Abstract:
The study investigated the moderating role of gender in the effect of item
sequencing in multiple-choice tests on Senior High School students’ academic
performance in the Kumasi Metropolis. The study used the quasi-experimental
design. Stratified, simple random, proportionate and purposive sampling
techniques were used to select a sample of 714 form 2 Senior High School
students. Multiple-choice items were adapted from West African Examination
Council (WAEC) and the validity of the instruments was ascertained through
expert judgement. By using KR20, the reliability of the test items where 0.81
and 0.74 for the Random sequence for both Core Mathematics and Integrated
science respectively. The reliability of the Hard-To-Easy (HTE) sequence were
also 0.76 and 0.71 for Core Mathematics and Integrated Science respectively
whiles that of Easy-To-Hard (ETH) sequence were 0.78 and 0.73 for Core
Mathematics and Integrated Science respectively. One-way repeated measures
ANOVA, One-Way MANOVA and the process procedure by Hayes (2018)
were used to analyse the data that were gathered. The findings of the study
indicated that item sequence in multiple-choice test has effect on students’
academic performance in Core Mathematics and Integrated Science with Easy-
To-Hard (ETH) sequence having the greatest effect on students’ academic
performance in both subjects. The study also revealed that students’ academic
performance in the various kinds of item sequence did not differ with respect to
gender in Core Mathematics but differed in Integrated Science where females
performed better than males. The study further showed that, in Core
Mathematics, gender moderates the relationship between Hard-To-Easy (HTE)
sequence and academic performance but not Easy-To-Hard (ETH) and Random
(RDM) sequence. The results further indicated that, in Integrated Science,
gender moderates the relationship between Easy-To-Hard (ETH) sequence and
performance but not in Hard-To-Easy (HTE) and Random (RDM) sequence. It
was recommended that testing organisations such as WAEC and classroom
teachers should use Easy-To-Hard (ETH) sequence in order to increase
students’ academic performance in Core Mathematics and Integrated Science.
