True/false

True/false questions are only composed of a statement. Students respond to the questions by
indicating whether the statement is true or false. For example: True/false questions have only
two possible answers (Answer: True).

true/false questions: Are most often used to assess familiarity with course content and to check
for popular misconceptions

Allow students to respond quickly so exams can use a large number of them to test knowledge of
a broad range of content

Are easy and quick to grade but time consuming to create

True/false questions provide students with a 50% chance of guessing the right answer. For this
reason, multiple choice questions are often used instead of true/false questions.

Tips for writing good true/false items:

Avoid Do use

 Negatives and  Your own words

double-negatives
 The same number of true and false statements (50 / 50) or
 Long / complex slightly more false statements than true (60/40) – students
sentences are more likely to answer true
 Trivial material  One central idea in each item
 Broad generalizations
 Ambiguous or
indefinite terms

Characteristics of true/false questions

 Used to measure ability to identify whether statements of

facts, principles, generalizations, relationships, or evaluative
statements are correct
 Can be factual or can be a thought question that requires
reasoning
 Can be used in most disciplines
  Used to quickly poll a class as an introduction to a discussion
or determine knowledge of topic

Example - good

The true/false item is also called an alternative-response item.

a. True
b. *False

Example - bad

The true-false item, which is favored by all test experts, is also

called an alternative-response item.
a. True
b. *False
Main error: The question contains two ideas and therefore is
confusing.

Advantages of true/false questions

 Quite easy to write

 Easy to score
 Scoring is objective
 More information is sampled from a lot of content

Disadvantages

 Measures only low level of learning - facts, knowledge,

comprehension
 Need a larger number of items to distinguish stronger and
weaker knowledge levels.
 Students have a 50 percent chance of being correct, just by
chance.
 May be perceived as an unfair judgment of learning
 Encourages guessing since there are only two alternatives.
 Advantages of True-False Items
True-false items share most of the advantages of "objective" or selected-response item forms:
1. Versatility -- True-false items are adaptable to the measurement of a wide variety of learning outcomes.
2. Scoring accuracy and economy -- Scoring keys can be economically applied by machine or clerical
assistants.
3. Reliability -- True-false tests that are highly reliable can be constructed.
4. Amenable to item analysis -- Item difficulty (the percentage of students who select the correct response)
and item discrimination (a correlation coefficient that indicates how well the item separates students who
know the material well from those who do not) can be used to improve true-false items and inform
instruction.
In comparison with other selected-response items, e.g., multiple-choice, true-false items have several
additional advantages:
1. Efficiency -- More test responses can be obtained from a given amount of written material and in a given
amount of time from true-false items than from other forms. Three true false items can be answered for
every two multiple-choice items. Consequently, true-false items permit the widest sampling of content.
2. True-false items are especially useful for questions where there are only two reasonable answers.
3. True-false items are especially useful in testing misconceptions.
4. True-false items can be expressed in few words, making them easy to understand and less dependent on
reading ability.

Disadvantages of True-False Items

1. True-false items are especially subject to guessing. Half the items would be expected to be correct by
chance. (But the likelihood of obtaining a substantially higher score by guessing alone is very small).
2. In general, individual true-false items are less discriminating than individual multiple-choice items.
3. There is a tendency to write trivial true-false items, which lead students to verbatim memorization.
4. No diagnostic information is available from incorrect responses to true-false items.
5. True-false items are not amenable to questions that cannot be formulated as propositions.
The wide range of items that can be used in a true-false test minimize the effects of guessing and lower
item discrimination; therefore true-false tests are equal in quality to multiple-choice tests and can be
constructed for administration in a given testing time. The key is to write sound test items for either form.

True-False Item Guidelines

1. Write items that test significant material, not trivial details. The correct answer should require the
specialized knowledge being tested, not common sense.
2. Focus each item on a single idea so that students do not have to deal with the possible truth or falsity of
two or more propositions at once. Compound statements can sometimes be divided into two separate
items.
3. Express each item in simple and clear language.
4. Provide sufficient information in the item to allow its truth to be judged. Include attribution of opinion or
other context where appropriate.
5. Word items precisely so that they can be unequivocally determined to be true or false. Use quantitative
rather than qualitative language or make comparative rather than absolute statements. The keyed
response should be clearly defensible and agreed on by experts in the field.
6. Reformulate principles or use examples, rather than use the same language as the text or reference
materials, especially stereotyped phrases, to avoid encouraging reliance on rote memorization.
7. Avoid negatively worded statements in general and particularly double negatives. If the statement cannot
be formulated positively, be sure to emphasize negative terms with underlining or bolding.
8. Do not use "specific determiners," such as "always", "never", "every", just to make a proposition false;
conversely, do not use qualifiers such as "usually", "often", and "seldom" only in true statements. Such
terms can serve as extraneous cues to test wise students unless the pattern of their use is varied.
9. If a proposition expresses a relationship, such as cause and effect or premise and conclusion, present the
correct part of the statement first and vary the truth or falsity of the second part.
10. Use somewhat more false than true statements because false statements discriminate better between
high-ability and low-ability students. (Students tend to mark true more often than false when guessing
blindly.)
11. Make true and false items of approximately equal average length throughout the test.
12. Randomize the sequence of true and false statements.
13. Make use of popular misconceptions or beliefs as false statements.
14. Try to word items so that the incorrect response is more plausible or attractive to those without the
specialized knowledge being tested.
15. Make use, where appropriate, of multiple true-false items, in which a single stem is followed by several
statements or phrases based on the stem, each of which requires a true-false response. (Note that this
guideline is the complement of the guideline to avoid writing multiple-choice items in which the options
are just a set of true-false statements. The latter are inefficient because they provide just one scored
response per item, whereas the multiple true-false item provides as many scored responses as there are
parts to the item.)
16. Consider the use of introductory material to base true false items such as maps, graphs or written
passages.

True-False Questions
True-false questions are typically used to measure the ability to identify whether statements of fact are correct.
The questions are usually a declarative statement that the student must judge as true or false.
STRENGTHS:

 Can cover a lot of content in a short time (about two questions per minute of testing time)
 The question is useful when there are only two possible alternatives.
 Less demand is placed on reading ability than in multiple-choice questions.
 Can measure complex outcomes when used with interpretive exercises.
 Scoring is easy and reliable.

LIMITATIONS:

 Difficult to write questions beyond the knowledge level that are free from ambiguity.
 False statements provide no evidence that the student knows the correct answer.
 Scores are more influenced by guessing than with any other question type.
 Cannot discriminate between students of varying ability as well as other questions.
 Requires that the answer to the question is absolutely true or false.

1. They are easy to score accurately and quickly. They offer the instructor the opportunity to
write questions that cover more content than most other item types since students can
respond to many questions in the time allowed.True/false items are relatively easy to
prepare since each item comes rather directly from the content.1.
2. 2. Since true/false questions tend to be either extremely easy or extremely difficult, they do
not discriminate between students of varying ability as well as other types of
questions.They are very poor for diagnosing students’ strengths and weaknesses and are
generally considered to be “tricky” by students.True/false items, however, may not give a
true estimate of the students’ knowledge since students have a 50/50 chance of guessing
the correct answer.

BAD EXAMPLES: 1. Camping is fun for the whole family. True False Why is it BAD? This item is an opinion
question and not a measure of student learning. 2. It never rains in Southern California. True False Why
is it BAD? The use of the determiner, never, suggests that the item is false as we can find exceptions to
most rules. 3. Abraham Lincoln was born in a log cabin in Springfield, Missouri. True False Why is it BAD?
This item contains more than one concept. It could confuse learners as one part might be true while
another might be false. GOOD EXAMPLES: 1. In the equation, E=mc2, when m increases E also increases.
True False Why is it GOOD? All the commandments are followed. A bonus is that it requires some higher
order thinking. 2. 2. Abraham Lincoln was born in a log cabin. True False 3. Why is it GOOD? It only has
one idea in the item.
Examples: Rules in constructing true or false items

1. do not give a hint (inadvertently) in the body of question.

Ex. The Philippines gained its independence in 1898 and therefore celebrated its centennial year
in 2000.

Obviously, the answer is False because 100 years from 1898 is not 2000 but 1998.

2. avoid using the word “always”, “never”, “often”, and other adverbs that tend to be either
always true or always false

Ex. Christmas always falls on Sunday because it is a Sabbath day.

Statements that use the word “always” are almost always false. A test-wise student can easily
guess his way through a test like these and get high scores even if he does not know anything about
the test.

3. Avoid long sentences as these tend to be “true”. Keep sentences short.

Example. Tests need to be valid, reliable and useful, although, it would require a great amount of
time and effort to ensure that tests possess these test characteristics. Notice that the statement is
true. However, we are also not sure which part of the sentence is deemed true by the student. It is
just fortunate that in this case, all parts of the above sentence are true. The following example
illustrates what can go wrong in long sentences. Example. Tests need to be valid, reliable and useful
since it takes very little amount of time, money and effort to construct tests with these characteristics.
The first part of the sentence is true but the second part is debatable and may, in fact, false. Thus, a
“true” response is correct and also, a “false” response is correct.

4. Avoid trick statements with some minor misleading word or spelling anomaly, misplaced phrases,
etc. A wise student who does not know the about the subject matter may detect this strategy and
thus get the answer correctly.

Example. The principle of our school is Mr. Albert P. Panadero. The principal’s name may actually
be correct but since the word is misspelled and the entire sentence takes different meaning. The
answer is false. This is as an example of a tricky but utterly useless item.

5. Avoid quoting verbatim from reference materials or textbooks. This practice sends wrong signal
that it is necessary to memorize the textbook word for word and thus, acquisition of higher thinking
skills are not given importance.6. Avoid specific determiners or give-away qualifiers. Students quickly
learn that strongly worded statements are more likely to be false than true, for example, statements
with “never”, “no”, “all” or “always”. Moderately worded statements are more likely to be true than
false. Statements with “many”, “often”, “sometimes”, “generally”, “frequently” or “some” should be
avoided.7. With true or false questions, avoid grossly disproportionate number of either true or false
statements or even patterns in the occurrence of true and false statements.

Avoid using more than one idea in a True or False question.

Make your main point prominent.

Good Example: All spiders have exoskeletons

Poor Example: All spiders have exoskeletons and only prey on insects.

Keep the statement short and simple. The question should be

based on the learner’s knowledge and not their ability to
interpret the question.

Good Example: A subject pronoun is used to replace another noun

Poor Example: Subject pronouns, which can be found only in the beginning
of sentences and have no bearing on the word order, are used to replace
nouns.

True statements should be true under all circumstances. Avoid

using may, seldom, possible, often, and other qualifiers

Good Example: Solar energy is an alternative energy source

Poor Example: Solar energy is often used as an alternative energy source.

Use negative statements sparingly and do not use double

negatives. Negative words are often overlooked and should be
underlined or in capital letters.

Good Example: Bread and grain are at the bottom of the food pyramid.

Poor Example: Bread and grains are not at the top of the food pyramid.
Opinion statements should be attributed to some source.
Instead of agreeing with the stated opinion, the students
should be aware of the opinions of the organization or
individuals.

Good Example: Dr. Bartels prefers using the Chaos theory to study science

Poor Example: Scientific method is the only way of studying science

When cause and effect relationships are being measured; use

only true propositions.

Good Example: Sulfur dioxide produces sulfuric acid because of oxidation.

Poor Example: Sulfur dioxide produces sulfuric acid because sulfur gases are
emitted from industrial smoke stacks.

Avoid extraneous clues to the answer. For example, always,

never, none, all, only, etc.

Good Example: The nous form of the verb, when used in a command,
means let's

Poor Example: The nous form of the imperative always means let's

Types:

Simple/Traditional/Standard True or False

They are easy to write, quick to administer, and convenient to grade.

weakness of the traditional T/F test shows up, this study reveals, when the student gets an answer
correctly even though he/she arrived at that answer using faulty reasoning.

the student arrived at that answer out of a completely blind guess.

This causes harm to the student’s learning progress, because he/she will get the impression that nothing
is wrong with the reasoning, if it led to the correct final answer.

Modified True/False
This boosts the power of the simple T/F test as a gauge of student learning.
requiring students to write down the logic that they used in arriving at their answers.

A modified true/false question is similar to a standard true/false question, in that a

student must indicate if a sentence or phrase is true or false. For these kinds of
questions, a student must also change or edit the question if it is false to make it true.

Strengths: – Easy to create – Students can answer several questions per minute

Weaknesses: – Easy questions – May not accurately assess knowledge because students have a 50-50
chance of guessing correct answer

TRUE-FALSE OR ALTERNATIVE RESPONSE ITEMS – ALTERNATIVE RESPONSE CONSISTS OF A DECLARATIVE

STATEMENT – ONLY TWO POSSIBLE ANSWERS • TRUE OR FALSE; CORRECT OR INCORRECT; YES OR NO;
FACT OR OPINION; AGREE OR DISAGREE; RIGHT OR WRONG
References:

https://uwaterloo.ca/centre-for-teaching-excellence/teaching-resources/teaching-tips/developing-
assignments/exams/questions-types-characteristics-suggestions

Exam questions: types, characteristics, and suggestions

Centre for Teaching Excellence

November 14, 2014.

http://archive.tlt.psu.edu/learningdesign/quizquestions/truefalse/tf.html

True-False Questions

The Pennsylvania State University

Writing True-False Items

https://oms.umn.edu/fce/how_to_write/truefalse.php
University of Minnesota
Constructing True-False Test
Jan 25, 2013

http://www.slideshare.net/mm_angeles/constructing-truefalse-test

http://teaching.colostate.edu/tips/tip.cfm?tipid=155

Rod Lucero

Composing True/False Questions