Differences and Uses of Constructed Response vs Selected Response Tests in eLearning

A constructed response test asks students to provide an answer.  An example of this type of test is a fill-in-the-blank.  Fixed response tests are tests such as multiple-choice, true-false tests, or even matching.  They each have different qualities and appropriate uses for eLearning.  Some differences have to do with the advantages and disadvantages of each type of test. 

Some of the advantages for fixed response tests include that they sample the content more adequately than constructed response tests such as essay tests because more questions can be included on the fixed response test than on an essay test.  This is due to the fact that it takes longer to complete an essay test than a multiple-choice or true-false test.  They measure procedural knowledge such as concepts and rules more readily than constructed response tests.  They can ask learners to classify responses as examples or non-examples and apply a rule by asking them to find the response that correctly applies the rule.  They structure the problem to be addressed more effectively than constructed response test because constructed response items often can have several correct responses based on the learner’s interpretation of what the test item is asking.  The fixed response test eliminates this by providing only four responses to choose from with only one correct answer.  Fixed response items are more easily scored by a computer than constructed response items because they contain only one correct answer.  Constructed response items may have correct answers that were unanticipated by the instructor/designer and therefore not included in the computer’s answer key.  This means that a student may answer correctly, but the computer scores it as incorrect because the answer was not included in the answer key.  Computer generated feedback can be provided for responses to individual items.

Some of the disadvantages of fixed response items are that they are subject to guessing, whereas constructed response tests are not.  Also, more time is required to build a fixed response test than a constructed response test.

Since fixed response tests are able to sample more of the content than constructed response tests, they can be used as summative tests.  Also, they can be more easily scored automatically and therefore work very well in an online environment.  However, they can work just as well as a formative assessment since instructors can often program the online assessment to give feedback to students when a wrong answer is chosen.  Since constructed response items such as fill in the blank tests are best designed for use with key words of a unit or lesson and they tend to measure lower levels of thinking such as recall of information, they would be best employed as a formative assessment.  Also, since they do seem to be associated with a higher scoring error, this is the best place for them.  However, essay tests do a better job of directly measuring the behaviors required in the instructional objective.  Therefore, they may work well as a summative.  Since they do not sample a broad area of the content domain being studied, and since they allow learners to explain their logic, they may serve a formative purpose better.  Due to the time constraints with essay items, both in taking and scoring the exam, they are usually used more sparingly.

References

Oosterhof, A., Conrad, R., Ely, D.  (2008).  Assessing Learners Online.  Upper Saddle River, NJ:  Pearson Education, Inc.