Chapter 9 - Instructional Media: Chalkboards to Video - CGISS

Matching Items
Advantages -- Matching items are generally quite brief and are
especially suitable for who, what, when, and where questions.
They can, however, be used to have students discriminate among,
and to apply concepts. They permit efficient use of space when
there are a number of similar types of information to be tested.
They are easy to score accurately and quickly.
Disadvantages -- Among the drawbacks of matching items are
that they are difficult to use to measure learning beyond
recognition of basic factual knowledge, and they are usually poor
for diagnosing student strengths and weaknesses. Matching items
are appropriate in only a limited number of situations, and they are
difficult to construct since parallel information is required.
Example -- Notice the relative width of the columns in the
“Cities of the World Quiz” on the following page. Also notice that
the directions tell the learner what to do and answer possible
questions about the format of the quiz.
Section: Student Assessment 162 Chapter 12: Testing Issues