  Module Analysis for Multiple-Choice Responses (MAMCR) was applied to a large
sample of Force Concept Inventory (FCI) pretest and post-test responses
($N_{pre}=4509$ and $N_{post}=4716$) to replicate the results of the original
MAMCR study and to understand the origins of the gender differences reported in
a previous study of this data set. When the results of MAMCR could not be
replicated, a modification of the method was introduced, Modified Module
Analysis (MMA). MMA was productive in understanding the structure of the
incorrect answers in the FCI, identifying 9 groups of incorrect answers on the
pretest and 11 groups on the post-test. These groups, in most cases, could be
mapped on to common misconceptions used by the authors of the FCI to create
distactors for the instrument. Of these incorrect answer groups, 6 of the
pretest groups and 8 of the post-test groups were the same for men and women.
Two of the male-only pretest groups disappeared with instruction while the
third male-only pretest group was identified for both men and women
post-instruction. Three of the groups identified for both men and women on the
post-test were not present for either on the pretest. The rest of the
identified incorrect answer groups did not represent misconceptions, but were
rather related to the the blocked structure of some FCI items where multiple
items are related to a common stem. The groups identified had little relation
to the gender unfair items previously identified for this data set, and
therefore, differences in the structure of student misconceptions between men
and women cannot explain the gender differences reported for the FCI.
