Research in Health Professions Education
"SMART" Learning Objectives:
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
1) Explain the significance of medical education research.
2) Analyze characteristics of a good research question in health professions education.
3) Develop a research question in your field using the principles described in this workshop.
1) Explain the significance of medical education research.
2) Analyze characteristics of a good research question in health professions education.
3) Develop a research question in your field using the principles described in this workshop.
Introduction:
This workshop builds on the ideas discussed in our previous workshops on research methodologies and literature reviews. In this workshop, we will discuss the significance of research in medical education, outline characteristics of a good research question, and summarize the principles used in designing my research study.
Significance of Medical Education Research
Medical education research can help develop evidence-based practices to guide teaching and learning. A well-conducted research study can provide new information or challenge existing dogmas about a learner's knowledge, conduct, proficiencies, and/or attitudes. If the results of an educational research study are generalizable, they can have a broad impact on the teaching and clinical practice of medicine (Gaetke-Udager & Yablon, 2014).
Characteristics of a Good Research Question:
A good medical education research project starts with a well formulated research question. According to Dine, Shea, and Kogan (2016), the first step involved in creating a good research question is identifying a general research idea based on problems encountered at your institution or ideas generated by reading medical education journals. The next step is to perform a literature review to identify what has already been published on the topic and to establish a conceptual framework for the project.
The third step is to narrow the general research idea to state the specific goals of the study. According to the "FINER" framework, a specific research question should be (Dine et al., 2016):
- Feasible
- Interesting & Important
- Novel
- Ethical
- Relevant & Generalizable
The final step in the process is to use the research question and conceptual framework to develop a study design, which could be experimental, quasi-experimental, or qualitative. According to O'Brien, Ruddick, and Young (2016), a good qualitative research question identifies a central phenomenon to study, explores rather than assumes, is clear, concise and focused, and has significant implications for education.
Research Question:
The research question we will focus on for this project is: "What is the impact of the modality principle on learning outcomes in a multimedia medical education module?" The modality principle states that students learn best when words accompanying a multimedia image are presented in a narrated rather than written text format (Low & Sweller, 2014). Although this principle has been well supported in the general education literature, its impact specific to medical education is not well defined. The purpose of this research project is to identify the best modality for presenting information in online medical multimedia learning modules to enhance student learning outcomes.
Research Design:
This project will be conducted using two versions of a digital atlas on melanocytic lesions. The atlas was created using Microsoft Powerpoint and includes clinical images followed by histopathologic images of 10 melanocytic lesions commonly encountered in clinical practice. In the first version, the entire presentation is created using written words in text boxes with arrows pointing to relevant findings. In the second version using the same slides, the entire presentation is narrated in an audio format, eliminating all written text except for the diagnosis listed on the title line. To eliminate potential confounding due to the signaling effect, any arrows or highlighting within the image used in the first version were retained in the second version.
This project will be conducted by testing both the narrated and the written versions of the digital atlas on first year medical students using a pre and post test of 10 multiple choice knowledge assessment questions. The experiment will be conducted in a learner-paced environment reflecting the conditions in which the atlas will eventually be used. Change in scores between the pre and post tests will be compared between students in the narrated and written text groups to look for any statistically significant differences between the two groups.
Below please find a link to the Powerpoint presentation created as part of my project. Since I plan to submit the finished manuscript for publication, the final version will not be accessible online at this time.
research_project_sk.docx | |
File Size: | 30 kb |
File Type: | docx |
References:
- Dine, C. J., Shea, J. A., & Kogan, J. R. (2016). Generating good research questions in health professions education. Academic Medicine [Epub ahead of print]. doi: 10.1097/ACM.0000000000001413
- Gaetke-Udager, K., & Yablon, C. M. (2014). Medical education research for radiologists: A road map for developing a project. American Journal of Roentgenology, 204, 692-697.
- Low, R., & Sweller, J. (2014). The modality principle in multimedia learning. In R. E. Mayer (Ed.), The Cambridge handbook of multimedia learning (2nd ed.) (p. 227-246). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
- O'Brien, B. C., Ruddick, V. J., & Young, J. Q. (2016). Generating research questions appropriate for qualitative studies in health professions education. Academic Medicine [Epub ahead of print]. doi: 10.1097/ACM.0000000000001438