A Consolidated Catalogue of Question Types for Programming Courses

Formulating questions, whether for assessments or to create exercises, is an essential component of teaching programming. The development of well-constructed questions requires considerable effort. In this research, a consolidated catalogue of question types was developed to assist programming instructors with the formulation of questions. Existing classifications of question types in both programming and computing were consulted in developing the catalogue. The catalogue was constructed using a systematised literature review by referring to the literature and unifying different categories of question types described in the literature. The catalogue consists of fourteen base types of questions, with the possibility of variations within most base types. The catalogue is primarily intended to assist instructors in designing and formulating more diverse types of questions in programming courses. Additionally, the author envisages that this catalogue can serve as a starting point for discussions on how to map current educational taxonomies to question types, the different skills related to these questions, appropriate formats (for instance, multiple choice vs open format questions) and the appropriate qualification levels at which these questions can be presented.