Chapter Appendix B
Developing a Test Item Bank
The following guidelines help in the construction of effective matching test items:
- Give specific and complete instructions. Do not make the learner guess what is required.
- Test only essential information; never test unimportant details.
- Use closely related materials throughout an item. If learners can divide the alternatives into distinct groups, the item is reduced to several multiple choice items with few alternatives, and the possibility of guessing is distinctly increased.
- Make all alternatives credible responses to each element in the first column, wherever possible, to minimize guessing by elimination.
- Use language the learner can understand. By reducing language barriers, both the validity and reliability of the test is improved.
- Arrange the alternatives in some sensible order. An alphabetical arrangement is common.
Matching-type test items are either equal column or unequal column. An equal column test item has the same number of alternatives in each column. When using this form, always provide for some items in the response column to be used more than once, or not at all, to preclude guessing by elimination. Unequal column type test items have more alternatives in the second column than in the first and are generally preferable to equal columns.