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Scrambled Questions Penalty in Multiple Choice Tests: New Evidence from French Undergraduate Students

Author

Listed:
  • Morgan Raux

    (GREQAM - Groupement de Recherche en Économie Quantitative d'Aix-Marseille - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - ECM - École Centrale de Marseille - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • Marc Sangnier

    (GREQAM - Groupement de Recherche en Économie Quantitative d'Aix-Marseille - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - ECM - École Centrale de Marseille - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • Tanguy van Ypersele

    (GREQAM - Groupement de Recherche en Économie Quantitative d'Aix-Marseille - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - ECM - École Centrale de Marseille - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

Abstract

This note evaluates the scrambled questions penalty using multiple choice tests taken by first-year undergraduate students who follow a microeconomics introductory course. We provide new evidence that students perform worse at scrambled questionnaires than at logically ordered ones. We improve on previous studies by explicitly modeling students individual skills thanks to a fixed effects regression. We further show that the scrambled questions penalty does not differ along gender but varies along the distribution of students' skills and mostly affects students with lower-intermediate skills.

Suggested Citation

  • Morgan Raux & Marc Sangnier & Tanguy van Ypersele, 2016. "Scrambled Questions Penalty in Multiple Choice Tests: New Evidence from French Undergraduate Students," Working Papers halshs-01417964, HAL.
  • Handle: RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-01417964
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-01417964
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Della L. Sue, 2009. "The Effect Of Scrambling Test Questions On Student Performance In A Small Class Setting," Journal for Economic Educators, Middle Tennessee State University, Business and Economic Research Center, vol. 9(1), pages 32-41, Summer.
    2. Paul Kagundu & Glenwood Ross, 2015. "The Impact of Question Order on Multiple Choice Exams on Student Performance in an Unconventional Introductory Economics Course," Journal for Economic Educators, Middle Tennessee State University, Business and Economic Research Center, vol. 15(1), pages 19-36, Fall.
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    1. Paul Kagundu & Glenwood Ross, 2015. "The Impact of Question Order on Multiple Choice Exams on Student Performance in an Unconventional Introductory Economics Course," Journal for Economic Educators, Middle Tennessee State University, Business and Economic Research Center, vol. 15(1), pages 19-36, Fall.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    multiple choice tests; scrambled questions; student performance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • A2 - General Economics and Teaching - - Economic Education and Teaching of Economics
    • A1 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics

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