Reviewers of research reports frequently criticize the choice of statistical methods. While some of these criticisms are well-founded, frequently the use of various parametric methods such as analysis of variance, regression, correlation are faulted because: (a) the sample size is too small, (b) the data may not be normally distributed, or (c) The…

It has become axiomatic that assessment impacts powerfully on student learning, but there is a surprising dearth of research on how. This study explored the mechanism of impact of summative assessment on the process of learning of theory in higher education. Individual, in-depth interviews were conducted with medical students and analyzed…

Effective mentoring has an invaluable role in the development of surgeons at various levels and is frequently perceived vital in achieving career success. Its role therefore is only second to credentialing. However, the formal role of mentoring and learner support in surgical training remains non-existent. This is reflected in a paucity of…

Authors have claimed that Internet-based instruction promotes greater learning efficiency than non-computer methods. Objectives Determine, through a systematic synthesis of evidence in health professions education, how Internet-based instruction compares with non-computer instruction in time spent learning, and what features of Internet-based…

During in-training assessment students are frequently assessed over a longer period of time and therefore it can be expected that their performance will improve. We studied whether there really is a measurable performance improvement when students are assessed over an extended period of time and how this improvement affects the reliability of the…

Teaching clinic managers struggle to convert performance data into meaningful behavioral change in their trainees, and quality improvement measures in medicine have had modest results. This may be due to several factors including clinical performance being based more on team function than individual action, models of best practice that are…

In recent years, demand for performance assessments has continued to grow. However, performance assessments are notorious for lower reliability, and in particular, low reliability resulting from task specificity. Since reliability analyses typically treat the performance tasks as randomly sampled from an infinite universe of tasks, these estimates…

Signal detection theory (SDT) parameters can describe a learner's ability to discriminate (d[prime symbol]) normal from abnormal and the learner's criterion ([lambda]) to under or overcall abnormalities. To examine the serial changes in SDT parameters with serial exposure to radiological cases. 46 participants were recruited for this study: 20…

Visuo-spatial ability is associated with a quality of performance in a variety of surgical and medical skills. However, visuo-spatial ability is typically assessed using "Visualization" tests only, which led to an incomplete understanding of the involvement of visuo-spatial ability in these skills. To remedy this situation, the current study…

Ensuring the competence of healthcare professionals' is core to undergraduate and post-graduate education. Undergraduate pharmacy students and pre-registration graduates are required to demonstrate competence at dispensing and accuracy checking medicines. However, competence differs from understanding. This study determined the competence and…

Previous research has documented that negative experiences in chemistry courses are a major factor that discourages many students from continuing in premedical studies. This adverse impact affects women and students from under-represented minority (URM) groups disproportionately. To determine if chemistry courses have a similar effect at a large…

Approaches that use a simulated patient case to study and assess diagnostic reasoning usually use the correct diagnosis of the case as a measure of success and as an anchor for other measures. Commonly, the correctness of a diagnosis is determined by the judgment of one or more experts. In this study, the consistency of experts' judgments of the…

Previous studies in our laboratory have shown the benefits of immediate feedback on cognitive performance for pathology residents using an intelligent tutoring system (ITS) in pathology. In this study, we examined the effect of immediate feedback on metacognitive performance, and investigated whether other metacognitive scaffolds will support…

In case of an emergency, a fast and structured patient management is crucial for patient's outcome. The competencies needed should be acquired and assessed during medical education. The objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) is a valid and reliable assessment format to evaluate practical skills. However, traditional OSCE stations examine…

Case-specificity, i.e., variability of a subject's performance across cases, has been a consistent finding in medical education. It has important implications for assessment validity and reliability. Its root causes remain a matter of discussion. One hypothesis, content-specificity, links variability of performance to variable levels of relevant…