Students' Attitudes toward and Use of Written Justifications for Multiple-Choice Answers

The current study was concerned with the participation patterns and attitudes of college students who were encouraged to write justifications of their answers in order to gain credit for responses that would otherwise be incorrect throughout a semester's worth of multiple-choice tests. Subjects were 134 students enrolled in undergraduate educational psychology and tests and measurement courses. Attitude measures indicated uniformly positive attitudes toward the use of this technique as well as a general belief in the technique as a means to improve reasoning and scores on the tests, whether the students wrote justifications or not. General conclusions obtainable from the study were that use of the technique is beneficial, not only in terms of student scores but also in terms of student satisfaction with the tests taken.