Longitudinal study of Kyrgyz students’ general physics course performance in paper-based versus online–based tests

This study was conducted to examine students’ performance in paper-based and online-based tests. In the context of the study, students’ performances were considered in the General Physics course between 2014 and 2015 and 2018–2019 academic years. The participants of this study are 417 students of Engineering and Science faculties at a public university of Kyrgyz Republic. Students’ achievement scores in paper-based and online-based tests were obtained and appropriate statistical analysis methods were employed. According to the results, students’ demographic data (i.e. gender, faculty and major) have different effects on their performance, and students performed better in online-based tests compared to paper-based tests. Additionally, the study aimed to analyze instructor perceptions related to testing types that interviews were conducted with 26 instructors of the General Physics course. The majority of the instructors indicated that they experienced difficulties related to the traditional form of evaluation due to the following reasons: lack of time to give personal feedback to each student, lack of time for objective evaluation, and difficulty of evaluation of crowded student groups. Therefore, they indicated the necessity of online test implementation in the context of the General Physics course.