Abstract
This article studies the differences in student learning outcomes associated with changes in the format of answer distractors in online learning resources. Employing a pre- and posttest quasi-experimental design, we compare degrees of student achievement across three versions of the same economic education online module produced by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis: two versions employing the “Both option X and option Y are correct” type of distractor across definitional and analytical questions and another, baseline, version omitting it. This study documents no consistent gains in the assessment effectiveness of test items adding this particular type of logical distractor.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Attali, Y., and T. Fraenkel. 2000. The point-biserial as a discrimination index for distractors in multiple-choice items: Deficiencies in usage and an alternative. Journal of Educational Measurement 37(1): 77–86.
Central Bank. 2019. Financial inclusion initiative: Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis. Retrieved from: https://www.centralbanking.com/awards/3960346/financial-inclusion-initiative-federal-reserve-bank-of-st-louis.
Bloom, Benjamin. S., Englehart, MD., Furst, EJ., Walker H.H., and Krathwohl, DR. 1956. The taxonomy of educational objectives. Handbook I: The cognitive domain. New York: David McKay.
Bresnock, A.E., P.E. Graves, and N. White. 1989. Multiple-choice testing: Question and response position. Journal of Economic Education 20(3): 239–245.
Buckles, S., and J.J. Siegfried. 2006. Using multiple-choice questions to evaluate in-depth learning of economics. Journal of Economic Education 37(1): 48–57.
Carlson, J.L., and A.L. Ostrosky. 1992. Item sequence and student performance on multiple-choice exams: Further evidence. Journal of Economic Education 23(3): 232–235.
Council for Economic Education (CEE). n.d. Voluntary national content standards in economics. http://councilforeconed.org/resource/voluntary-national-content-standards-in-economics/.
Frary, R.B. 1991. The none-of-the-above option: An empirical study. Applied Measurement in Education 4(2): 115–124.
Geiger, M.A., and K. Simons. 1994. Intertopical sequencing of multiple-choice questions: Effect on exam performance and testing time. Journal of Education for Business 70(2): 87–90.
Gierl, M.J., O. Bulut, Q. Guo, and X. Zhang. 2017. Developing, analyzing, and using distractors for multiple-choice tests in education: A comprehensive review. Review of Educational Research 87(6): 1082–1116.
Hadsell, L. 2009. The effect of quiz timing on exam performance. Journal of Education for Business 84(3): 135–141. https://doi.org/10.3200/JOEB.84.3.135-141
Haladyna, T.M., M.C. Rodriguez, and C. Stevens. 2019. Are multiple-choice items too fat? Applied Measurement in Education 32(4): 350–364.
Hansen, J.D., and L. Dexter. 1997. Quality multiple-choice test questions: Item-writing guidelines and an analysis of auditing testbanks. Journal of Education for Business 73(2): 94–97.
Harter, C., R.G. Chambers, and C.J. Asarta. 2022. Assessing learning in college economics: A sixth national quinquennial survey. Eastern Econ Journal 48: 251–266.
Jin, K.-Y., W.-L. Siu, and X. Huang. 2022. Exploring the impact of random guessing in distractor analysis. Journal of Educational Measurement 59: 43–61.
Lawrence, J.A., and R.P. Singhania. 2004. A study of teaching and testing strategies for a required statistics course for undergraduate business students. Journal of Education for Business 79(6): 333–338.
Mendez-Carbajo, D., and L.C. Malakar. 2020. Flipping the classroom with econlowdown.org. The Journal of Economic Education 51(1): 95–102.
Mendez-Carbajo, D., and A.W. Scott. 2019. Segmenting educational content: Long-form vs. short-form online learning modules. American Journal of Distance Education 33(2): 108–119.
Miller, D., R.L. Linn, and N.E. Gronlund. 2012. Measurement and assessment in teaching, 11th ed, Pearson.
Miller, L.A., C.J. Asarta, and J.R. Schmidt. 2019. Completion deadlines, adaptive learning assignments, and student performance. Journal of Education for Business 94(3): 185–194.
Schaur, G., M. Watts, and W.E. Becker. 2012. School, department, and instructor determinants of assessment methods in undergraduate economics courses. Eastern Econ Journal 38: 381–400.
Schee, V., and A. Brian. 2013. Test item order, level of difficulty, and student performance in marketing education. Journal of Education for Business 88(1): 36–42.
Walstad, W.B. 1998. Multiple-choice tests for the economics course. In Teaching undergraduate economics: A handbook for instructors, ed. W.B. Walstad and P. SaundersIrwin.
Walstad, W.B., and W.E. Becker. 2006. Achievement differences on multiple-choice and essay tests in economics. American Economic Review 84(2): 193–196.
Walstad, W.B., and J. Wagner. 2016. The disaggregation of value-added test scores to assess learning outcomes in economics courses. Journal of Economic Education 47(2): 121–131.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and don’t necessarily reflect the position of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis or the Federal Reserve System.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Mendez-Carbajo, D. The Effectiveness of Logical Distractors in an Online Module. Eastern Econ J 49, 15–30 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41302-022-00232-z
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41302-022-00232-z