> The problem with using text in database fields is not that
> it is not portable but rather that it is constraining on
> the question designer because you must have a fixed number
> of answers to each MCQ. This is easily avoided using XML
> tags which are automatically scalable.
Jon Sims Williams,
you're not correct in assuming that using text in a database forces a a
fixed number of answers,
in fact the opposite is true,
as I've explained in my email each statement in my database is in a seperate
cell, therefore you can build an infinite number of MCQS from a fixed number
of statements,
I have cells whose sole function is to assess and control the relationships
between the statements, these relatioships are either true, false or
somewhere in between ,
by exploiting this relationship I can, with one tap of the keyboard,
instantly produce thousands of MCQS from, say, one hundred statements,
I don't think of MCQS as single seperate entities but as dynamic assessments
of whether the relationship between one fact and another is true , false, or
more true than the relationship between two other statements,
For example ,
take two statements,
1. sarcoidosis
2. hilar lymph nodes
what is the relationship between the two?
sarcoidosis ->over 70% -> hilar lymph nodes -> TRUE
sarcoidosis -> less than 10% -> hilar lymphnodes -> FALSE
sarcoidosis<-->hilar lymph nodes more common than TB<-->hilar lymph nodes
FALSE
in this first two examples the middle qualifiers (eg less than 10% ) changes
the answer from TRUE to FALSE, in the third example the comparison with the
second combination (TB<-->hilar lymph nodes) is more true
Martin Schranz
www.mcqs.com
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