What is the difference between a multiple choice question and a matrix multiple-choice question?
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The main difference between these two types of questions is that a multiple-choice question will ask you to select one option from a list, while a matrix multiple-choice question requires you to select one option from each row or column in a table or matrix.
Here is an example of what that would look like:
A matrix is built with columns that run vertically and rows that run horizontally. On each row, the horizontal piece, you’ll be able to make one choice. However, there will be multiple options for you to pick from, but only one choice is going to be correct on each line or row.
Key points for Matrix multiple choice questions:
- Treat each row like a regular multiple-choice question
- One correct “choice” per row
- Radio buttons (kinda looks like a scantron sheet)
Words to watch for:
- Pick one of the following . . .
- The word “or”
Another thing that’s going to help you with these next-generation item types is the utilization of the EHR or the electronic health record.
You can actually see the following in the EHR
- Patient description
- Nurses’ notes
- History and physical
- Flow sheets
This information will help give you some indication about the correct item choices or the correct responses to the question. Pretty exciting, right?
The EHR will look something like this:
Make sure to click through the EHR when you’re answering any of these questions to see if there are any indications from what the question is asking to find clues in the EHR.
Alright, ready to run through an example of how to answer a matrix multiple-choice question.
Here is the question:
I like to treat each row like its own question, so you could even take a piece of paper and cover up the other pieces as you work through each one in turn.
So this first one says:
“The risk of postpartum hemorrhage is over at 24 hours after delivery.”
Is that appropriate education? This is pretty absolute. So there’s no more possibility of postpartum hemorrhage after 24 hours?
That’s not appropriate Education, it’s not true. The risk for postpartum hemorrhage is not over at 24 hours, so this is inappropriate education.
Let’s take a look at the next one.
“Oxytocin may be continued for the next few hours”
Appropriate or not appropriate?
You know this is appropriate. We don’t know how long the oxytocin may be continued, but it may be continued for the next few hours.
Remember, you can also go through the EHR which will give you some more information about the condition of the uterus, whether it lacks tone and needs, some help from oxytocin for contraction or fundal massage, etc.
This is appropriate education because oxytocin may be continued to help in this case of postpartum hemorrhage.
Alright, so you get the idea of how you will answer the matrix multiple-choice questions. If you want to watch an entire overview on answering the question just click the YouTube video below!
Before we close, Let’s talk about the linchpins:
- Item Type: Matrix multiple choice
- How to answer: Multiple choices, one correct choice per row
- What helps: Inappropriate education choices contain ‘absolute words’ or incorrect information
Did you know that right now at nursing.com/, you can practice matrix multiple-choice questions for free?
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