What does item analysis tell us? factors affecting the reliability of multiple choice questions [MCQs]

ABSTRACT

Item analysis is a very important part of the examination cycle, as it can be used to judge the difficulty and discrimination of test items as well as their reliability. The objective of this study is to determine the relation between reliability and other components of the item analysis of Multiple Choice Question [MCQs]. The item analysis of 38 modules conducted at the Faculty of Medicine-Jazan University in the academic year 2010-2011 were further analyzed descriptively and correlation were made between the reliability co-efficient [KR-20] and other elements of the item analysis such as the difficulty and discrimination indices. All the items have five options, the percentage of nonfunctioning options is between 27.6% and 70% across items. The facility index is <35% is found in 18.3% of the items and facility index of >90% is a maximum of 75%. All exams have items with a discrimination index <19%. There is a positive correlation among the KR-20, number of items and the percentage of items with discrimination index .60% and negative correlation with percentage of the nonfunctioning options, percentage of items with facility index <35%, percentage of items with facility index >90% and percentage of items with discrimination index <19%. Further analysis of the modules in each phase [Introductory, organ system and clinical] and qualitative analysis of the items are needed