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On the strategic equivalence of multiple-choice test scoring rules

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Author Info
Maria Paz Espinosa () (Universidad del País Vasco)
Javier Gardeazábal () (Universidad del País Vasco)

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Abstract

A disadvantage of multiple-choice tests is that students have incentives to guess. To discourage guessing, it is common to use scoring rules that either penalize wrong answers or reward omissions. These scoring rules are considered equivalent in psychometrics, although experimental evidence has not always been consistent with this claim. We model students' decisions and show, first, that equivalence holds only under risk neutrality and, second, that the two rules can be modified so that they become equivalent even under risk aversion. This paper presents the results of a field experiment in which we analyze the decisions of subjects taking multiple-choice exams. The evidence suggests that differences between scoring rules are due to risk aversion as theory predicts. We also find that the number of omitted items depends on the scoring rule, knowledge, gender and other covariates.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by University of the Basque Country - Department of Foundations of Economic Analysis II in its series DFAEII Working Papers with number 200520.

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Date of creation: 27 Dec 2005
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Handle: RePEc:ehu:dfaeii:200520

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Postal: Dpto. de Fundamentos del Análisis Económico II, Facultad de CC. Económicas y Empresariales, Universidad del País Vasco, Avda. Lehendakari Aguirre 83, 48015 Bilbao, Spain
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Related research
Keywords: field experiment; risk aversion; scoring rules; multiple-choice tests;

Find related papers by JEL classification:
A20 - General Economics and Teaching - - Economic Education and Teaching of Economics - - - General
C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
D80 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - General

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