Question

Compare and contrast constructed-response items and selected-response items.

Identify at least one (1) advantage and one (1) disadvantage of each type of item.

If you were to create your own test, would you include constructed-response items, selected-response items, or both? Defend your answer.

Answer 1

As we all know, psychology is a science and thus it requires scientific research and assessments. For descriptive research, we use methods like survey , questionnaire etc. These types of research involves responses from the participants.Responses can be in two ways.

Selected responses are such types of responses, where the responses are already selected and the participant have to choose between given responses. Examples are matching, multiple choice questions, true or false, yes or no etc. Constructed response gives the participant the right to respond in his own way , that is , in the way he likes. Examples are essays , short answers etc.

Selected response items are easier to score and we could cover a broader area in short time. The main advantage of constructed research is that it allows the participant to give their subjective and in depth understanding.

One of the main disadvantage of selected research is the game of guessing. The answers are all guesses. And constructed research cannot be evaluated using a single scale because they are subjective responses and it would be more time consuming to score.

Both these type of items have disadvantages and advantages. The accurate response item depends upon the our research question. If my research is an in depth , personal type of question , I would select constructed response item and if my study is on a general topic, I would select selected response item.