Journal of Advances in Medical Education & Professionalism

Evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of community-based education from the viewpoint of students

SEDIGHEH MOKHTARPOUR; MITRA AMINI; HOURI MOUSAVINEZHAD; ALIREZA CHOOBINEH; PARISA NABEIEI

Volume 4, Issue 4 , October 2016, , Pages 195-201

Abstract

Introduction: Responsive medicine is an appropriate trainingmethod which trains the graduates who can act effectively ininitial and secondary aspects of health issues in the society.Methods: ... Read More Introduction: Responsive medicine is an appropriate trainingmethod which trains the graduates who can act effectively ininitial and secondary aspects of health issues in the society.Methods: This was a cross-sectional descriptive-analytic studywhich was done using quantitative method. The target populationof this study was all the students of the Nutrition and HealthSchool of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. The sample wasrandomly selected in this study and 75 students were selected basedon the methodologist’s comments and similar studies and randomnumbertable from a list obtained from the school’s departmentof education. This questionnaire was a researcher-made onewhich consisted of 23 questions in 2 sections with 21 closedendedquestions and 2 open-ended questions; 70 questionnaireswere completed correctly. The closed-ended questions had 4aspects (completely agree to completely disagree) answered in5-point Likert scale type. Its face validity was confirmed by 4faculty members. The construct validity of the questionnaire wasanalyzed by factor analysis test and its reliability was assessed bya pilot on 20 students with a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.85. The datawere analyzed using descriptive statistical tests (mean, standarddeviation, …) and the Pearson coefficient (p<0.001).Results: The results of this study showed that the maximum meanscore was 3.58±0.65 which was related to the context of thesecourses and the minimum mean was 2.66±1.14 which was relatedto the logbook implementation. The 2 open-ended questionsindicated that the most important strengths were the use oflogbooks as a guide and determining the minimum training; of theweaknesses was the mismatch between the theoretical educationand the practical activities. Also, developing the minimumtraining that an expert should know and using the common topicsrelated to theoretical education were the most important pointsmentioned by the respondents.Conclusion: The educational planning of the authorities for keepingthe balance of the theoretical training with the practical activitiesand giving opportunities to the trainee or intern to face diseasesand the common problems of the community seems to be necessary.Keywords: Clinical; Education; Nutrition; Health

Investigation of outliers of evaluation scores among school of health instructors using outlier - determination indices

HAMIDREZA TABATABAEE; FARIBA GHAHRAMANI; ALIREZA CHOOBINEH; MONA ARVINFAR

Volume 4, Issue 1 , January 2016, , Pages 21-25

Abstract

Introduction: Teacher evaluation, as an important strategyfor improving the quality of education, has been considered byuniversities and leads to a better understanding of the strengthsand ... Read More Introduction: Teacher evaluation, as an important strategyfor improving the quality of education, has been considered byuniversities and leads to a better understanding of the strengthsand weaknesses of education. Analysis of instructors’ scoresis one of the main fields of educational research. Since outliersaffect analysis and interpretation of information processes bothstructurally and conceptually, understanding the methods ofdetecting outliers in collected data can be helpful for scholars,data analysts, and researchers. The present study aimed to presentand compare the available techniques for detecting outliers.Methods: In this cross-sectional study, the statistical populationincluded the evaluation forms of instructors completed bythe students of Shiraz School of Health in the first and secondsemesters of the academic year 2012-2013. All the forms relatedto these years (N=1317) were entered into analysis throughcensus. Then, four methods (Dixon, Gauss, Grubb, and Graphicalmethods) were used for determining outliers. Kappa coefficientwas also used to determine the agreement among the methods.Results: In this study 1317 forms were completed by 203undergraduate and 1114 postgraduate students. The mean scoresgiven by undergraduates and postgraduates were 17.24±3.04 and18.91±1.82, respectively. The results showed that Dixon and Grubbwere the most appropriate methods to determine the outliers ofevaluation scores in small samples, because they had appropriateagreement. On the other hand, NPP and QQ plot were the mostappropriate methods in large samples.Conclusion: The results showed that each of the studied methodscould help us, in some way, determine outliers. Researchers andanalysts who intend to select and use the methods must firstreview the observations with the help of descriptive informationand overview of the distribution. Determination of outliers isimportant in evaluation of instructors, because by determiningthe outliers and removing the data that might have been recordedincorrectly, more accurate and reliable results can be obtained.Keywords: Outliers; Professors; Students; Evaluation

The students’ viewpoint on the quality gap in educational services

MARZIYEH RAHIM KHANLI; HADI DANESHMANDI; ALIREZA CHOOBINEH

Volume 2, Issue 3 , July 2014, , Pages 114-119

Abstract

Introduction: Students and university community are social and humanresources of the country. The students’ viewpoints about the quality ofeducational services can be considered as ... Read More Introduction: Students and university community are social and humanresources of the country. The students’ viewpoints about the quality ofeducational services can be considered as a basis for planning quality promotion and improving organizational performance. This study was conducted to determine the quality gap in educational services d by the students of Health and Nutrition School of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences.Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 140 students participated voluntarily(age range=19 to 40 years). The service quality (SERVQUAL) questionnairewas used for data collection. This questionnaire measured the quality gapin 5 dimensions of educational service including assurance, responsiveness,empathy, reliability, and tangibility. The students’ perception about the current conditions and their expectations as to optimal conditions can be determined, using this questionnaire. The score of the gap in quality of educational services is calculated from difference between perception and expectation scores. Due to non-normality of data, non-parametric tests were used. To this end, data were analyzed using statistical tests including Wilcoxon, Friedman, Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whiteny tests in SPSS 14.Results: The results showed that there was quality gap in all 5 dimensionsof educational services. The largest and the smallest gaps were observed in"responsiveness" with a mean±SD of -0.94±0.74 and in "reliability" with amean±SD of -0.76±0.69, respectively. There was a significant difference inquality gap between the 5 dimensions (p<0.001).Discussion: According to the results, the students’ expectations were higherthan their perceptions of current conditions; also, in all aspects of theservices their expectations were not met. It is recommended that workshopson customer services, communication skills and personnel’s technical skillsdevelopment should be planned and held. Also, allocating more resources for improving educational facilities and physical environment is recommended.Keywords: Quality, Gap, Education, Questionnaire, Student

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Author = CHOOBINEH,%20ALIREZA

Evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of community-based education from the viewpoint of students

Abstract

Investigation of outliers of evaluation scores among school of health instructors using outlier - determination indices

Abstract

The students’ viewpoint on the quality gap in educational services

Abstract