McG Harden R, Brown R A, Biran L A, Ross W P, Wakeford R E
Med Educ. 1976 Jan;10(1):27-32. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2923.1976.tb00527.x.
Multiple choice question papers in which the student has a 'don't know' option are widely used in undergraduate and postgraduate examinations in Medicine. In the present study students' performance in papers with a 'don't know' option has been compared with their performance when they are instructed to answer all the questions. By completing questions left unanswered (i.e. 'don't know' options) students were able to increase their score significantly and the rank order of the students in class is changed. Answers omitted may indicate complete ignorance or various degrees of knowledge. It is concluded that the 'don't know' option in multiple choice question papers favours the bold and test-wise student and in consequence their validity as a measure of achievement may suffer. Papers in which the student is instructed to answer all the questions are to be preferred to those in common use where there is a 'don't know' option.
在医学本科和研究生考试中，广泛使用设有“不知道”选项的多项选择题试卷。在本研究中，将学生在设有“不知道”选项试卷中的表现，与他们被要求回答所有问题时的表现进行了比较。通过完成未作答的问题（即“不知道”选项），学生能够显著提高他们的分数，并且班级中学生的排名顺序也会改变。遗漏的答案可能表明完全无知或不同程度的了解。得出的结论是，多项选择题试卷中的“不知道”选项有利于大胆且考试经验丰富的学生，因此其作为成绩衡量标准的有效性可能会受到影响。要求学生回答所有问题的试卷，比普遍使用的设有“不知道”选项的试卷更可取。
