THE

MATCHING

TEST

FORMAT

The matching test item format provides a way for

learners to connect a word, sentence or phrase in

one column to a corresponding word, sentence or

phrase in a second column. The items in the first

column are called premises and the answers in

the second column are the responses.

The convention is for learners to match the

premise on the left with a given response on the

right. By convention, the items in Column A are

numbered and the items in Column B are labeled

with capital letters.

EXAMPLE

PREMISES RESPONSE

COLUMN A COLUMN B

___1. Person who performs

mysterious tasks no one

understands

A. Facilitator

___2. Person who provides

schooling for children

B. Trainer

___3. Person who enables a group

to find solutions

C. Instructional Designer

___4. Person who instructs adults

in a classroom

D. Meeting Organizer

E. Teacher

Many authoring tools come with a pre-built

matching test item template, which may involve

dragging responses to the premise or typing the

letters from Column B into Column A. The

authoring tool templates may vary from the

conventions of the written format.

WHEN TO USE MATCHING

The matching test item format provides a change

of pace, particularly for self-check and review

activities. Many instructional designers employ

them in quizzes and tests too. They are effective

when you need to measure the learner’s ability to

identify the relationship or association between

similar items.

THEY WORK BEST WHEN THE COURSE

CONTENT HAS MANY PARALLEL CONCEPTS,

FOR EXAMPLE:

Terms and Definitions

Objects or Pictures and Labels

Symbols and Proper Names

Causes and Effects

Scenarios and Responses

Principles and Scenarios to which they apply

CONSTRUCTION

GUIDELINES

If you decide to use a matching format, take the

time to construct items that are valid and

reliable. Here are some guidelines for this.

1. Two-part directions. Your clear directions at the

start of each question need two parts: 1) how to make

the match and 2) the basis for matching the response

with the premise. You can also include whether items

can be re-used, but often pre-built templates don’t

allow for this.

Example for exercise above: Drag each career name in

Column B to the best definition in Column A. No items

may be used more than once.

2. Parallel content. Within one matching test item,

use a common approach, such as all terms and

definitions or all principles and the scenarios to which

they apply.

3. Plausible answers. All responses in Column B

should be plausible answers to the premises in Column

A. Otherwise, the test loses some of its reliability

because some answers will be “give-aways.”

4. Clueless. Ensure your premises don’t include hints

through grammar (like implying the answer must be

plural) or hints from word choice (like using the term

itself in a definition).

5. Unequal responses. In an ideal world, you should

present more responses than premises, so the

remaining responses don’t work as hints to the correct

answer. This is not often possible when using a

template.

6. Limited premises. Due to the capacity limitations

of working memory, avoid a long list of premises in the

first column. A number that I’ve come across is to keep

the list down to six items. Even less might be better,

depending on the characteristics of your audience.

7. One correct answer. Every premise should have

only one correct response. Obvious, but triple-check to

make sure each response can only work for one

premise.

REARRANGMENT ITEMS

Rearrangment items: rearrange and skip certain

items in order to better estimate the examinees'

abilities, without allowing them to cheat on the

test.

The rearrangement procedure is effective in

reducing the standard error of the Bayesian

ability estimates and in increasing the reliability

of the same estimates.

RANKING ITEMS

A ranking is a relationship between a set of

items such that, for any two items, the first is

either 'ranked higher than', 'ranked lower than'

or 'ranked equal to' the second. It is not

necessarily a total order of objects because two

different objects can have the same ranking. The

rankings themselves are totally ordered. For

example, materials are totally preordered by

hardness, while degrees of hardness are totally

ordered.

By reducing detailed measures to a sequence of

ordinal numbers, rankings make it possible to

evaluate complex information according to

certain criteria. Analysis of data obtained by

ranking commonly requires non-parametric

statistics.

ADVANTAGES AND LIMITATIONS

THAT THIS TYPE OF TEST MIGHT

HAVE

Advantages:

Relatively easy to construct

Easy to score

Disadvantages:

Time consuming for students

Not good for higher levels of learning

TIPS FOR WRITING GOOD MATCHING ITEMS:

Need 15 items or less.

Give good directions on basis for matching.

Use items in response column more than once

(reduces the effects of guessing).

Use homogenous material in each exercise.

Make all responses plausible.

Put all items on a single page.

Put response in some logical order (chronological,

alphabetical, etc.).

Responses should be short.

SKILL LEVELS THAT CAN BE REINFORCED

THROUGH THIS TYPE OF TEST ITEM

Good for:

Knowledge level

Some comprehension level, if appropriately

constructed

Types:

Terms with definitions

Phrases with other phrases

Causes with effects

Parts with larger units

Problems with solutions

MAJOR LIMITATIONS FOR THIS TYPE OF

TEST

They are time consuming for students

They are not good for higher levels of learning

They have difficulty measuring learning

objectives requiring more than simple recall of

information

They are difficult to construct due to the problem

of selecting a common set of stimuli and

responses

They place a high degree of dependence on the

student's reading ability and instructor's writing

ability.

WHAT ARE THE NAMES OF THE

COLUMNS?

The items in the first column are

called premises and the answers in the second

column are the responses.

PREMISE

A previous statement or proposition from which

another is inferred or follows as a conclusion. In tests:

Words or phrases.

RESPONSE

Written answer.

When there are exactly as many premises as there are

responses and when each response is used once and

only once in the matching process, the test item is said

to have perfect matching. When some of the responses

are used more than once or not at all, the item is said

to have imperfect matching. Imperfect matching

makes guessing more difficult.

PERFECT MATCHING

COLUMN A COLUMN B

______1. James Michener A. History

______2. Stephen King B. Horror

______3. Erma Bombeck C. Humor

______4. Agatha Christie D. Mystery

______5. Walt Whitman E. Poetry

______6. Danielle Steele F. Romance

______7. Isaac Asimov G. Science Fiction

IMPERFECT MATCHING

COLUMN A COLUMN B

______1. James Michener A. History

______2. Stephen King B. Horror

______3. Erma Bombeck C. Humor

______4. Agatha Christie D. Mystery

______5. Walt Whitman E. Poetry

______6. Danielle Steele F. Romance

______7. Isaac Asimov G. Science Fiction

H. Tragedy

THANK YOU