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I've noticed that most people don't seem to look at things like this from a meta level. I was given that same quiz at school when I was about 12, and I remembe

by Nition 4y ago

I've noticed that most people don't seem to look at things like this from a meta level. I was given that same quiz at school when I was about 12, and I remember I skipped to the end and read the last question (which reveals the trick) because it was highly suspicious that we were randomly given a quiz with a whole series of questions that began by telling you to read the whole thing. Similarly, often quizzes/surveys/studies have an obvious answer when you include the meta-fact that the question is even in there. For example maybe you're shown an image like this[1] with the question "which glass do you think holds more liquid?" Well, it looks like the tall one, but that means it's probably the short one. But we had a good percent the class going for ages on that "read all questions" quiz. [1]https://i.imgur.com/6xkc813.jpg https://i.imgur.com/6xkc813.jpg

KyeRussell 4y ago
In my day job, I deal with the development of, and verifying the usefulness of, tests. The lesson here is that most tests are designed poorly. Most people don’t realise the effort that goes into doing it properly. Every item needs to be proven to be useful. Items that either purposely or accidentally ‘trick’ the test taker often prove to not be very useful when you run the stats. If a test ‘breaks the fourth wall’ like this, the item probably won’t stand on its own to be useful.
- ben_w 4y ago
  Ah, that explains something I have been confused by for a while now without really understanding why. I'm learning German, and one of the apps I'm using is Clozemaster, where a sentence is missing a word and I have to fill in the gap. The easy mode is to choose from a list of four, the hard mode is to type in the word. Easy mode I can do fairly reliably without even fully reading the sentences, hard mode I struggle with — while the latter is partly because it only accepts one single specific word (so if the sentence would be valid with another word, e.g. weiß/blau/gold/schwarz, keine Punkte für mich if I pick the wrong correct answer), that alone didn't feel sufficient given the subjective experience of the difference between them. I think, from what you've said, in the easy mode I'm probably picking up on things that aren't as useful as I need.
- Nition 4y ago
  Thank you. I've seen surveys where every question is a 'trick' question! Where the correct answer is always the non-intuitive one. Usually when the surveyor is trying put push an agenda and prove that you're wrong about something, but it just ends up being patronising if you realise the trick.
danaris 4y ago
In my experience, the actual trick when presented with a pair of glasses like that is to determine whether the answer is "the short one" or "neither, they hold exactly the same".
- Nition 4y ago
  Haha, very true.

by Nition 4y ago

KyeRussell 4y ago

In my day job, I deal with the development of, and verifying the usefulness of, tests. The lesson here is that most tests are designed poorly. Most people don’t realise the effort that goes into doing it properly. Every item needs to be proven to be useful. Items that either purposely or accidentally ‘trick’ the test taker often prove to not be very useful when you run the stats. If a test ‘breaks the fourth wall’ like this, the item probably won’t stand on its own to be useful.

ben_w 4y ago
Ah, that explains something I have been confused by for a while now without really understanding why. I'm learning German, and one of the apps I'm using is Clozemaster, where a sentence is missing a word and I have to fill in the gap. The easy mode is to choose from a list of four, the hard mode is to type in the word. Easy mode I can do fairly reliably without even fully reading the sentences, hard mode I struggle with — while the latter is partly because it only accepts one single specific word (so if the sentence would be valid with another word, e.g. weiß/blau/gold/schwarz, keine Punkte für mich if I pick the wrong correct answer), that alone didn't feel sufficient given the subjective experience of the difference between them. I think, from what you've said, in the easy mode I'm probably picking up on things that aren't as useful as I need.
Nition 4y ago
Thank you. I've seen surveys where every question is a 'trick' question! Where the correct answer is always the non-intuitive one. Usually when the surveyor is trying put push an agenda and prove that you're wrong about something, but it just ends up being patronising if you realise the trick.

danaris 4y ago

In my experience, the actual trick when presented with a pair of glasses like that is to determine whether the answer is "the short one" or "neither, they hold exactly the same".

Nition 4y ago
Haha, very true.