True/False Questions

“The Limitations of the True-False Item Are So Serious That It Seems Wise to Use This Item Type Only When Other Items Are Inappropriate For Measuring The Desired Learning Outcomes.”
--N.E. Gronlund

It is our vehement recommendation that you avoid true/false questions completely for the following reasons:

1. It is extremely difficult to write significant statements that are absolutely and unambiguously ture or false.

2. There is a very limited range of significant learning outcomes that can be measured through true/false statements. In other words, what valuable skills or knowledge can you test through true/false?

3. True/false questions have a fairly high susceptibility of correct response by guessing (50%).

4. Response sets can be very influential (too many true in a row, for example, might imply that the next response would be false).

5. You can't tell very much from students' responses to true/false questions. How much did they really learn about the subject? How often did they guess?

6. Higher-achieving students are susceptible to self-doubt and confusion on true/false questions when attempting to determine how true or how false a statement might be.

7. Other types of questions can assess the same knowledge more effectively.