How to design a good Short Answer Questions?

1. Design short answer items which are appropriate assessment of the learning objective.
2. Make sure the content of the short answer question measure knowledge appropriate to the desired learning goal
3. Express the questions with clear wordings and language which are appropriate to the students population
4. Ensure there is only one clearly correct answer in each question
5. Ensure that the item clearly specifies how the question should be answered
6. Consider whether the positioning of the item blank promote efficient scoring
7. Write the instructions clearly so as to specify the desired knowledge and specificity of response
8. Set the questions explicitly and precisely
9. Direct questions are better than those which require completing the sentences
10. For numerical answers, let the students know if they will receive marks for showing partial work (process based) or only the results (product based), also indicated the importance of the units
11. Let the students know what your marking style is like, is bullet point format acceptable, or does it have to be an essay format?
12. Prepare a structured marking sheet; allocate marks or part-marks for acceptable answer
13. Be prepared to accept other equally acceptable answers, some of which you     may not have predicted.

Marking Rubrics

Short answer questions tend to be short, and have more precise answers, thus, it is possible for each question to list out all the possible answers/points.

For example, if there are 6 possible arguments to a question, and the student scores all 6 arguments, he will get full mark in that question. If he scores only 4 arguments, he will get a relative mark. You may also decide to be lenient, if there are 6 arguments in a question, and the student scores any 4 out of 6, he will get full mark, this would be an assessor decision, however, this decision must be clear and consistent.

Constructing Short Answer Questions

Short Answer content

1. Design for recall of specific names, facts, and basic knowledge
2. Focus the question so there are limited number of possible correct responses (or one only) in order to discriminate achievement
3. Make sure that question provides enough information so that students know what constitutes a correct response.

Short answer protocol

1. Make sure that the answer will require only a few words
2. If a list is expected, limit the number of items to be listed to 6 or so
3. Write the stem in your own words; that is, don’t use wording directly from a text or reading assignments
4. Make the stem complete enough so that the meaning is clear
5. When the stem is an incomplete statement, place the “blank” for the correct choice at the end of the statement
6. When a negative item is used, emphasize the negative word or phrase, that is, underline, capitalize or italicize, for example, “DOES NOT”
7. Avoid clues to the correct answer such as “a” or “an” as the last word of the stem   or plural verbs that match plural choices.

Short-answer exam questions generally require you to remember and reproduce knowledge, e.g. "Define the term fuzzy logic". You may also be required to demonstrate your understanding of knowledge in questions such as "discuss the role of...".

Understanding what type of response the examiner wants requires that you read and analyse the question carefully. To analyse and interpret the question accurately requires a good knowledge of the meaning of direction words.

Direction words	Response required
List...	You are asked to briefly note or state specific information in a list format. For example: "List the three major components of the CPU."
Explain...	You are asked to clarify, interpret, and elaborate on the material presented, to give reasons for differences of opinion or results, and to try to analyse causes. For example: "Explain the basic operation of the CPU as it processes instructions in memory."
Compare...	You are asked to identify characteristics or qualities that resemble each other; to emphasise similiarities and also mention differences where appropriate. For example: "Compare optic fibre and coaxial cable as data transmission media."
Describe...	You are asked to state the most noticeable qualitites or features. For example: "Describe the operation of the CSMA/CD medium access protocol."
Name...	You are asked to give the appropriate (discipline-specific) term by which something is known. For example: "Name the three types of modulation which can be used to encode digital data on an analog wave."
Discuss...	You are asked to point out the important features and express some form of critical judgement. For example: "Discuss the role of cache memory within the memory hierarchy."