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Medical educators need to understand and conduct medical education research in order to make informed decisions based on the best evidence, rather than rely on their own hunches. The purpose of this Guide is to provide medical educators, especially those who are new to medical education research, with a basic understanding of how quantitative and qualitative methods contribute to the medical education evidence base through their different inquiry approaches and also how to select the most appropriate inquiry approach to answer their research questions.

One of the key goals of assessment in medical education is the minimisation of all errors influencing a test in order to produce an observed score which approaches a learner's 'true' score, as reliably and validly as possible. In order to achieve this, assessors need to be aware of the potential biases that can influence all components of the assessment cycle from question creation to the interpretation of exam scores. This Guide describes and explains the processes whereby objective examination results can be analysed to improve the validity and reliability of assessments in medical education. We cover the interpretation of measures of central tendency, measures of variability and standard scores. We describe how to calculate the item-difficulty index and item-discrimination index in examination tests using different statistical procedures. This is followed by an overview of reliability estimates. The post-examination analytical methods described in this guide enable medical educators to construct reliable and valid achievement tests. They also enable medical educators to develop question banks using the collection of appropriate questions from existing examination tests in order to use computerised adaptive testing.

Background: It has been well documented that effective empathic communication in the context of patient care is associated with improved health care outcomes. However, the emphasis given to empathy in medical education in Iran is limited, and the state of such teaching is unknown in many countries. Aims: To determine the psychometric properties of an Iranian translation of the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy (JSPE) among medical students, and to examine the differences on mean empathy scores by gender and the different years of medical school. Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted among medical students. Data analysis was based on 181 questionnaires. Principal component analysis (PCA) with Varimax rotation was used to identify the number and composition of components constituting the developed constructs. Results: The PCA yielded three factors: Compassionate care, perspective-taking, and the ability to walk in the patient's shoes. No statistically significant differences in the empathy means scores were found by gender and the different years of medical school. Conclusions: The Persian version of JSPE is a psychometrically sound instrument to measure empathy. Cultural backgrounds and pedagogical practice may influence medical students' attitudes towards empathy. Some recommendations are made, and the study limitations are discussed.

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BackgroundEmpathy towards patients is considered to be associated with improved health outcomes. Many scales have been developed to measure empathy in health care professionals and students. The Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy (JSPE) has been widely used. This study was designed to examine the psychometric properties and the theoretical structure of the JSPE.MethodsA total of 853 medical students responded to the JSPE questionnaire. A hypothetical model was evaluated by structural equation modelling to determine the adequacy of goodness-of-fit to sample data.ResultsThe model showed excellent goodness-of-fit. Further analysis showed that the hypothesised three-factor model of the JSPE structure fits well across the gender differences of medical students.ConclusionsThe results supported scale multi-dimensionality. The 20 item JSPE provides a valid and reliable scale to measure empathy among not only undergraduate and graduate medical education programmes, but also practising doctors. The limitations of the study are discussed and some recommendations are made for future practice.

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Empathic ability was identified as an important innate attribute which nevertheless can be enhanced by educational interventions. Barriers to the expression of empathy with patients were identified. Role-modelling by clinical teachers was seen as the most important influence on empathy education for students engaged in experiential learning.