Comparison of Online Tests of Very Short Answer versus Single Best Answers for Medical Students in a Pharmacology Course over One Year

Table 1

Test results of all groups of students.

Group	Number of students (n)	Mean points ± SD	Mean time (min:s)	Cronbach’s alpha	Significance ()
A (total)	96	20.7 ± 4.1	36:25	0.650
B (total)	115	21.3 ± 4.8^a	34:25	0.677	^avs. A (total)
A + B (total)	211	21.0 ± 4.4
A (SC) #1–15	96	13.1 ± 1.9	17:02	0.603
A (VSA) #16–30	89	8.1 ± 2.4^b	19:12^b	0.556	^bvs. A (SC)
B (SC) #16–30	112	9.8 ± 2.9	17:42	0.610
B (VSA) #1–15	115	11.6 ± 2.2^c,d	16:43^c	0.499	^cvs. B (SC); ^dvs. A (VSA)
AA (total)	44	20.9 ± 4.6	40:56
AB (total)	42	21.2 ± 4.5	38:40
BA (total)	44	22.1 ± 5.3	37:45
BB (total)	52	23.0 ± 4.6^e,f	37:46		^evs. AA (total); ^fvs. B (total)
AA + AB + BA + BB (total)	182	22.5 ± 3.8
AA (SC) #1–15	44	12.4 ± 2.0^b	17:10		^bvs. A (SC)
AA (VSA) #16–30	42	9.0 ± 2.4^g	23:32^g		^gvs. AA (SC)
AB (SC) #16–30	41	10.5 ± 2.9	19:20
AB (VSA) #1–15	42	10.9 ± 2.4	19:24
BA (SC) #1–15	44	12.8 ± 2.2^b	16:48		^bvs. A (SC)
BA (VSA) #16–30	42	9.7 ± 3.4^d,h	20:56^i		^d vs. A (VSA); ^hvs. BA (SC)
BB (SC) #16–30	49	11.7 ± 2.5^c	19:03		^cvs. B (SC)
BB (VSA) #1–15	52	11.5 ± 2.1	18:09