The SRQR aims to improve the transparency of all aspects of qualitative research by providing clear standards for reporting qualitative research. These standards will assist authors during manuscript preparation, editors and reviewers in evaluating a manuscript for potential publication, and readers when critically appraising, applying, and synthesizing study findings.

ContextThe increasing use of Internet-based learning in health professions education may be informed by a timely, comprehensive synthesis of evidence of effectiveness.Objectives To summarize the effect of Internet-based instruction for health professions learners compared with no intervention and with non-Internet interventions.

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In comparison with no intervention, technology-enhanced simulation training in health professions education is consistently associated with large effects for outcomes of knowledge, skills, and behaviors and moderate effects for patient-related outcomes.

Context Methodological shortcomings in medical education research are often attributed to insufficient funding, yet an association between funding and study quality has not been established.Objectives To develop and evaluate an instrument for measuring the quality of education research studies and to assess the relationship between funding and study quality.Design, Setting, and Participants Internal consistency, interrater and intrarater reliability, and criterion validity were determined for a 10-item medical education research study quality instrument (MERSQI). This was applied to 210 medical education research studies published in 13 peer-reviewed journals between September 1, 2002, and December 31, 2003. The amount of funding obtained per study and the publication record of the first author were determined by survey. Main Outcome MeasuresStudy quality as measured by the MERSQI (potential maximum total score, 18; maximum domain score, 3), amount of funding per study, and previous publications by the first author. ResultsThe mean MERSQI score was 9.95 (SD, 2.34; range,(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16). Mean domain scores were highest for data analysis (2.58) and lowest for validity (0.69). Intraclass correlation coefficient ranges for interrater and intrarater reliability were 0.72 to 0.98 and 0.78 to 0.998, respectively. Total MERSQI scores were associated with expert quality ratings (Spearman , 0.73; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.56-0.84; PϽ.

Virtual patients should be designed and used to promote clinical reasoning skills. More research is needed to inform how to effectively use VPs.

OBJECTIVE To succinctly summarise five contemporary theories about motivation to learn, articulate key intersections and distinctions among these theories, and identify important considerations for future research.RESULTS Motivation has been defined as the process whereby goal-directed activities are initiated and sustained. In expectancy-value theory, motivation is a function of the expectation of success and perceived value. Attribution theory focuses on the causal attributions learners create to explain the results of an activity, and classifies these in terms of their locus, stability and controllability. Socialcognitive theory emphasises self-efficacy as the primary driver of motivated action, and also identifies cues that influence future self-efficacy and support self-regulated learning. Goal orientation theory suggests that learners tend to engage in tasks with concerns about mastering the content (mastery goal, arising from a 'growth' mindset regarding intelligence and learning) or about doing better than others or avoiding failure (performance goals, arising from a 'fixed' mindset). Finally, self-determination theory proposes that optimal performance results from actions motivated by intrinsic interests or by extrinsic values that have become integrated and internalised. Satisfying basic psychosocial needs of autonomy, competence and relatedness promotes such motivation. Looking across all five theories, we note recurrent themes of competence, value, attributions, and interactions between individuals and the learning context. CONCLUSIONS To avoid conceptual confusion, and perhaps more importantly to maximise the theory-building potential of their work, researchers must be careful (and precise) in how they define, operationalise and measure different motivational constructs. We suggest that motivation research continue to build theory and extend it to health professions domains, identify key outcomes and outcome measures, and test practical educational applications of the principles thus derived. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made. The concept of motivation pervades our professional and personal lives. We colloquially speak of motivation to get out of bed, write a paper, do household chores, answer the phone, and of course, to learn. We sense that motivation to learn exists (as opposed to being a euphemism, intellectual invention or epiphenomenon) and is important as both a dependent variable (higher or lower levels of motivation resulting from specific educational activities) 1 and an independent variable 2 (motivational manipulations to enhance learning) [3][4][5] . But what do we really mean by motivation to learn, and how can a better understanding of motivation influence what we do as educators?Countless theories have been proposed to explain human motivat...

Validation focuses on evaluating the key claims, assumptions and inferences that link assessment scores with their intended interpretations and uses. The Implications and associated decisions are the most important inferences in the validity argument.