摘要：
Multiple choice questions (MCQs) are used in assessing both undergraduate and postgraduate medical students
of the School of Medical Sciences (SMS), Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM). Questions that are generated by the subject
specialists are vetted at departmental and central levels. MCQs used in assessing Phase-II MD students are analysed in
terms of its reliability, validity and difficulty and discriminating indices. For reliability in terms of internal consistency
both Spearman-Brown formula and Cronbach's alpha were used. Difficulty and discriminating indices for the MCQs were
collected from the computer generated marking sheets. Alpha reliability coefficient for internal consistency is 0.91 for
both MCQ1 and MCQ2 while corrected reliability (Spearman-Brown prophecy) for MCQ1 is 0.88 and MCQ2 is 0.91.
The process of generating and vetting of questions judges the face and content validity of both these MCQs. The concurrent
validity for MCQ1 and MCQ2 are r=0.55, p<0.01 and r=0.69, p<0.01 respectively. Sixty percent of both MCQ1 and
MCQ2 are within the difficulty index of 20% to 80%, while 34% of MCQ1 and 37% of MCQ2 have discriminating indices
of ≥0.2. The MCQs have satisfactory levels of reliability and validity. A majority of the MCQs are within the acceptable
level of difficulty index. A well-structured and strict central vetting process in the SMS ensures an acceptable standard
of MCQs.
