Can a picture ruin a thousand words? The effects of visual resources and layout in examination questions

Abstract

Visual resources, such as pictures, diagrams and photographs, can sometimes influence students' understanding of an examination question and their responses (Fisher-Hoch, Hughes and Bramley, 1997). If visual resources do have a disproportionately large influence on the development of mental models, this has implications in examinations where students' ability to process material effectively is already compromised by test anxiety (Sarason, 1988). Students need to understand questions in the way intended in order to have a fair opportunity to display their knowledge and skills. This research explored the effects of visual resources in a number of exam questions. 525 students, aged 16 years, sat an experimental science test under examination conditions. The test included six questions involving graphical or layout elements. For most of the questions, two versions were constructed in order to investigate the effects of changes to visual resources on processing and responses. Some of the students were interviewed after they had taken the test. The analysis of the example questions in this study, along with others the authors have studied, suggest that two variables in particular play a decisive role in the effect of visual resources on the way examination questions are processed and answered. The first of these is the relative salience or prominence of the key elements. Secondly, the student must believe that the element is relevant to the answer. One factor in determining this is past test experience, which provides expectations regarding under what circumstances visual resources are relevant.