Annette Kujawski Taylor and Patricia Kowalski’s article, “Students’ misconceptions in Psychology: How you ask matters…sometimes” points out the difference in the accuracy of using both the true/false format and forced-choice format in identifying the misconceptions among introductory psychology students. The authors note that various misconceptions surrounding psychology are rooted among several students and correctly assessing these misconceptions is the first step towards changing them. Interestingly, the researchers show that the true/false questionnaire format is problematic with a higher margin of error in accuracy in comparison to the forced-choice format. After asking a sample of psychology students several misconceptions questions and using both the true/false format and forced-choice format to guide them in answering, Kujawski and Kowalski conclude that the forced-choice format is the more accurate method to identify the misconceptions lingering among them.

The researchers aim in conducting the study is changing students’ false beliefs that they strongly hold onto before joining the introductory psychology course. Kujawski and Kowalski note that simple instructions do not change these students’ minds regarding misconceptions not only in the field of psychology but across various academic disciplines including; physics, earth science, political science and philosophy (Kowalski, 2012). To change the misconceptions that these students believe in, a plausible and essential strategy should be applied in presenting their false ideas to show their mismatch to current scientific views. Kujawski and Kowalski identify different aspects that make true/false assessments erroneous in studying misconceptions. One is that formulating true/false questions is difficult, and their contribution towards students’ guessing makes it problematic to identify if such responses portray a lack of knowledge or incorrect knowledge. Also, most misconceptions naturally lead to these true/false assessments’ questions to be falsified for the students to answer them correctly. Not only does the true/false format make it challenging to identify the extent to which the responses portray actual beliefs, but they also make it difficult to know the levels of response bias and demand characteristic.

For the research, Kujawski and Kowalski used a sample of 164 participants, all of whom were introductory psychology students. Only 155 of the participants completed the two questionnaires handed to all of them, and so the final analysis portrayed information regarding the 155 (Kowalski, 2012). For the material, they chose items used from prior questionnaires and a forced-choice format curated by Bensley (2011). Each item comprised of both versions, forced format and true/false versions. Email announcements were used to notify the participants on how to proceed with the survey. The announcements offered guidelines on ways of accessing the online survey followed by completing the questionnaire, which required an hour or less to undertake.

Results from Kujawski and Kowalski’s research show that for most items, the accuracy was higher when testing participants with the forced-choice format in comparison to the true/false version. Generally, a t-test comparing accuracy reflects a substantial margin with t (38) = -4.539, P<.001 (Kowalski, 2012). Averagely, the forced-choice format was 41.29% accurate, while the true-false format was 33.05% accurate. These results portray how phrasing the questions regarding various items affects the students’ responses regarding misconception. Therefore, assessing students’ misconception, in some cases, relies on how the questions are framed. Overall, the forced-choice format reports fewer misconceptions among students.

The researchers agree that identifying the precise thought process among the students is challenging. It is likely various items tend to focus away from the differing alternatives if the students are only presented with the more popular true/false misconception format. However, the forced-choice version provides the correct response next to the false response, triggering the students to consider the correctness of the second option (Kowalski, 2012).  Subsequent research ought to be carried out that includes additional procedures to assist in determining these processes. By identifying the students’ thought process while answering the items, it would greatly assist in realizing if the students have another understanding regarding the item and not just a misconception.

References

Kowalski, A. K. (2012). Students’ misconceptions in Psychology: How you ask matters…sometimes. Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 62-77.