We compared three clinical vignette-based survey response formats: an open-ended questionnaire, a closed-ended (multiple-choice) questionnaire with cued correct items and a closed-ended questionnaire with deceptive items mixed with correct items.
We conducted a prospective randomized study aimed at comparing three response modalities for a vignette-based survey: open-ended questionnaire, closed-ended questionnaire (with only correct response items) and closed-ended questionnaire with deceptive response items mixed with correct items.
Our objective was to compare three clinical vignette-based survey response formats – open-ended questionnaire (A), closed-ended (multiple-choice) questionnaire with deceptive response items mixed with correct items (B), and closed-ended questionnaire with only correct items (C) – in rheumatologists' pre-treatment assessment for tumor-necrosis-factor (TNF) blocker therapy.
Physicians were given these questions in one of three questionnaire formats: open-ended questionnaire (questionnaire A) [see Additional file 1], closed-ended (multiple-choice) questionnaire with deceptive response items mixed with correct items (n = 73) (questionnaire B) [see Additional file 2], closed-ended questionnaire with only correct items (n = 35) (questionnaire C) [see Additional file 3].
The insertion of deceptive response items mixed with correct items in closed-ended (multiple-choice) questionnaire failed to avoid this overestimation.
The next analysis investigated regions commonly activated during correct source memory judgments for old items compared with correct identification of new items, irrespective of retrieval task and study condition.
In order to identify regions related to objective recollection, we examined the contrast between R items associated with correct source judgments (R + source) and R items associated with incorrect source or "don't know" judgments (R − source).
Participants were more likely to use exclusion for items with a correct answer than for personal judgments.
The test included 21 items with one correct answer and four distracters and covered the content areas; natural selection, extinction processes, homologous structures, coevolution, analogous structures, convergent evolution, intermediate forms, adaptive radiation, speciation, evolutionary rates, fossil record, biogeography, environmental change, genetic variability, and reproductive success.
There were five items with a corrected item-Total correlation of less than.3.
