The effect of question format on measured HIV/AIDS knowledge: detention center teens, high school students, and adults.
This study examines the effect of question format on HIV/AIDS knowledge assessed in teens in a detention center, public high school students, and adults. Multiple-choice items were taken from a Red Cross questionnaire and were transformed into open-ended and true/false/don't know formats. Each respondent received an open-ended and a structured version of the test (consisting of multiple-choice and true/false/don't know items). Format effects varied by group and order of presentation: High school students and adults performed better on the open-ended questions if they had answered the structured versions first-suggesting that the structured questions provided these respondents with unintended cues. Detention center youths did not benefit from having answered the structured items, and scored especially low on the open-ended questions. However, they did almost as well as the other groups with the true/false/don't know format. Implications are discussed for measuring HIV/AIDS knowledge and evaluating educational programs for different target audiences.
Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands. W.J.A.Bruine.de.Bruin@tm.tue.nl
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D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000523:psychology; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000523:psychology; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007604:Juvenile Delinquency / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D011897:Random Allocation; D012011:Red Cross; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013383:Suburban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States