T R U E O R FA L S E Q U E S T I O N S

- Consist of declarative statements that the students is

asked to mark correct or incorrect
C H A R A C T E R I S T I C S O F T R U E – FA L S E Q U E S T I O N S :

 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.

USES OF TRUE – FALSE ITEMS :

 Measure the ability to identify the correctness

of statements of fact, definition of terms,
statement of principles, and the like.
 Measure the student ability to distinguish fact
from opinion.
 Measure the student ability to recognize
CAUSE and EFFECT relationship.
 Measure some simple logic.
A D VA N TA G E S O F T R U E – FA L S E ITEMS :

 Time-efficient administration and

scoring:
Easy to write.
Easy to score.
Scoring is objective.
 More information is sampled from a
great deal of content.
 Effective when assessing
misconceptions, cause-effect relations.
D I S A D VA N TA G E S O F T R U E – FA L S E I T E M S :

 Measures only low level of learning -

remembering and understanding.
 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.
 IDEAL TRUE – FALSE QUESTIONS:

 Use simple, direct language in declarative

sentences
 Present the correct part of the statement
first,
and vary the truth or falsity of the second part if the statement
expresses a relationship (cause, effect--if, then)

 Statements must be absolute without

qualification,
subject to the true/false dichotomy without exceptions

 Every part of a true sentence must be "true"

If any one part of the sentence is false,
the whole sentence is false despite many other true
statements.
 Paraphrase, and do not directly quote,
course content to avoid burdening students with detailed
verbal analyses, maintain focus on differentiating, as well
as avoid copyright issues

 Include background, qualifications, and

context as necessary:
"According to...., ...."

 In developing a question with a qualifier,

negative or absolute word,
substitute or experiment with variations to find the best
phrase and assessment
W H AT TO AV O I D I N M A K I N G T R U E – FA L S E
QUESTIONS:

 Unfamiliar vocabulary and concepts.

 Long strings of statements.
* Despite the theoretical experimental
difficulties or determining the p H
value of a sol’n. It is possible to
determine whether a sol’n is acidic
be the red color formed on the litmus
paper when it is inserted into the
sol’n. (POOR)
* Litmus paper turns red in an acidic
sol’n.( BETTER)
 Ambiguous or vague statements
*A nickel is larger than a dime. (TRUE if we are
pertaining to diameter, FALSE if we are pertaining
monetary value.)
 The use of negative statements, especially double negatives
* A person who apologizes sincerely is never
unforgiven.
 Broad general statements.
 Avoid trivial statements .
 Absolute words restrict possibilities.
 Avoid including two ideas in one statement, unless cause –
effect relationship are being measured.
 HOW TO DEVELOP A TRUE – FALSE
QUESTIONS:

 Write out essential content statements

 Make true and false statements equal in length
 Group questions by content
 Build up to difficulty (encourage with simpler questions first)
 Randomize sequences of T/F responses (Avoid a discernable
pattern)
 Vary the quantity of true/false statements from test to test
(Recognizing that "true" is marked more often in guessing, and
that assessing false statements tends to be more challenging)
https://www.slideshare.net/doone26/alternativeresponse-
test
http://personal.psu.edu/bxb11/QuizQuestions/QuizQuestio
ns7.html
https://www.studygs.net/teaching/tsttak2a.htm