Matching Test Items

In general, matching items consist of a column of stimuli presented on the left side of the exam page and a column of responses placed on the right side of the page. Students are required to match the response associated with a given stimulus. For example,

Directions: On the line to the left of each factual statement, write the letter of the principle which bests explains the statement's occurrence. Each principle may be used more than once.

Factual Statements

  • _Fossils of primates first appear in the Cenozoic rock strata, while trilobite remains are found in the Proterozoic rocks.
  • _The Arctic and Antarctic regions are sparsely populated.
  • _Plants have no nervous system.
  • _Large coal beds exist in Alaska.

Principles

  1. There have been profound changes in the climate on earth.
  2. Coordination and integration of action is generally slower in plants than in animals.
  3. There is an increasing complexity of structure and functions from lower to higher forms of life.
  4. All life comes from life and produces its own kind of living organisms.
  5. Light is a limiting factor to life.

 

Matching items have several advantages. They:

  • require short periods of reading and response time, allowing you to cover more content.
  • provide objective measurement of student achievement or ability.
  • provide highly reliable test scores.
  • provide scoring efficiency and accuracy.

Matching items also have limitations. They:

  • have difficulty measuring learning objectives requiring more than simple recall of information.
  • are difficult to construct due to the problem of selecting a common set of stimuli and responses.

Suggestions for writing matching test items

  1. Include directions which clearly state the basis for matching the stimuli with the responses. Explain whether or not a response can be used more than once and indicate where to write the answer.

    Undesirable: Directions: Match the following.
    Desirable: Directions: On the line to the left of each identifying location and characteristics in Column I, write the letter of the country in Column II that is best defined. Each country in Column II may be used more than once.

  2. Use only homogeneous material in matching items

Undesirable: Directions: Match the following.

  • Water
  • Discovered Radium
  • Salt
  • Year of the First Nuclear Fission by Man
  • Ammonia
    1. NaCl
    2. Fermi
    3. NH3
    4. H2O
    5. 1942
    6. Curie

Desirable: Directions: On the line to the left of each compound in Column I, write the letter of the compound's formula presented in Column II. Use each formula only once.

Column I

  • Water
  • Salt
  • Ammonia
  • Sulfuric Acid

Column II

    1. H2SO4
    2. HCl
    3. NaCl
    4. H2O
    5. H2HCl
3. Arrange the list of responses in some systematic order if possible (e.g., chronological, alphabetical).

Undesirable Directions: On the line to the left of each definition in Column I, write the letter of the defense mechanism in Column II that is described. Use each defense mechanism only once.

Column I

  • Hunting for reasons to support one's beliefs.
  • Accepting the values and norms of others as one's own even when they are contrary to previously held values.
  • Attributing to others one's own unacceptable impulses, thoughts and desires.
  • Ignoring disagreeable situations, topics, sights.

Column II

  1. Rationalization
  2. Identification
  3. Projection
  4. Introjection
  5. Denial of reality

Desirable Directions: On the line to the left of each definition in Column I, write the letter of the defense mechanism in Column II that is described. Use each defense mechanism only once.

Column I

  • Hunting for reasons to support one's beliefs.
  • Accepting the values and norms of others as one's own even when they are contrary to previously held values.
  • Attributing to others one's own unacceptable impulses, thoughts and desires.
  • Ignoring disagreeable situations, topics, sights

Column II

    1. Denial of Reality
    2. Identification
    3. Introjection
    4. Projection
    5. Rationalization

4. Avoid grammatical or other clues to the correct response.

Undesirable: Directions: Match the following in order to complete the sentences on the left.

  • Igneous rocks are formed
  • The formation of coal requires
  • A geode is filled
  • Feldspar is classified as
    1. a hardness of 7.
    2. with crystalline rock.
    3. a metamorphic rock.
    4. heat and pressure.
    5. through the solidification of molten lava.

5. Keep matching items brief, limiting the list of stimuli to under 10.
6. Include more responses than stimuli to help prevent answering through the process of elimination.
7. When possible, reduce the amount of reading time by including only short phrases or single words in the response list.