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Education QUESTION #6770
Question 1
In developing MCQ distractors, a teacher writes: 'Which country first used nuclear weapons in warfare? a) USA b) Soviet Union c) Germany d) France'. Only option (a) is a genuine threat to an informed student. What principle of MCQ construction is violated?
  • The stem should not use negative phrasing
  • Distractors should be plausible to uniformed students; implausible distractors do not contribute to item functioning and should be revised✔️
  • The stem should present a definite problem
  • All options should be grammatically consistent with the stem
Correct Answer Explanation
A core rule of MCQ construction is that all distractors must be plausible to students who lack the relevant knowledge. If a distractor is not selected by any student in a field test, it contributes nothing to the item's measurement function and should be replaced with a more compelling incorrect option.