soto 1Séverin Lions Séverin Lions 1,2*Gabriel Ortega Gabriel Ortega 1Melissa Arjona Melissa Arjona 1Maria Paz Blanco Maria Paz Blanco 1Pablo R. Dartnell Pablo R. Dartnell 1,3,4
  • 1 Center for Advanced Research in Education (FB0003), Institute of Education, Universidad de Chile, Santiago de Chile, Chile
  • 2 Departamento de Evaluación, Medición y Registro Educacional (DEMRE), Universidad de Chile, Santiago de Chile, Chile
  • 3 Center for Mathematical Modeling (FB210005), Universidad de Chile, Santiago de Chile, Chile
  • 4 Department of Mathematical Engineering, Faculty of Physical Sciences and Mathematics, University of Chile, Santiago, Chile

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Multiple-choice tests are widely used to measure learning outcomes. Consequently, constructing highquality test items is critical, and many authors have advanced item-writing guidelines. One frequently mentioned guideline is to arrange the response options vertically. However, evidence to support this recommendation is scarce and has only been obtained for items with text-based options. This study aimed at understanding whether the arrangement of options affects performance at solving items with large-sized options, such as graphs and pictures, using objective and subjective measures. Fifty-seven high-school students completed a multiple-choice science and mathematics test with 24 four-choice items, options being graphs or pictures presented in one of four arrangements: vertical without page break, vertical with page break, Z, and inverted N. Response accuracy, response time, and perceived difficulty were obtained for each item. Subsequently, students participated in a cognitive interview about their experiences, practices, perceptions, and beliefs regarding the arrangement of options. Objective measures show that the arrangement of options hardly affected performance, the only effect being that vertical condition with page break resulted in significantly longer response times. Subjective measures show that most students favored the vertical arrangement they consider more common but negatively perceived vertical condition with page break and considered squared arrangements (Z, inverted N) to facilitate visual exploration and comparison between options, as opposed to the vertical arrangement. Results suggest that the vertical arrangement does not offer clear advantages over squared arrangements for items with large-sized options.

    Keywords: multiple-choice, item-writing guidelines, item formatting, response options, Spatial arrangement

    Received: 01 Jun 2024; Accepted: 01 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Soto, Lions, Ortega, Arjona, Blanco and Dartnell. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Séverin Lions, Center for Advanced Research in Education (FB0003), Institute of Education, Universidad de Chile, Santiago de Chile, Chile

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.