Evidence on practice effects of VSAQs versus MCQs is mixed, with no consistent advantage for either format¶
Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · quant-synthesisr1·q2
Currency · newest study 2026 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person
Subclaims¶
Reading the evidence codes
q is the design tier, i the impact, n the sample, and the kind with its r
the rigour judged within that kind: what each code means.
This claim: no standardized effect is recorded in observations/ for it yet, so no benchmark reading is possible.
q2 i? Earlier data suggested a positive practice effect favoring VSAQ practice (Hedges' g = 0.59), while more recent data showed a non-significant trend (Hedges' g = -0.26, p = 0.08). → Sher Ali 2026
Evidence¶
Sher Ali 2026¶
Sher Ali, Arshad Muhammad Moin Ud Din, Abbas Mesum, Asghar Abdul Hannan, Khan Anees Hussain, Ali Junaid, Yaqoob Muhammad Ibrahim, Alam Rana Aftab, Akram Muhammad Bilal, Masood Muhammad Abdullah, Thakur Amit Kumar. (2026). Very short answer questions vs. multiple choice questions in health professions education: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Medical Education. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-026-09359-5
q2 · i? · quant-synthesis · r1
Exploratory analysis of practice effects drawing on Adesope et al. and van Wijk et al. (2024). The article reports mixed results and states these "limiting definitive conclusions regarding the superiority of one format for retrieval practice".
"While earlier data (Adesope et al.) suggested a positive effect size favoring VSAQ practice (Hedges’ g = 0.59), more recent specific practice data (van Wijk et al., 2024) showed a non-significant trend (Hedges’ g = -0.26; 95% CI [-0.56, 0.03]; p = 0.08), limiting definitive conclusions regarding the superiority of one format for retrieval practice"
Discussion¶
Related Claims¶
- Short-answer (production) and multiple-choice (recognition) retrieval practice produce no statistically significant difference in undergraduates' reading comprehension on a final MCQ test — related
- Evidence on whether initial short-answer questions produce more learning than initial multiple-choice questions is mixed, with recent studies finding little or no difference — related
- Switching from written short-answer to multiple-choice test format did not substantially change score levels — related
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by process:wiki-ingest on 2026-10-31 |
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