Item Analysis of Single Best Response Type Multiple Choice Questions for Formative Assessment in Obstetrics and Gynaecology

MCQs (multiple choice questions) can be used to assess higher-order skills and be utilised for creating a question bank.

To perform post-validation item analysis of MCQs constructed by medical faculty for formative assessment of final-year medical students and to explore the association between difficulty index (p value) and discrimination indices (DI) with distractor efficiency (DE).

An observational study was conducted involving 50 final-year MBBS students and 10 faculty members for a period of one year (October 2020 to September 2021). After training the faculty in item analysis, a MCQ test was prepared after collecting the peer-reviewed 25 MCQs (five each from various subtopics of the subject). The result of this test was used to calculate the FV (facility value), DI (discrimination index), and DE (distractor efficiency) of each item. Student and faculty feedback was also obtained on a five-point Likert scale.

The mean FV was 46.3 ± 19.3 and 64% of questions were difficult; the mean DI was 0.3 ± 0.1 and 92% of questions could differentiate between HAG (high achiever's group) and LAG (low achiever's group); the mean DE was 82% ± 19.8 and 48% of items had no NFDs (non-functional distractors).

MCQs can be used to assess all the levels of Bloom’s taxonomy. Item analysis yielded 23 out of 25 MCQs that were suitable for the question bank.