Test questions should be designed to evaluate your students' ability to think at any of the six different levels of abstraction as described by Bloom, and often the same content information can be assessed at different levels of cognition. For example, in a unit on Kin Relationships in an introductory Anthropology course, compare the level of knowledge necessary to answer the following questions:

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KNOWLEDGE QUESTIONS (Observation and recall of information)

1. A society where daughters are expected to remain in their parents' household and the sons move in with their wives is called:
   1. a matrilocal society
   2. a neolocal society
   3. a matriarchal society
   4. a bilateral society

2. A group of relatives by marriage constitutes:
   1. a conjugal family
   2. an extended family
   3. a nuclear family
   4. none of the above

3. People who are related by blood are kin. (True or False?)

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COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS (Show comprehension through descrption, definition, interpretation)

1. Describe the major differences among patrilineal, matrilineal, and bilateral societies.
2. Define:
   1. extended family
   2. nuclear family

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APPLICATION QUESTIONS (Use the information in a new context)

1. Sammy's parents had a party for him on his fifth birthday. They invited both sets of grandparents, and Sammy's father's brother and his children. This is called a gathering of:
   1. a consanguine family
   2. a conjugal family
   3. an egalitarian family
   4. a patriarchal family

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ANALYSIS QUESTIONS (Connect patterns, identify hidden meanings)

1. Explain the patrilocal society in terms of lineage and dominance of the sexes.
2. Explain the term conjugal families, by making reference to the different types of societies to which they could belong.
3. Kin can be best analyzed by examining:
   1. the society to which they belong
   their pattern of descent
   2. their form of family organization
   3. the type of family unit to which they belong

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SYNTHESIS QUESTIONS (Relate knowledge from several areas)

1. Explain why it is likely that a matriarchal family system would be found in a matrilocal or matrilineal society
2. Which one of these combinations of society descriptions is unlikely to exist within one society:
   1. neolocal, egalitarian, nuclear
   2. patrilocal, patrilineal, patrilocal
   3. bilateral, egalitarian, nuclear
   4. extended family, conjugal family, kin

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EVALUATION QUESTIONS (Assess value of theories)

1. Describe the economic consequence of a neolocal society. Support your description with information you have learned from this course.

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Source: Much of this information was modified from a document written for the Online Education Resources of the Ilinois Online Network. Copyright© 1998-2005, Illinois Online Network and the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. April 8, 2005 <http://www.ion.uillinois.edu/resources/tutorials/assessment/bloomtest.asp>.