RELIABILITY OF COMPUTER BASED TESTING COMPARED TO PAPER-BASED TESTING

 

Bos, N.R.*; Weerd, M van der. Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, 1105 AZ THE NETHERLANDS.

 

PURPOSE

The 'Klinische Lijn (KL)' exam is the final exam students have to pass before they can start their internship. Organising the KL exam is a complex logistical process, since all students have to take the test and almost all medical specialities are involved. To simplify this process a pilot was started to digitalize the KL test. However, before doing so, further research is needed on the effect of a computer-based test (CBT) compared to the original paper test.

 

METHODS

The pilot started with a small group of students who had to take the KL test. The students were divided into two groups. To the first group the first half of the test was presented on the computer and the second half on paper. To the second group it was presented the other way around. The layout of the CBT and paper-version were the same, no additional media were used.

 

RESULTS

We compared the results of the two groups and the two different ways of testing. No significant differences were found between testing on paper or computer based testing.

 

FUTURE DIRECTIONS

Our next study will be on the affect of introducing testing with long lists and with multimedia, on the student results.