Imrana Khan, Aslam Fareed.
Multiple Choice Questions as a Single Tool for Assessing Retention of Knowledge in Problem-Based Learning.
J Coll Physicians Surg Pak Jan ;11(8):494-6.

Objective: To test if traditional multiple-choice-questions (MCQ) can be used in evaluating the retention of knowledge by two methods, problem-based learning (PBL) and lecture-based learning (LBL). Design: An observational study. Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted at the Dow Medical College over a period of eight months. Subjects and Methods: All 249 second year medical students attending classes were included and taught a topic of biochemistry by the LBL method. Among these students 141 were then taught another topic of biochemistry by a PBL method. A traditional MCQ test was conducted at the conclusion of each topic. Five months later, they were given a specially-designed questionnaire to find their own retention of knowledge by each method. The same two MCQ tests were repeated. Students` self-assessment was compared for both the methods by the Wilcoxon Signed-Rank test for matched samples. Paired t-test for mean MCQ scores was done to compare their scores at 0 and 5 months. Results: No significant difference was found between their mean scores at 0 months by the PBL or LBL methods but after five months, the retest score showed that the material taught by LBL was retained more (though not significantly) than that taught by PBL, although by the students own assessment, retention by PBL was thought to be significantly higher than by LBL (p = 0.001). Conclusion: There was a discrepancy between the students self-assessment of retention of knowledge and that elicited by the traditional MCQs. Thus, traditional MCQs cannot be used as a sole evaluation tool for retention of knowledge by PBL.

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