Negative Question Stem Screen

Flag negative terms in multiple-choice question stems.

Description

Negative terms in a question stem can merit editorial review.

Negative terms in a question stem can merit editorial review. This scan finds a narrow English word list without judging the intended task.^[1]

Flag negative terms in multiple-choice question stems.

When to use Negative Question Stem Screen

Use this tool to flag negative terms in multiple-choice question stems.

Prepare the lesson timeline, roster, observations or assessment labels requested. Use consistent units and exact identifiers, then choose comparison criteria appropriate to the activity.

How to use Negative Question Stem Screen and understand its results

Prepare the lesson timeline, roster, observations or assessment labels requested. Use consistent units and exact identifiers, then choose comparison criteria appropriate to the activity.
Enter questionStem using the field table and calculation rules, then run the tool.
Read negativeTerms, hasNegativeStem. The explanation below defines the units, signs, ordering and any flags or placeholder values.
If the tool reports an input issue, correct the values and run it again. Apply the stated assumptions when interpreting a successfully returned result.

Input field	Meaning	Value type; see rules below	Requirement
questionStem	Question stem	string	Required

Enter stem text. Match those four terms case-insensitively with Unicode regex mode, returning uppercase matches in occurrence order and a presence flag. Duplicate occurrences remain.

terms=whole-word matches of not, except, never, least; flag=count>0

Units, indexing, boundary conditions and exceptional cases are defined in the calculation rules above.

Output field	Meaning	Value type
negativeTerms	Negative terms	list of string
hasNegativeStem	Has negative stem	boolean

json

{
  "input": {
    "questionStem": "Which option is NOT correct?"
  },
  "output": {
    "negativeTerms": [
      "NOT"
    ],
    "hasNegativeStem": true
  }
}

Limitations and assumptions

An empty stem gives no terms. Context and other negation forms are not interpreted; a match is not proof of a poorly written question.

Numeric inputs must be finite. Follow the calculation-specific rules for overflow, underflow and exceptional cases. Extremely large text inputs are rejected. Missing required fields, extra fields, wrong value types and violations of the calculation rules are input errors. A successfully returned false flag is an evaluated outcome; its meaning is explained above.

Alternative or Complementary methods

Use MCQ Distractor Audit: Audit MCQ distractors for duplicates and caller-defined minimum length. For a complementary task, use Assessment Blueprint Coverage: Audit test-item counts against objectives and a caller-selected coverage minimum.

References

Negative Question Stem Screen — tool.io

Similar or alternative tools

MCQ Distractor Audit
Audit MCQ distractors for duplicates and caller-defined minimum length.
Assessment Blueprint Coverage
Audit test-item counts against objectives and a caller-selected coverage minimum.