Student Perception About Difference Between Structured Essay Question And Conventional Long Answer Questions As A Tool For Written Assessment In MBBS Exams
Student Perception About Difference Between Structured Essay Question And Conventional
Keywords:
SEQ, LAQ, PreferenceAbstract
Introduction & Background: Long essay questions are unstructured and are used for assessment of complex learning which cannot be assessed by other means like writing skills, ability to critically explain and present arguments and to assess student's understanding of subject- matter. Essay questions provide a lot of scope for student creativity and individuality in the approach; however, it leaves a room for subjectivity in assessment. SEQs or structured essay questions test the knowledge as well as the capacities of analysis and reasoning yet minimizes examiner subjectivity and increases answer specificity, owing to its structured format. Methods: Prospective Interventional study conducted on I year second semester MBBS students in Department of Physiology, SVNGMC, Yavatmal. Data was collected by administering 2 Structured Essay Questions (SEQ) to test group formed by dividing the total number of students(out of 150) present at the time of data collection, into 2 equal groups; one test group with all the students having odd roll number and other control group with even roll numbers. The control group was administered 2 conventional long answer questions on a same topic in physiology. This was repeated 3 times by switching the groups. All the students were assigned feedback forms to know their perception about the formats of questions. Observations & Results: There were 148 students who participated in the study. Students scored significantly better when evaluated using SEQs than by LAQs. 35% of the students felt that SEQs are less time consuming followed by 29% students opining that SEQs are structured & precise. Conclusions: The result of the study is encouraging and points towards student inclination towards SEQs. However further wide studies should be undertaken as to substantiate the results to the point when SEQs eventually replace conventional LAQs in university exams in India. [Shilpa G NJIRM 2017; 8(5):82-85]
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