The major issues addressed in this study were the effect which certain distractors have on student performance when solving mathematics problems in a multiple-choice format, and the processes used by students in solving these problems. / Phasse I of the investigation consisted of administering three forms of a test to students in grades eight and eleven. Two of the forms were of a multiple-choice nature and one form was constructed response (no choices were given; the student was expected to solve the problem and supply a unique answer). The two multiple-choice forms were identical except for one of the answer choices. One form had the major distractor (answer to step one in a two-step problem) and the other form did not have this distractor. The problem statement was the same in all three forms. The questions were one- and two-step problems dealing with percent (discount, interest and sales tax). / Phase II of the study consisted of interviews with individual students from grades eight and eleven. The purpose of the interviews was to learn as much as possible about the processes used by students when solving problems where the answer must be selected from a list of four possible choices. / Each student was asked to think aloud as he/she attempted to solve each of eight problems. After the student selected an answer, the interviewer asked probing questions to obtain as much information as possible about the process used, including any use of the answer choices before a final answer was selected. / An ANOVA was used for data analysis on Part I. The results were that the mean score for the constructed response test form was significantly lower than the mean score for either of the two multiple-choice forms. / While there is no statistical evidence from Part I that the presence of step-one distractors has an effect on student performance, there is some evidence to this effect from Part II of the study. Of those two-step problems presented, 42% of the responses of students from the average and low ability groups were the intermediate answers. Also, 52% of the incorrect responses by the average ability group on two-step problems were the intermediate answers. / Phase II of the study revealed that very few students use short cuts or mental computations in arriving at answers. There seems to be a direct relationship between a student's mathematical ability and when the student first looks at the answer choices. The low ability students look at the choices early in the problem-solving process and the high ability students usually first look at the choices late in the process (often after finding the answer). Also, the average ability student is somewhat inconsistent in the processes used to solve similar two-step problems; the low ability student is very inconsistent. / The processes used by the low ability students in selecting an answer choice were as follows: (1) Solve the problem and then look at the choices (and select the matching one). (2) Solve the problem, look at the choices and select the number closest to the student's answer. (3) Look at the choices and search for a process which would yield one of them. (4) Force the answer to be one of the choices (by dropping a zero, moving the decimal, etc.) (5) Guessing. (6) Not selecting a choice at all. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-07, Section: A, page: 2983. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1980.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_74213 |
| Contributors | SCOTT, PAUL DOUGLAS., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 138 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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