Objectives: We designed our study with the hypothesis that open ended Short Answer type Questions (SAQs), no matter how carefully framed, cannot be as objective as Multiple Choice type Questions (MCQs).Methods: The study was conducted on 1st year MBBS students (n=99) studying at AIIMS, Jodhpur. Awritten test on 'Blood & Immunity' was conducted containing same questions in two formats; twelve MCQs (type E) in section Aand 12 SAQs in section B. Maximum marks for all questions in both sections were equal. All the answers of section B were evaluated separately by two different examiners to reduce the subjectivity and a model answer sheet for both the sections was prepared and provided to both the examiners.Results: The difference in the scores in Section B SAQs that were evaluated by two different examiners was not statistically signiï¬cant. Mean of the marks awarded by the two examiners was taken as the ï¬nal score of each student in section B. The difference in the scores by the students in the two sections was also non-signiï¬cant (p=0.14). A signiï¬cant correlation (r=0.99, p<0.0001) was found in SAQ and MCQ scores. Bland- Altman analysis also showed no proportion of bias and the two methods of scoring were in agreement with each other.Conclusion: The results suggest that meticulously-framed open-ended short answer type questions can be as objective as multiple choice type questions.Keywords: Multiple choice questions, medical education, assessment, open-ended questions
