Question Paper Setting

1. Performance Evaluation and
Question Paper Setting
Dr. A.Kathirvel, HoD PG,
Computer Science and Engineering

2. Introduction
• Framing effective question papers is very
important for assessing the learning outcome of
learners in terms of achievements with reference
to the objectives.
• Suitable assessments during teaching learning
process stimulate and motivate learners and
enhance learning.
• The summative evaluation of achievements and
competencies developed in learners can be
assessed through suitable question papers.

3. Introduction
• This also helps the teacher in evaluating
effectiveness of instructional media.
• Good question papers help in diagnosing
special aptitude and competence of the
learners.

4. Purpose of Evaluation
• Three important purposes are to
• Provide formative evaluation during
learning process to assess the outcome of
learning.
• Help and motivate the students to make
learning more effective.
• Certify at the end of the programme.

5. Important Factors of the
Question Papers
• Question papers should be valid and reliable and
consistent with the purpose and facilities. For
framing question papers, important factors to be
considered are as follows:
• purpose of question paper.
• Objective and specifications of the course.
• What to assess (abilities/skills/competencies)?
• How to assess (methodology – oral, written tests, laboratory tests etc.)
• When to assess (formative/summative)?
• Type of questions (objective/short essay)
• Availability of standardized test papers.
• Facilities and conditions for testing etc.

6. Types of Questions
• Objective Questions: these are selection type and
consist of multiple choice, matching and alternate
response (True/False). These are highly reliable,
easy to score and can provide a wide coverage.
• Short answer Questions: these are supply type
items requiring the student to provide the answer
in terms of a word, complete/ incomplete
statement or short paragraph.

7. Types of Questions
• Essay Questions: these can be restricted
response type where the essay questions are
structured in terms of context and limits of
response or extended response type where
the questions are open-ended with extended
response. These are easy to prepare and can
be used for measuring higher learning
outcomes, since they require the student to
organize, integrate and express by himself.

8. Framing effective Questions
• The questions can be of essay type or objective
type depending on the purpose and facilities
available.
• Objective test items if framed properly, can be
used to assess specific competencies in depth.
• Essay type questions if not framed properly may
result in very poor and inconsistent evaluation.

9. Framing effective Questions
• Essay/Short type questions are used to evaluate
certain organizational and other competencies. For
framing effective questions following guidelines
will help:
• Carefully relate the test and / or the instructional objectives to achieve
maximum content validity. A content outline and statement of
objectives should be specified.
• Phrase the item to achieve maximum clarity and understanding for the
target group using simplest possible words to convey the desired
meaning.
• Phrase questions so that it is clear to learner as to what response is
expected to the question? Begin the question with words such as:
‘Compare’, ‘Explain’, or ‘Demonstrate’ to indicate how to respond
using the learned knowledge and skills. (Refer List of phrases)

10. Framing effective Questions
• Take care, that question paper does not include too many items that the
examinee does not find time to think, formulate, review and revise his
response if necessary. Question paper should be consistent with time
and contents.
• Analyses the questions considering accuracy and objectivity in
scoring, difficulty level and time etc.
• ‘Describe the theodolite’ is an example of poor and ambiguous essay
type questions.
• ‘Explain the working of theodolite with sketch, to measure horizontal
angles’, is an example of a good essay type question.

11. Framing effective Questions
• Questions can be objective type, which are
true/false, multiple choices and matching type.
The objective items can cover much larger content
and are highly objective in scoring. These can be
used easily for testing comprehension and specific
competencies. For making effective objective test
item, following guidelines will help:
• Try to ensure that items are clear and unambiguous.
• Try to keep the reading difficulty of test items consistent with ability
of the target group to whom the test is to be administered.
• Unless it is required to measure language skills, reading ability should
not influence the student’s response.

12. Evaluating the Answer scripts.
• Objective Type Questions
• All types of objectives items have only one correct response.
• A scoring key can be prepared in advance and number of correct
responses in each category of objective items can be corrected by
comparing with the key.
• Since equal weightage is assigned to all items in a category, the sub-
total marks obtained by the students can be easily arrived at.
• A master sheet or stencil with correct responses punched can be used
for counting the number of correct responses quickly.

13. Evaluating the Answer scripts.
• Short Answer Questions
• These are supply type questions where the student has to
provide the answer in the form of set of words or
statements or response in the form of a paragraph.
• In the case of word or statement, it is better that the
examiner prepares a set of acceptable answers before
marking. He has also to decide how mark is to be awarded
in the case of partially correct answers.
• In the case of answers in the form of paragraph, it may be
desirable to note the important points and the marks to be
awarded to each point.

14. Evaluating the Answer scripts.
• Essay Type Questions
• These are generally of two types, restricted response for structured
essay questions and extended response for open-ended questions.
• Essay type questions, especially the extended response type, pose the
maximum difficulty if marking is to be made as objective as possible,
reducing bias to the minimum.
• In the case of structured essay type questions, since the sequence and
the type of response expected from the students is structured, it is
often possible to prepare a scheme of marking with the points to be
provided for each segment along with the marks to be awarded.
• Also since the framework and limits for response length is often
provided, not much problem is encountered in terms of variability and
coverage of content.

15. Evaluating the Answer scripts.
• Maximum variability and bias are encountered in marking of extended
response essay questions where the response is open-ended. Even
though careful and unambiguous framing of questions can reduce this
to some extent, the following guidelines will go to a large extent in
making the marking more objective:
• Outline major points to be considered while marking each question
• Relate length of response and complexity to maturity level of students.
• Develop a numerical scale for use with all questions.
• Don’t allow factors other than required / expected knowledge
content /area, to influence the score considerably. Ex. Composition
spelling, andwriting etc.
• Mark papers over a period of time and not all at once in a hurried
Manner.
• Review a few answers marked in the beginning after finishing the
whole set.
• Adopt realistic standards in terms of coverage, length of response and
expected outcomes.

16. Evaluating the Answer scripts.
• In addition to the above, for any purposeful evaluation,
especially of a large number of students over a variety of
subjects, it is necessary to adopt scientific procedure to
convert raw scores to standard scores and scores into
grades according to widely accepted systems of grading,
such as percentiles and letter grades.

17. Conclusion
• Teachers have to play multifaceted roles as
part of their job requirements. They can
contribute significantly in setting a question
paper, evaluating the answer script and
awarding the mark /grade of healthy
environment and social order.

18. List of phrases to be used during
question paper setting
• Knowledge (Recall and Recognition)
• 1. DEFINE
• 2. IDENTIFY
• 3. LABEL
• 4. MATCH
• 5. NAME
• 6. OUTLINE
• 7. SELECT
• 8. STATE
• 9. REORGANISE
• 10. LIST

19. List of phrases to be used during
question paper setting
• Application (Problem solving)
• 1. COMPUTE
• 2. DEMONSTRATE
• 3. MODIFY
• 4. CHANGE
• 5. FIND
• 6. CALCULATE
• 7. PREPARE
• 8. PRODUCE
• 9. SOLVE
• 10. USE
• 11. SHOW
• 12. ESTABLISH
• 13. APPLY

20. List of phrases to be used during
question paper setting
• Understanding (Translate, Interpret,
Extrapolate, Etc)
• 1. DEFINE IN OWN WORDS 2. CONVERT
• 3. DISTINGUISH 4. COMPARE
• 5. ESTIMATE 6. EXPLAIN IN OWN WORDS
• 7. GIVE EXAMPLES 8. INFER
• 9. PREDICT 10. MANIPULATE
• 11. VERIFY 12. DISCRIMINATE
• 13. CLASSIFY 14. CONSTRUCT
• 15. REPRESENT 16. RECORDER
• 17. REARRANGE

21. List of phrases to be used during
question paper setting
• Skill (Sketching, Drawing, Computing,
Reading, Table/Diagram)
• 1. SKETCH
• 2. DRAW PICTURE/GRAPH
• 3. COMPARE
• 4. FIND
• 5. CALCULATE
• 6. READ CHART
• 7. USE CHART/GRAPH

22. List of phrases to be used during
question paper setting
• Thinking (Analysis, Produce, Synthesise,
Judge, Evaluate, Solve, Etc)
•
• 1. DIFFERENTIATE
• 2. DISTINGUISH
• 3. ILLUSTATE
• 4. OUTLINE
• 5. FIND RELATIONSHIP
• 6. DERIVE
• 7. CATEGORISE
• 8. DESIGN
• 9. ORGANISE
• 10. FORMULATE
• 11. RECONSTUCT
• 12. WRITE A THEME
• 13. APPRIASE
• 14. CRITICISE
• 15. JUSTIFY
• 16. INFER
• 17. PREDICT

23. QUESTION?