Let’s start with a quick multiple-choice question. What do you think is my favourite song?* Please choose one of the below and try to justify your answer. Your justification can include why you think your answer is correct and/or why the other answers may be wrong:
- Let it Go, from the movie Frozen
- Mustang Sally, by Andrew Strong
- Iris, by Goo Goo Dolls
- My Heart Will Go On, by Celine Dion
This sort of question, where you must select an answer and provide a justification, has been recently studied to see if it can help accelerate student learning. And the results make for some very interesting reading.
Read on for:
A Sixty-Second recap of Multiple-Choice Questions
Multiple-choice questions don’t just assess student learning; they can accelerate it, as they are a great form of Retrieval Practice. They are especially useful for spotting knowledge gaps, clarifying misunderstandings, and reinforcing key ideas. Over time, this kind of active recall helps students build stronger, more flexible knowledge that holds up under pressure. This makes multiple-choice questions a valuable part of any learning strategy.
Research has indicated several strategies and tips to make the most out of multiple-choice questions. These include:
- Keep it to 3–4 options – Research suggests that offering three or four answer choices provides the best balance between reliability and efficiency, helping students focus without overwhelming them.
- Avoid “none of the above” or “all of the above” – These options can lead to confusion and reinforce misconceptions, especially if students repeatedly see incorrect answers.
- Try confidence-weighted questions – Letting students show how confident they are in their answers can improve recall and give more insight into their understanding.
Now, a new study may offer another helpful strategy for maximising multiple-choice questions, by getting students to justify their answers…
Multiple Choice, Retrieval Practice and Justifications
Researchers recently found that by getting students to justify their answers on a multiple-choice quiz, it led to a 16.4% increase in quiz results compared to students who simply did multiple-choice questions. By adding the justification, presumably it encourages students to think harder and deeper about the question. Essentially, it prompts students to make connections to a wider range of information.
For example, in the song question above, you might think that the writer would probably hate the song ‘Let It Go’, as his children have played it countless times on repeat… And you might correctly think that he thinks ‘Mustang Sally’ is the greatest karaoke song of all time. This train of thought stops you from rushing to give an immediate answer and encourages you to give a logical one.
The researchers of this study highlight an additional benefit for using this process when they write that
“Finally, in classroom settings, answer justifications provide further insight into student thinking compared to standard multiple choice. Students may spontaneously reveal misconceptions, gaps in their thinking, or admit lack of knowledge in their responses. These rich responses provide an opportunity for individualized interventions to address misunderstandings.”
A Word of Warning
As with most things in psychology and teaching & learning, there is a trade-off. In this case, researchers found that
“While answer justification offers clear benefits, its adoption in classroom settings requires careful planning. One consideration is the increased time required for completion, as answer justification takes longer than standard multiple-choice questions.”
In the study, having to give a justification increased the average length of time spent on the multiple-choice quiz, adding over 10 minutes of time. Given this additional time requirement, teachers will have to decide if the extra time spent is well spent on the potential learning gain.
As well as taking longer, the researchers also highlighted how this type of multiple-choice quiz format may not always be optimal. They write
“Another factor is question suitability; answer justification probably works best for conceptual and application-based questions rather than simple definition-based recall. For example, a question like ‘What is a mineral?’ may not be as effective in this format as ‘Which of the following is a mineral?’ because the latter allows for a more meaningful explanation.”
Clearly, the type of question makes a big difference. This chimes well with previous blogs we have written about knowing which type of question to ask when. You can read more about that in this blog, Four types of questions to check for understanding.
Final Thoughts
Research at its best can highlight opportunities to accelerate learning. Adding justifications to multiple-choice questions may be an avenue that can get students to think harder, make connections and expose potential misconceptions in their thought process. This is valuable information that offers a foundation for adaptive teaching. By knowing what they know, and helping them learn more, it is worth considering if this strategy is worth the additional time it takes to complete.
*The correct answer is of course, Mustang Sally, originally by Mack Rice. You may have been able to justify that answer yourself by guessing that my children have listened to ‘Let It Go’ on repeat too many times for me to cope with, that ‘Iris’ was the classic break-up song of my generation in my teenage years, and that no one would ever choose ‘My Heart Will Go On’ as their favourite song, ever. So, treat yourself and spend 4 minutes and eighteen seconds listening to the best song ever recorded here.
