Is an Examinee's Cognitive Style Related to the Impact of Answer Changing on Multiple-Choice Tests?

Abstract

Are some students advantaged when changing multiple-choice answers? The authors of this investigation assessed the importance of an examinee's cognitive style in the answer-changing process. Two separate studies were conducted using undergraduates (n = 125 and n = 84). One set of variables consisted of a measure of field dependence/field independence, a measure of impulsivity/reflectivity, and an introductory psychology unit examination made up of multiple-choice items. A second set of variables was formed by gathering two answer-changing scores for each subject using the scannable forms from the unit examination—one reflecting the effect of answer changes and the other representing the number of changes. Canonical correlation analysis was used to describe the relationship between the two sets of variables. Only the first canonical correlation coefficient was statistically significant in each study. The structure coefficients indicated that the cognitive-style variables had little impact on the canonical solution and that a combination of the effect of answer changes, the number of changes, and unit examination scores were the most influential components of the first canonical variates.