Effect of quiz format on student performance and answer-changing behaviour on formative assessments

• Published in: Journal of biological education Vol. 55; no. 3; pp. 306 - 320
• Main Authors: Sherman, Tyler J., Harvey, Tanner M., Royse, Emily A., Heim, Ashley B., Smith, Cara F., Romano, Alicia B., King, Aspen E., Lyons, David O., Holt, Emily A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Routledge 27-05-2021
• Subjects: Academic Achievement; Anatomy; Answer-changing behaviour; Decision Making; formative assessment; Formative Evaluation; free-response; pedagogy using powerpoint; Physiology; second-pass behaviour; shared-display assessment; Student Behavior; Student Evaluation; Test Format; Test Wiseness; Undergraduate Students
• ISSN: 0021-9266; 2157-6009
• DOI: 10.1080/00219266.2019.1687106

Formative assessments have been shown to improve student success; however, the format in which these assessments are implemented has not been well researched. In this study, individual Anatomy and Physiology lab sections were administered formative assessments composed of either a projected (i.e. 'shared-display') quiz presentation or a pen-and-paper quiz presentation. Students' performance, as well as their answer-changing behaviours, were recorded to compare the effect of these two assessment formats. We found no significant difference in mean quiz grade between shared-display and pen-and-paper assessments, nor did answer-changing frequency differ by treatment. Student answer-changing success rate - a measure of how often a student changed an answer and their new response was correct - was found to have a weak but significant positive correlation with mean quiz grade. Our findings suggest that the assessment presentation format does not significantly affect student performance and that, given the population sampled, answer-changing tended to benefit students' final quiz grade. Therefore, projecting images for use in formative assessments provides an alternative to traditional pen-and-paper administration with no apparent detriment or advantage to student success.