How many quiz questions is too many?
Sep 26, 2011
Ok, let's put aside any arguments against end-of-module quizzes and look solely at how these might just test the patience of the learner.
I say "might" because no doubt there are some people who dig quizzes. Not sure I've met any yet, but there are bound to be some!
So how many questions is too many?
A. 10
B. 20
C. 30
D. 40
E. 50
Hmm, I reckon B is the most I'd go with. But that's going to depend on content, level of interactivity/engagement and why/how that number of questions is so important. Sure, there may be examples where SMEs/managers want to use quizzes to 'test' knowledge of facts, figures, steps, process etc, and may even stretch that to 30 or so. But is that really necessary?
Once again, I'm trying to step away from the "Shouldn't we be trying to move away with these quizzes? And build assessment and reflection throughout the course?" ... and look solely at this type of model.
The reason I ask is that a publisher I know is building courses that finish off with 50 questions! From a bank of 100! Apparently some of their courses (which are all page turners) do conclude with only 30 questions, but most are 50.
To me, this is madness. But I can why some people would feel that paying attention to minute details in such quizzes could be seen as an effective measuring tool.
I guess my approach would be to reverse engineer the course content (and that includes listing any real-world objectives) so as to split each course into something like 5-10 mini-modules. Each of these would then be re-engineered to assess the learner throughout, but at the same respecting that SMEs may want some kind of end-of-module quiz bolted on too.
What do you guy think?
5 Replies
Simon, Interesting question, we are working on a project that was originally 21 modules of 1-2 hours each which contained between 2 and 8 sections with end of section quizes.
Each section quiz had between 5 and 12 questions, we have managed to persuade them to split the modules into seperate sections, we still have end of section quizes but they do not count toward the final certificate, each section has to be viewed, they then take a final quiz randomly pooled from all of the end of section quizes (with a max of 10 qs)
This is very similar to your final statement, the interesting thing is that halfway through the project we now have 22 modules and more to come
If yoo want a sneek peak PM me and I can give you a test login
PM on it's way Phil
.
Hi Simon,
Yes, clients love their quizzes and unfortunately forget that we're working to change behavior, not create good quiz takers. I typically put my foot down when the client exceeds 20 questions.
I attended a conf. in Chicago last month and one of the speakers had some great ideas re: quizzes. While all of this might not be relevant to your situation, there's some good stuff in here:
http://www.slideshare.net/ChicagoeLearningShowcase/phillips-multiple-choice-level-2-eval-cets2011slides
Good luck!
Jackie
(Chicago)
It depends on how you're using the quiz. For review quizzes, I think 10 is probably the most you need. Reviews essentially reinforce the learning and provide a review. If you've covered more content than you can fit into 10 questions, you might want to rethink the course design.
For longer, end of course type quizzes then 20 is the most. Once you get beyond that, the quiz/test should be separated from the course, or at least made a separate module within a larger course.
The correct answer:
As many as it takes to confirm the objectives are fulfilled.
This can be done at the formative level- within the course, to check basic understanding before they progress (Catch & Correct).
And should be done at the terminal objective level - can the user .
If the task has 15 critical parts, the answer is 15. If it has 4, then 4 parts.
You may also consider impact of any guessing. For scenarios that the ultimate answer is "Y/N", ("Buy/Sell", "Deal/No Deal", etc...) then you will have to add enough questions to ensure that the achievement of a passing grade is not due to a few lucky guesses, but competence in the material.
Made interesting, engaging, and relevant, your entire course could technically be quizzes and questions reinforcing objectives the entire way (isn't this, at some level, is what makes gaming so sticky?).
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