Item Analysis

Abstract

Item analysis is usually carried out by nursing students when they prepare questionnaire or tools for their post graduate research. It is also used by examining bodies who conduct entrance exams. They assess multiple choice questions (mcqs) for their suitability which are prepared by the nursing experts. The good mcqs are thus retained in the entrance exam and poor ones omitted or modified. Item analysis is done to evaluate the quality of mcqs. There are three aspects to it i.e. difficulty index, discrimination index and distractor effectiveness. A good mcq can help us identify a good student and a weak student or a good candidate from a weaker one.