Essay, multiple-choice (MCQ) and combined (essay with MCQ) type examinations: the pharmacy students' perspective.

BACKGROUND: Modern teaching methods require feedback from students in all aspects of the course, examination inclusive. The study is aimed at comparing the perceptions, attitudes and dispositions toward teacher-made essay, multiple-choice and combined (essay with multiple-choice) type examinations currently used to assess students in the Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Biopharmacy of the University of Lagos.

METHOD: The survey was conducted in a voluntary captive mode using a sample of 122 penultimate and final year pharmacy students. They were administered structured questionnaires to elicit information on the three examination type formats on a number of important dimensions. The stimuli investigated on a 5-point Likert continuum, appeared on the inventory in a counterbalanced order. Individual scales were combined linearly and averaged to obtain a composite attitude scale, with higher scores showing more positive dispositions to test formats under consideration. The means obtained were subjected to ANOVA.

RESULTS: There was no significant difference between the means of the attitude scale ratings for the three test formats.

CONCLUSION: There was no particular inclination toward any test format. However other factors related to the examiner and learning objectives should be taken into consideration in the choice of the most appropriate test format for the department.