The Effect of Education on Improvement of Multiple Choice Questions' Designing in Annual Residency Exams of Dental School

Introduction: Multiple choice exams are one of the most common objective exams used in medical education. So, it is important to find ways to improve the quality of these exams, especially in residency programs. Thus the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of education on quality improvement of Multiple Choice Questions (MSQ) designed in Annual Residency Exams of Dental Faculty. Methods: In this experimental study, the structure and taxonomy in all MCQs designed by dental faculty for annual residency exams in 2008 were analyzed through valid and reliable checklist. Checklist items were based on Millman’s principles and several other resources. The same process was repeated for MCQs after running a workshop for question designers. The pre- and post- workshop data were compared using Z test. Results: From 1239 questions, 63.1% and 76.3% of the questions developed in 2008 and 2009 had no structural flaw, which revealed a significant difference between the two years (P<0.001). Regarding high taxonomy questions, a significant increase was observed in the year 2009 (P=0.039). Conclusion: Considering the results of this study, designing and running training workshop for question designers improved quality of MCQs and these workshops can lead to improvement of MCQ exams in other universities.