Published on December 22,2009
Matching test items, along with true-false and multiple choice, are selection items. They are specialized for use when measuring the student's ability to identify the relationship between a set of similar items, each of which has two components, such as words and their definitions, symbols and their meanings, dates and events, people and their accomplishments, etc. Of the two objectives listed below, only the second one is appropriate for a matching item
Objective A: Students will be able to explain the process of photosynthesis.
Objective B: Students will be able to identify primary characters in novels they read.
In measuring accomplishment of objective A, the question would probably be one calling for the student to write a response. In contrast, Objective B states that the students will be able to "identify" primary characters. This implies some type of selection question in which the answers are provided, and the task of the student is recognition. The rest of the objective (primary characters in novels they read) indicates a series of novels, each with its respective primary character.
One matching item can replace several true-false or short answer items (and require less reading for the students). Matching items are generally easy to write and score when the test content and objectives are suitable for matching questions. Possible difficulties in using matching items may arise due to poor student handwriting or printing, or students' being able to guess correct answers through the process of elimination.
In developing matching items, there are two columns of material (Example 1). Not a link: Current module is Matching Questions The items in the column on the left (Column A) are usually called premises and assigned numbers (1, 2, 3, etc.). Those in the column on the right (Column B) are called responses and designated by capital letters, as in Example 1. Capital letters are used rather than lower case letters in case some students have reading problems. Also there are apt to be fewer problems in scoring the student's handwritten responses if capital letters are used.
1. Directions: On the line next to each children's book in Column A print the letter of the animal or insect in column B that is a main character in that book. Each animal or insect in Column B can be used only once.
Column A Column B
1. Charlotte's Web A. Bear
2. Winnie the Pooh B. Chimpanzee
3. Black Beauty C. Cricket
4. Tarzan D. Deer
5. Pinocchio E. Horse
6. Bambi F. Pig
The student reads a premise (Column A) and finds the correct response from among those in Column B. The student then prints the letter of the correct response in the blank beside the premise in Column A. An alternative is to have the student draw a line from the correct response to the premise, but this is more time consuming to score.
In Example 1, the student only has to know five of the six answers to get them all correct. Since each animal in Column B can be used only once, the one remaining after the five known answers have been recorded is the answer for the sixth premise. One way to reduce the possibility of guessing correct answers is to list a larger number of responses (Column B) than premises (Column A), as is done in Example 2.
2.
Column A Column B
1. Charlotte's Web A. Bear
2. Winnie the Pooh B. Chimpanzee
3. Black Beauty C. Cricket
4. Tarzan D. Deer
5. Pinocchio E. Horse
6. Bambi F. Mouse
G. Pig
Some writers suggest there be no more than five to eight premises (Column A) in Not a link: Current module is Matching Questionsone set. For each premise, the student has to read through the entire list of responses (or those still unused) to find the matching response. For this reason, the shorter elements should be in Column B, rather than Column A to minimize the amount of reading needed for each item. Although there is little difference in the length of items in the two columns in Examples 1 and 2, note the improvement in Example 3b when the items in the two columns in Example 3a are reversed.
3a. Directions: On the line next to each description in Column A, place the letter of the president in Column B whom it describes. Answers in Column B may be used only once.
Column A
_____1. Jimmy Carter
_____2. Abraham Lincoln
_____3. Richard Nixon
_____4. George Washington
_____5. Ronald Reagan
Column B
A. Our first President
B. Resigned from the office of president
C. Was well known for his association with humanitarian causes after leaving office
D. Was a movie star and a state governor before being elected president
E. Was assassinated while in office
3b. Directions: On the line next to each description in Column A, place the letter of the president in Column B whom it describes. Answers in Column B may be used only once.
Colulmn A
_____A. Our first President
_____B. Resigned from the office of president
_____C. Was well known for his association with humanitarian causes after leaving office
_____D. Was a movie star and a state governor before being elected president
_____E. Was assassinated while in office
Column B
1. Jimmy Carter
2. Abraham Lincoln
3. Richard Nixon
4. Ronald Reagan
5. Woodrow Wilson
Responses (Column B) should be listed in logical order if there is one (chronological, by size, etc.). If there is no apparent order, the responses should be listed alphabetically. Premises (Column A) should NOT be listed in the same order as the responses, however, as in Example 4.
4. Directions: On the line next to each author in Column A, place the letter of the type of writing in Column B for which the author is best known. Answers in Column B may be used only once.
Column A
______1. James Michener
______2. Stephen King
______3. Erma Bombeck
______4. Agatha Christie
______5. Walt Whitman
______6. Danielle Steele
______7. Isaac Asimov
Column B
A. History
B. Horror
C. Humor
D. Mystery
E. Poetry
F. Romance
G. Science Fiction
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As previously mentioned, there should be a larger number of responses (Column B) than premises (Column A) to reduce the possibility of guessing correct answers. Another way to decrease the possibility of guessing is to allow responses to be used more than once. Directions to the students should be very clear about the use of responses. Example 5 utilizes both of these techniques: more responses than premises, and allowing responses to be used more than once.
5. Directions: On the line next to each author in Column A, place the letter of the type of writing in Column B for which the author is best known. Answers in Column B may be used once, more than once, or not at all.
Column A
______1. Agatha Christie
______2. Isaac Asimov
______3. Erma Bombeck
______4. Walt Whitman
______5. Stephen King
______6. James Michener
Column B
A. History
B. Horror
C. Humor
D. Mystery
E. Poetry
F. Science Fiction
G. Tragedy
A difficulty sometimes arises in finding sufficient homogeneous material. In Example 6, the content can readily be sorted into two categories with 3 items each. In other words, only three questions relate to inventors, so the student only has to know two of them to get all three correct. The same is true for the three artists.
6. Directions: On the line next to each accomplishment in Column A print the letter of the person in column B who is associated with that accomplishment. Each name in Column B can be used only once.
Colulmn A
_____1. Discovered electricity
_____2. Famous for composing waltz music
_____3. Composed marches, such as the Stars & Stripes Forever
_____4. Invented the telephone
_____5. Wrote musical scores for broadway shows
Column B
A. Thomas Edison
B. Benjamin Franklin
C. George Gershwin
D. Louis Pasteur
E. John Phillip Sousa
F. Johann Strauss
Variation Example 7 shows one variation using a short list of answers, each with a capital letter designation, positioned above a set of items. Each question can be answered by using one (or sometimes more than one if this is specified in the directions) of the answers in the "key" which you have provided. The letter designating the correct response is printed in the blank beside the item.
7. Directions: Listed below are some objectives. In the blank beside each objective, specify the most appropriate type of assessment by placing the letter of the assessment type in the blank beside the objective.
Assessment types: A. Essay
B. Performance Assessment (portfolio, presentation, project, etc.)
C. Traditional paper and pencil test (true false, multiple choice, etc.)
_____1. Students will be able to construct a fluxty.
_____2. Students will know the six rules for effluding ixons.
_____3. Students will be able to explain to parents how their fluxty operates.
_____4. Students be able to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of the various types of zibixs.
Matching
Matching items require students to match a series of stems or premises to a response or
principle. They consist of a set of directions, a column of statements and a column of responses.
Figure 4: matching test item
Directions: Column I contains descriptions of geographic characteristics of wind belts. For each
statement find the appropriate wind belt in Column II. Record your answer in the appropriate
space on the answer sheet. Answers may be used more than once.
Column I Column II
___1. Region of high pressure, calm, and light
winds
A. Doldrums
___2. The belt of calm air nearest the equator. B. Horse latitudes
___3. A wind belt in the northern hemisphere
typified by a continual drying wind.
C. Polar easterlies
___4. Most of the United States is found in this
belt.
D. Prevailing easterlies
E. Prevailing westerlies
Example from Ron J. McBeath ed. (1992) Instructing and Evaluating Higher Education: A
Guidebook for Planning Learning Outcomes (New Jersey: ETP) 207.
CAA Centre, June 1999
12
Example 2 - matching test item
Directions: Match the quotation in column I with the literary school with which it is associated
listed in column II. Items in column two may be used more than once.
Column I Column II
1. You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it
Hold
Its nose to the grindstone and hunt with the hounds.
Every dog has a stitch in time. Two heads? You’ve been
Sold
One good turn. One good turn deserves a bird in the
hand.
2. I cannot see what flowers are at my feet,
Nor what soft incense hangs upon the boughs,
But, in embalmed darkness, guess each sweet
Wherewith the seasonable month endows
The grass, the thicket, and the fruit-tree wile;
White hawthorn, and the pastoral eglantine;
Fast fading violets cover’d up in leaves;
And mid-May’s eldest child,
The coming musk-rose, full of dewy wine,
The murmurous haunt of flies on summer eves.
3. frseeeeeeeefronnnng train somewhere whistling the
strength those engines have in them like big giants and the
water rolling all over and out of them all sides like the end
of Loves old sweeeetsonnnng the poor men that have to be
out all the night from their wives and families in those
roasting engines stifling it was today Im glad I burned the
half of those old Freemans and Photo Bits leaving things
like that lying about hes getting very careless
4. Twit twit twit
Jug jug jug jug jug jug
So rudely forc’d
Tereu
5. A perfect Judge will read each Work of Wit
With the same Spirit that its Author writ,
Survey the Whole, nor seek slight Faults to find,
Where Nature moves, and Rapture warms the Mind;
A. Romanticism
B. Modernism
C. Neo-classicism
D. Post-modernism
E. Humanism
F. Classical realism
CAA Centre, June 1999
13
Advantages of matching questions
Matching questions are particularly good at assessing a student's understanding of relationships.
They can test recall by requiring a student to match the following elements:
Definitions - terms
Historical events- dates
Achievements - people
Statements- postulates
Descriptions - principles (McBeath, 1992)
They can also assess a student's ability to apply knowledge by requiring a test-taker to match the
following:
Examples - terms
Functions - parts
Classifications - structures
Applications - postulates
Problems - principles (McBeath, 1992)
Matching questions are really a variation of the multiple choice format. If you find that you are
writing MCQs which share the same answer choices, you may consider grouping the questions
into a matching item. Tips for writing good matching questions include:
· Provide clear directions
· Keep the information in each column as homogeneous as possible
· Allow the responses to be used more than once
· Arrange the list of responses systematically if possible (chronological, alphabetical,
numerical)
· Include more responses than stems to help prevent students using a process of elimination to
answer question.
