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Developing and validating multiple-choice test items

by Thomas M. Haladyna

This book is intended for anyone who is seriously interested in designing and validating multiple-choice test items that measure understanding and the application of knowledge and skills to complex situations, such as critical thinking and problem solving. This edition has been extensively revised to include: more information about writing items that match content standards; more information about creating item pools and item banking; a new set of item-writing rules (with examples) in chapter 5, as well as guidelines for other multiple-choice formats; hundreds of examples including an expanded chapter 4 devoted to exemplary item formats and a new chapter 6 containing exemplary items (with author annotations); a chapter on item generation featuring item modeling and other procedures that speed up item development; and a more extensive set of references to past and current work in the area of multiple-choice item writing and validation. The book will be of interest to anyone who develops test items for large-scale assessments, as well as teachers and graduate students who desire the most comprehensive and authoritative information on the design and validation of multiple-choice test items.