Tipsters,...I guess I am a little flummoxed now because I feel like I am battling an
argument that basically states that "If Anastasi says it, it must be
correct."
Many people seem to find the idea that 'multiple choice questions might be better than essay questions' to violate their preexisting schemas. If these schemas are built on anecdotal evidence and 'common sense' I think that it is worth our time to obtain a copy of Anastasi's book and look at the one chapter that deals with this issue. I am not an expert in testing and I can't provide an evaluation of her work, but what she said is very interesting and it is backed up by research. Since it relates to the quality of the product of our work I think we owe it to our students to read a little bit (it's only 30-40 pages) of non-assigned reading. It convinced me that there is nothing wrong with multiple choice, and that in many cases it is better. I would never say that a few studies generalize to all tests of all topics for all teachers and for all time, but what she had to say is worth considering.
The book is Anastasia, A. (1988). _Psychological Testing_.
New York: MacMillan.
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__ Rick Stevens
__ Psychology Department
__ University of Louisiana at Monroe
__ http://www.ulm.edu/~stevens
