Anatomy Multiple Choice Questions Item Analysis: Distractor Efficiency Association with Difficulty and Discrimination Indices

Abstract

ABSTRACT

Objective: To determine the association of distractor efficiency with difficulty and discriminatory indices in Anatomy multiple choice questions (MCQs).
Design: Cross-sectional.
Place and Duration of Study: Department of Anatomy, Army Medical College, National University of Medical Sciences Rawalpindi from January 2020 till July 2020.
Materials and Methods: About 215 MCQs of Anatomy of both MBBS and BDS classes through convenience sampling were selected. The MCQs were obtained through optical marks recognition data from the examination branch along with variables of interest, i.e., distractor efficiency, difficulty index and discrimination index. Data were analyzed in STATA Version 14 and SPSS version 26.
Results: The mean distractor efficiency was 64.96 ± 34.28, the mean difficulty index was 65.22±22.53 and the mean discrimination index was 0.30±0.13. Distractor efficiency has a significantly strong negative association with difficulty index (r = -0.73, p=0.001) while a significantly weak positive association with discrimination index (r=0.20, p=0.002).
Conclusion: The Anatomy MCQs item analysis showed that distractor efficiency is negatively correlated with difficulty index but positively correlated with discrimination index.