Attitudes towards multiple choice questions among business students

Abstract

The choice of assessment design in higher education has been a topic of scholarly discussion for decades. This study is from a business school in Norway. In the introductory courses, there are more than 600 students with different instructors. The exam form has mostly been four hours of constructed response (CR) questions, but in some courses, multiple choice (MC) tests are included as a part of the assessment. There is currently a debate about whether to increase the use of MC. The purpose of this paper is to explore students’ attitudes towards MC by asking 130 undergraduates. Results indicate that students prefer a combination of those two test formats. They want MC to be a complement to CR, but they do not want MC to replace CR completely. MC questions will reflect the students’ knowledge of the subjects to a lesser degree. It will probably change the students’ learning strategy, where one emphasises details more than understanding. Furthermore, there is a substantial gender difference. The males have a more positive attitude towards MC tests, and to a greater extent than females, they will adjust their behaviour if the exam format is changed