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The face validity of a final professional clinical examination
Author(s) -
Tweed Michael,
Cookson John
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
medical education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.776
H-Index - 138
eISSN - 1365-2923
pISSN - 0308-0110
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2923.2001.00895.x
Subject(s) - face validity , medical education , psychology , likert scale , reliability (semiconductor) , context (archaeology) , equivalence (formal languages) , medicine , applied psychology , psychometrics , clinical psychology , mathematics , developmental psychology , power (physics) , paleontology , physics , discrete mathematics , quantum mechanics , biology
Objective To develop new methods of evaluating face validity in the context of a revised final professional examination for medical undergraduates, organized on three sites, over 2 days. Methods The opinion of the students and examiners was surveyed by Likert‐style questionnaires, with additional open comments. Expert opinion was gathered from external examiner reports and a recent Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) Subject Review Report. Results The questionnaires had an overall response rate of 84%. Internal reliability, assessed by comparing responses to appropriate questions, was good with an equivalence of 45% (weighted kappa 0·54) for the students and 33% (weighted kappa 0·41) for the assessors. There was little evidence of inconsistency between days or sites. The majority of the opinions from the students, examiners and external experts were positive. Negative comments related to time pressure and case mix. Conclusion The measurement of face validity proved feasible and valuable and will assist in the further development of the course and the examination.