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1. Assessment for Learning Using
Multiple Choice Questions
Dr. Mari Chikvaidze
The 7th AnnualResearch Student Conference, School of Education,The University of
Northampton,Boughton Green Road,NN2 7AL, Northampton,UK
Friday, 24 June 2016

2. My Background
• A citizen of Georgia, 3rd year in London
• A wife to a computer scientist
• And a mum of two: Mia (5) and Neo (1)
• A bio-physicist and a qualified maths and physics teacher
• An educational tourist (with MSc and PhD)
• Advanced skills tutor at the Brilliant Club
• A participant of the first cohort of Researchers in Schools
• A honorary research associate at KCL
• An NQT at Lampton academy (just back from the maternity leave!)
• A student at the University of Northampton (PGCE top-up)

3. Acknowledgments
• James Underwood (The University of Northamton)
• Syed K. Husain and Sarah-Jane Gan (Lampton Academy)
• Dr. Nikesh Solanki and Dr. Mauro Mantega (Researchers in Schools)
• Michael Slawinsky (Researchers in Schools)

4. Aims and Objectives
What Do I want to achieve?
qIntroductionto the Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs)
qMCQs for AfL in maths
qResearch questions
qIs MCQs a useful tool for assessment?
qHow to design effective MCQs?
qChoice of methods
qPreliminary results
qDiscussion and conclusions
qFuture work
qQuestions and suggestions

5. Multiple Choice Questions
• MCQs is a form of assessment in which learners are asked to select the best
possible answer(s) out of the set of multiplechoices. (Kehoe, 1995)
• A multiple choice test item consists of a question or a problem, known as a
steam, a list of suggested solutions or called alternatives, the correct
answer or best alternative, know as a key, and the incorrect answer(s) or
inferior alternatives, known as distractors. (Burton et al., 1991, p.3)
• Potential advantages of using MCQs for the summative assessment, include
versatility, reliabilityand validity. (Burton et al., 1991, p.4 and p.5)
• Using Multiple-choicequestionsfor “scanning the class instantaneously
using mini-whiteboardsor ABCD cards to followup misunderstanding”,has
been suggested by Black and Wiliam (2001) in their famous “Inside the
Black Box” paper.
• The importance of the content of questionsfor making MCQs a formative
assessment for learning tool has also been discussed. (Black, P. and Wiliam,
D., 2001)

6. MCQs for AfL in Mathematics
• Multiple choice questions are ‘one of the most common forms
of teacher-constructed tests’ (Kehoe, 1995) and have been
widely used for the summative assessment in mathematics.
• The learning outcome tested, may include high level thinking
skills, such as analysis and evaluation, together with the lower
level, recall of facts (Burton, et al., 1991, p.8)
• One example from the literature, where MCQs have been used
for assessing learning formatively, is a ‘technology assisted
formative assessment tool’ developed by Derek Cheung (2006)

7. Research Questions
1. Is multiple choice questions useful for the formative
assessment in mathematics?
2. How to design effective multiple choice questions, to identify
and address common misconceptions?

8. Research Design
• This project came about from the need
for improvement of GCSE results for the
C/D borderlinestudents at Lampton
academy.
• An onlinetool called ExamWizard has
been used for extracting past exam
questions in statistics GCSE, along with
the mark schemes and examiner’s
reports.
• The exam revision quizzes have been
designed using MCQs for every sub-
topic / skill in statistics.
• Pupil’s misconceptionshave been
sourced from examiner’s report and
presented among the alternatives.
• Finally a case study has been carried out
by making use of the quizzes from the
foundationtier only.

9. Benjamin rolls a fair 6-sided dice.
Benjamin then spins a fair 4-sided spinner.
He adds the score on the dice and the score on the spinner to get the total.
(b) Complete the sample space diagram to show all the possible totals.
(2)
(c) What is the probability that the total is 2?
A) About 4% B) Unlikely C) Impossible D) 1/24
Example Question

10. Example Lesson

11. Wearing my researcher’s hat
• It was with my researcher’s hat on, that I
discovered how useful formative assessment via
multiple choice questions is:
• not only for spotting and clarifying misconceptions,
• but also, for creating stimulating, whole-class
discussions.
“As a newly qualified
teacher with a PhD in my
subject, I believe, I wear
two hats.”

12. Wearing my researcher’s hat
• The researcher’s hat is what gave me the edge:
1. to view my research questionin light of the existing
literature
2. to suggest a novelway of designing exam revision
quizzes - using examiners reports as a source of
misconceptions
3. to find a context in which to ask the question of how
effective these quizzes are

13. With my pragmatic teacher’s hat on…
• I rejected ‘positivist rigor’ natural sciences
approach and accepted that my sample size (low
ability year 10 classes), is way too small for
making statistical inferences.
• Instead, I chose to use the qualitative research
methods, to help me understand how to design
and use multiple choice questions to assess
pupil’s understandingon the spot.
“By using this
methodology, I aspire to
create a classroom where
pupils believe that
choosing the wrong
answer, out of the set of
multiple choices, is an
opportunity to participate
in meaningful discussions,
and learn from them.”

14. With my pragmatic teacher’s hat on…
• In order to collect the data and answer my
research questions I used:
1. Direct lesson observation ofa colleague, to
evaluateusefulness ofmultiple choice questions
without having to participate.
2. Anonymouspupilquestionnaires to capturetheir
attitude towards learningstatistics using multiple
choice questions.
3. Semi-structured teacher interviews to help me
drawa rich, qualitativepicture, without being
subjective.
• For data analysis used:
• Coding of the notes and the interviews.
• Cross-comparisonof the pupilquestionnaire
responses.

15. Direct Observation
• Having adopted constructivist approach to learning and instruction, I
decided to analyse a small sample, but in great detail!
• I conducted an informal lesson observation of a colleague who agreed
to use MCQs in her revision lesson with the low ability year 10 class.
• In my observation notes I accounted for the presenceof the observer.

16. Pupil Questionnaires
• Two year 10 classes have been asked to complete a
questionnaire,my colleague's year 10 to 11 class (13
pupils), and my own year 9 to 10 class (11 pupils),
both bottom sets.
• The questionnaire comprised 12 closed questions
and opinion scale which made use of the following
codes: sa = strongly agree, a = agree, u = undecided,
d = disagree and sd = strongly disagree)
• The results have been analysed and cross compared
• The main limitation of such questionnaire is that
people tend to answer near the middle, as they
don't tend to seem extreme

17. Pupil Questionnaires

18. Pupil Questionnaires

19. Pupil Questionnaires

20. Interviews
“(Multiple choice questions) …is a
good assessment for learning tool.
…It is a really quick way to assess
whether you need to do a revision
lesson.”

21. “… You may come across
students who may only
care about what the
answer is and may not be
open to having a
[discussion about]
misconceptions. This in
return could work against
the entire purpose of
having the MCQs.”
Interviews
“I may consider doing a “spot the mistake”
activity with the kids in future to see if they
are able to identify, explain and rectify
common misconceptions made Hopefully
this awareness will help them develop a
more enquiring mind with respects to their
exams”

22. Interviews
“It was a great opportunity to see how
the students react to a new activity
like this. It also really highlighted the
importance of students knowing what
the concept is, as oppose to knowing
what the single correct answer is.”
“-Is there anything else you’d like to
share regarding today’s lesson or the
project in general?”
Interviewer Respondent

23. Coding Results
• The themes in this table
emerged as a result of coding
of 2 interviews, observation of
a colleague and self-reflection
notes
• The frequency of codes and
the relationship between them
has been analysed to generate
4 main themes
• Each theme is supported by a
quotation

24. Limitations
• Despite their usefulness, there are many disadvantages
to using multiple choice questions.
• One such disadvantage, often mentioned in literature, is
the limited types of knowledge that can be assessed.
• Another drawback of using MCQs is random guessing of
answers; the likelihood of selecting ‘correct’ answer out
of the 4 alternatives is as high as 25%.
• A disadvantage that emerged from this study is that
students tend to copy from each-other, when the
A/B/C/D cards are not shown by the entire class
simultaneously.

25. Limitations
• Maximum data collection was limited by the fact that I was on a
maternity leaveand had little to no access to direct
conversations with teachers and pupils in my school.
• I am fully awarethat the chosen samplesize is not large enough
for making anystatistically significantclaims.
• In this initial exploratorycasestudy I did not expect to reach any
conclusive, generalisableoutcomes.
• Two interviews and a single observation cannotbe taken as
representativeof the entire Maths department, let alone the
wider cohort of teachers.
• I understandthat the view expressed bythe interviewees, as
well as my own interpretations arebased on certain beliefs and
biases.
• I fully agree with Yates (2003) and acknowledge that the research
design, as well as the choice of methods has been heavily
influenced by my background and mycurrent epistemological
standpoint.

26. Discussion and Conclusions
• A case studypresented here,explores the potentialofusingMCQs to assess
learner’s ‘conceptual understanding’(Skemp, 1976) of mathematics, in a
formative way.
• In this project,multiple choice questions have been designed,usingexaminers
reports,annuallypublished for statistics GCSE exams.
• These reports proved useful for sourcingpupil’s misconceptions and usingthem
as distractors,therebygeneratingstimulatingwhole-class discussions.
• Teaching resources,includingresearch-informed lesson plansthat make use of
MCQs, have been designed and partlyevaluated.
• A methodologicalframeworkhas been developed for teachers of all subjects,to
source pupil’s misconceptions in a systematicmanner,from examiner’s reports.
• The aim of addressingthe mathematical learningneeds oflow-attainingstudents
and those experiencingparticular difficulties in maths has been achieved.
• The preliminaryfindings ofthis small scale studysuggest that well-designed
multiple choice questions workwell for AfL in lowabilityyear 10 classes of the
Lampton Academy.

27. Future Work
• Encourage more teachers to use the resources,this will ideally give a
quantitative dimension to this study, generating statistical data.
• The scope of the use of multiple choice questions can be extended
beyond the exam revision period, and deployed in everyday teaching.
• For instance, MCQ probes can be used as hinge-point questions, after
teaching a new concept, to ensure that students do not ‘misconceive
the teacher’s meaning because they interpret new teaching in terms
of their existing understandings’. (Taber, 2009)
• Finally, studies of the similar scale and nature can be carried out as I
try out different activities in my NQT year.

28. Wearing two hats
I believe, wearing both hats at the same time
is what helps me narrow the gap between
theory and practice and develop as an
effective teacher researcher.”

29. Questions and Suggestions