An Examination of the Final Examination in Medicine

Bull, Graham McG

doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(56)91011-x

Cited by 74 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…The large number of scripts per marker, in the present study, brought some advantages; although there was variation among years and among questions, there was much less variation in performance among different markers, and the results suggested that the area of psychology--rather than the person marking the area--was behind some remaining variation in marking performance. The study provided clear evidence to combat the view that university essay marks are incapable of correlating with anything very much (implicit, for example, in comments by Bull, 1956). Even if they are not as reliable as markers in physics and engineering, markers in psychology do behave systematically (Fig.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…For essays, agreement is often poor. Bull (1956) concluded that marking of a typical medical final examinations essay was so unreliable that 'a random allocation of marks would have been nearly as useful' in distinguishing among candidates. Beard (1970) cited a case in which 50 scripts from a 3-hour essay paper (subject not specified) were marked by five examiners.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Psychology examiners re-examined: A 5-year perspective

Caryl

1999

Studies in Higher Education

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Reliability and consistency of examination marking were examined across 5 years of a large second year psychology course (approximately 4800 examination answers). The analysis uses single-marked answers to assess variation in marker reliability and identify factors that influence this. Overall reliability of the examination ranged from O. 75 to 0.87. Reliability of marking was similar to that reported with double-marking and marks for specific questions were consistent with marks averaged over the remainder of the examination (r = 0.5 approx.) However, there was variability in consistency across questions and markers. Most variability reflected sample size, but there was also variation across years and between areas of psychology in the reliability and consistency of mark allocation. The origins of this variability need to be understood, while the existence of variation raises the possibility that overall reliability can be increased.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychology examiners re-examined: A 5-year perspective

Caryl

1999

Studies in Higher Education

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“…14, 57). Even in examinations requiring mainly factual information, as in medicine, the reliability has not been kept within acceptable limits (Bull 1956, see also Hartog, Rhodes & Burt 1936, pp. 148-151, concerning the marking of university mathematics scripts).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Norwegian Students at British Universities — a Case Study of the Academic Performances of Foreign Students

Bie

1976

Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research

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Bie, K. N. 1976. Norwegian Students at British Universities -a Case Study of Academic Performances of Foreign Students. Scand. J. educ. Res. 20, 1-24. Great Britain has a long tradition of accepting large numbers of foreign students. Generalizations about their academic performances conclude that foreign students do worse than British students. Norwegian students have constituted a large group at British universities and colleges. This study compares their performances with those of contemporary British students in the 1950's and 1960's, in architecture, business administration, dentistry, engineering and medicine at 16 institutions in England, Scotland and Wales. It was found that Norwegian students had a lower failure rate than British, and their final examination results and the means in annual examinations compared favourably with their British counterparts. Statements about foreign students' performances are thus not confirmed by Norwegian students' performances. The question of whether motivation may explain the high Norwegian standard of achievement is discussed. Language difficulties, social adjustment and possible deficiencies in the Norwegian school background do not seem to have seriously influenced Norwegian academic performance at British universities and colleges.

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“…This led to the introduction of the MCQ format in the years following the First World War (Madus, 1999). Questions about the credibility, reliability and validity of the essay test format in medical education in both the United Kingdom and the United States led to the replacement of the written essay format with the MCQ testing format in the 1950s (Cowles et al, 1952;Bull, 1956). The introduction of this assessment format led many medical educators to questions its use.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing professional behaviour and medical error

Cohen

2001

Medical Teacher

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The mission of medical schools underwent significant change in the post-Second World War period, which resulted in a de-evaluation of teaching, which in turn impacted on the type of assessment methods that emerged in the latter part of the twentieth century. Assessment based on direct observation did not receive the same degree of attention as methods such as multiple choice question and the objective structured clinical examination. During the past two decades medical educators have begun to emphasize the importance of teaching and assessing professional behaviour. It is suggested in this paper that assessment of professional behaviour can best be achieved by means of direct observation. A review of the area of assessment of clinical competence over the past 50 years reveals that it has been dominated by assessment methods that for the most part have been removed from the clinical setting in which medical students work and learn. In this paper it is proposed that there is a need to focus attention on methods of assessment which are based on the direct observation of performance that can be used in the clinical setting. Specifically, more attention needs to be directed at two areas of performance: (1) professionalism, and (2) medical error, both of which have given rise to increasing concern in the medical profession, healthcare agencies and the public at large.

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An Examination of the Final Examination in Medicine

Cited by 74 publications

References 5 publications

Psychology examiners re-examined: A 5-year perspective

Psychology examiners re-examined: A 5-year perspective

Norwegian Students at British Universities — a Case Study of the Academic Performances of Foreign Students

Assessing professional behaviour and medical error

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