Short Answer Questions

Short Answer Questions By Dr Razia Khatoon Dr Noor Jahan 5th Basic Course Workshop in Medical Education Technologies

What are Short Answer Questions (SAQs)? • Structure of SAQs. • Advantages of SAQs. • Disadvantages of SAQs. • How to design good SAQs. • Marking rubrics of SAQs. 5th Basic Course Workshop in Medical Education Technologies

Short-answer questions (SAQs) are open-ended questions that require students to create an answer, rather than choose from a selection of responses. • Its a practical alternative to the long essay question. • They are commonly used in examinations to assess the basic knowledge and understanding of a topic before more in-depth assessment questions are asked. 5th Basic Course Workshop in Medical Education Technologies

Structure of Short Answer Questions • Short Answer Questions do not have a generic structure. • Questions may require answers such as complete the sentence, supply the missing word, short descriptive or qualitative answers, diagrams with explanations etc. 5th Basic Course Workshop in Medical Education Technologies

ForExample:- • One may simply ask the student to write in a missing word or phrase: “The current Prime Minister of India is _____? (1 mark)”. • Or one may ask for brief listing: “List the three types of plastic surgery procedures (1 mark each)”. • Or for a one sentence answer: “What is the basic principle of Gram’s staining ? (2 marks)” 5th Basic Course Workshop in Medical Education Technologies

Hence, SAQs tend to test the lower levels of the cognitive domain and assesses mainly knowledge, comprehension, and some application. • They can also incorporate clinical scenarios.This type of question assesses higher-level thinking, but is less reliable because a teacher must interpret the responses. • They are most effective when there can be no disagreement about acceptable answers. 5th Basic Course Workshop in Medical Education Technologies

Advantages of Short Answer Questions • SAQs are relatively easy to set compared to many assessment methods. • They are relatively fast to mark and can be marked by different assessors, as long as the questions are set in such a way that all alternative answers can be considered by the assessors. 5th Basic Course Workshop in Medical Education Technologies

Better content coverage as compared to long essay question. • Improved objectivity as the marking scheme can be structured and predetermined. • Higher chance for assessment of clinical reasoning. 5th Basic Course Workshop in Medical Education Technologies

They can be used as part of a formative and summative assessment, as the structure of SAQs are very similar to examination questions, students are more familiar with the practice and feel less anxious. • Unlike MCQs, there is no guessing on answers, students must supply an answer. 5th Basic Course Workshop in Medical Education Technologies

Disadvantages of Short Answer Questions • SAQs are only suitable for questions that can be answered with short responses. • There can be difficulties in grading if the question is not worded carefully. • As they are typically used for assessing knowledge only, students may often memorize SAQs with rote learning. 5th Basic Course Workshop in Medical Education Technologies

If assessors wish to use SAQs to assess deeper learning, careful attention (and many practices) on appropriate questions are required. • Also, if a large amount of knowledge needs to be tested, it is more efficient to use MCQs. 5th Basic Course Workshop in Medical Education Technologies

Accuracy of assessment may be influenced by handwriting/spelling skills. • There can be time management issues as SAQs are not as easy to complete or score as MCQ or true-false questions. 5th Basic Course Workshop in Medical Education Technologies

How to design a good Short Answer Question? 1) Design short answer items which are appropriate assessment of the learning objective. 2) Make sure the content of the SAQs measures knowledge appropriate to the desired learning goal. 5th Basic Course Workshop in Medical Education Technologies

3) Make the questions clear and easy to understand with wordings and language appropriate to the student population. 4) Set the questions explicitly and precisely with clear instructions to test the desired knowledge and get the specific response. 5th Basic Course Workshop in Medical Education Technologies

5) Ensure that the item clearly specifies how the question should be answered. e.g. • Student should answer it briefly and concisely using a single word or short phrase? • Is bullet point format acceptable, or does it have to be an essay format? • Is the question given a specific number of blanks for students to answer? 5th Basic Course Workshop in Medical Education Technologies

Example:Family planning methods most appropriate for adolescents are:a._______________, b. _______________, c._______________. • Questions that involve possible multiple responses demands more from students and addresses broader content. 5th Basic Course Workshop in Medical Education Technologies

6) Instructions and teacher’s expectations about filling in blanks should be made clear. • Indicate whether each blank of equal length represents one word or several words, whether long blanks require sentences or phrases, and whether synonymous terms are accepted. • E.g:- Neurocysticercosis is caused by _____. 5th Basic Course Workshop in Medical Education Technologies

7) Consider whether the positioning of the item blank promote efficient scoring. • Word completion or filling questions (so that missing information is at or near the end of the sentence) makes reading and responding easier. Example: • Poor: In the year ______ , Canada turned 100 years old. • Better: Canada turned 100 years old in the year _____ . 5th Basic Course Workshop in Medical Education Technologies

8) When an answer is to be expressed in numerical units, the unit should be stated. Example • Poor: If a room measures 7 metres by 4 metres, the perimeter is _____ . • Better: If a room measures 7 metres by 4 metres, the perimeter is _____ metres (or m). 5th Basic Course Workshop in Medical Education Technologies

9) Do not use too many blanks in completion items. The emphasis should be on knowledge and comprehension, not mind reading! Example • In the year _____ , Prime Minister _________ signed the __________ , which led to a ___________ which was __________ . 5th Basic Course Workshop in Medical Education Technologies

10) Direct questions are better than those which require completing the sentences. • Example: Poor: Wellington defeated Napoleon in _____ ? Better: In what battle fought in 1815 did Wellington defeat Napoleon? OR In what year did Wellington defeat Napoleon at Waterloo? 5th Basic Course Workshop in Medical Education Technologies

11)Prepare a structured marking sheet. 12) Make the marking sheet easy to understand so that other teachers can use it if necessary. 13) Ensure there is only one clearly correct answer in each question. 14) Clearly state if a point will be given for each correct response or if the student must have all the correct responses to obtain one point. 5th Basic Course Workshop in Medical Education Technologies

15) In case a question involves possible multiple responses then, list all of the acceptable responses, and be prepared to consider other answers which you may not have predicted, but they may be equally acceptable. 16) Allocate marks or partial-marks for acceptable answer(s). 5th Basic Course Workshop in Medical Education Technologies

Marking Rubrics 5th Basic Course Workshop in Medical Education Technologies

Let’s look at some examples: • Question: What are two characteristics of mammals? Give two examples. • Answer: Two characteristics of mammals are they are warm-blooded (1 point) and give birth to their young(2 points). Two examples of mammals are humans (3 points) and bears (4 points). 5th Basic Course Workshop in Medical Education Technologies

In another scenario : If there are 6 possible arguments to a question, and the student scores all 6 arguments, he will get full mark in that question. If he scores only 4 arguments, he will get a relative mark. • Example : Enumerate 3 screening tests and 3 confirmatory tests for diagnosing HIV infection. (1 mark each; total 6 marks) 5th Basic Course Workshop in Medical Education Technologies

You may also decide to be lenient, if there are 6 arguments in a question, and the student scores any 4 out of 6, he will get full mark. • Example : Enlist laboratory tests to diagnose enteric fever. (6 marks) • This would be an assessor decision, however, this decision must be clear and consistent. 5th Basic Course Workshop in Medical Education Technologies

Hands on Exercise Prepare short answer question on following topics: • Tuberculosis → Group A. • Malaria → Group B. • Hepatitis B → Group C. • Cholera → Group D. 5th Basic Course Workshop in Medical Education Technologies

Short Answer Questions