Women and willingness to guess : an investigation using a high-stake test in the Spanish health sector
(2026) In SERIEs- Abstract
Multiple-choice tests are the gateway to important professional outcomes in the Spanish health sector. Every year, thousands of nursing, psychology, pharmacy, and biology graduates take a multiple-choice test, with wrong answers penalized, in order to access an intern position in a hospital. In such tests, willingness to guess, the decision to provide an answer instead of omitting the question can have a differential effect on the overall performance. This paper first studies the evolution of gender differences in willingness to guess, measured by the proportion of answered questions, over a 40-year period. Second, we exploit a natural experiment that occurred between 2014 and 2015, when the number of alternative answers was reduced... (More)
Multiple-choice tests are the gateway to important professional outcomes in the Spanish health sector. Every year, thousands of nursing, psychology, pharmacy, and biology graduates take a multiple-choice test, with wrong answers penalized, in order to access an intern position in a hospital. In such tests, willingness to guess, the decision to provide an answer instead of omitting the question can have a differential effect on the overall performance. This paper first studies the evolution of gender differences in willingness to guess, measured by the proportion of answered questions, over a 40-year period. Second, we exploit a natural experiment that occurred between 2014 and 2015, when the number of alternative answers was reduced from 5 to 4, effectively lowering the penalty for incorrect answers, to test for gender differential reactions in willingness to guess.
(Less)
- author
- Iriberri, Nagore LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2026
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- epub
- subject
- keywords
- Gender gaps, Multiple-choice tests, Willingness to guess
- in
- SERIEs
- publisher
- Springer
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:105033764305
- ISSN
- 1869-4187
- DOI
- 10.1007/s13209-026-00329-0
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- cfffedea-6352-4727-90c2-379bf0b37779
- date added to LUP
- 2026-06-08 15:24:08
- date last changed
- 2026-06-09 08:46:22
@article{cfffedea-6352-4727-90c2-379bf0b37779,
abstract = {{<p>Multiple-choice tests are the gateway to important professional outcomes in the Spanish health sector. Every year, thousands of nursing, psychology, pharmacy, and biology graduates take a multiple-choice test, with wrong answers penalized, in order to access an intern position in a hospital. In such tests, willingness to guess, the decision to provide an answer instead of omitting the question can have a differential effect on the overall performance. This paper first studies the evolution of gender differences in willingness to guess, measured by the proportion of answered questions, over a 40-year period. Second, we exploit a natural experiment that occurred between 2014 and 2015, when the number of alternative answers was reduced from 5 to 4, effectively lowering the penalty for incorrect answers, to test for gender differential reactions in willingness to guess.</p>}},
author = {{Iriberri, Nagore}},
issn = {{1869-4187}},
keywords = {{Gender gaps; Multiple-choice tests; Willingness to guess}},
language = {{eng}},
publisher = {{Springer}},
series = {{SERIEs}},
title = {{Women and willingness to guess : an investigation using a high-stake test in the Spanish health sector}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s13209-026-00329-0}},
doi = {{10.1007/s13209-026-00329-0}},
year = {{2026}},
}