Abstract :
The newly developed computerized Constructive Multiple-choice Testing system is introduced.
The system combines short answer (SA) and multiple-choice (MC) formats by
asking examinees to respond to the same question twice, first in the SA format, and then
in the MC format. This manipulation was employed to collect information about the two
different formats with no significant increase in testing time. Two empirical studies were
carried out to examine whether meaningful information can be obtained using this
system. One hundred and twenty nine fifth grade students (11 years old) were tested on
science in Study 1, and 82 college students were tested for grade in Study 2. In both
studies, consistent with previous research, students attained higher score in the MC
format, the correlation between the SA format and theMCformatwas high, and the item
discrimination was higher in the SA format when compared with the MC format. The
unique finding from this study is that there were some cases where students chose a
wrong MC option, even though they typed in the correct answer for the SA part. Possible
applications of the system are discussed.
