Purpose This study investigated whether the reliability was acceptable when the number of cases in the objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) decreased from 12 to 8 using generalizability theory (GT).
Methods This psychometric study analyzed the OSCE data of 439 fourth-year medical students conducted in the Busan and Gyeongnam areas of South Korea from July 12 to 15, 2021. The generalizability study (G-study) considered 3 facets—students (p), cases (c), and items (i)—and designed the analysis as p×(i:c) due to items being nested in a case. The acceptable generalizability (G) coefficient was set to 0.70. The G-study and decision study (D-study) were performed using G String IV ver. 6.3.8 (Papawork, Hamilton, ON, Canada).
Results All G coefficients except for July 14 (0.69) were above 0.70. The major sources of variance components (VCs) were items nested in cases (i:c), from 51.34% to 57.70%, and residual error (pi:c), from 39.55% to 43.26%. The proportion of VCs in cases was negligible, ranging from 0% to 2.03%.
Conclusion The case numbers decreased in the 2021 Busan and Gyeongnam OSCE. However, the reliability was acceptable. In the D-study, reliability was maintained at 0.70 or higher if there were more than 21 items/case in 8 cases and more than 18 items/case in 9 cases. However, according to the G-study, increasing the number of items nested in cases rather than the number of cases could further improve reliability. The consortium needs to maintain a case bank with various items to implement a reliable blueprinting combination for the OSCE.
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Applying the Generalizability Theory to Identify the Sources of Validity Evidence for the Quality of Communication Questionnaire Flávia Del Castanhel, Fernanda R. Fonseca, Luciana Bonnassis Burg, Leonardo Maia Nogueira, Getúlio Rodrigues de Oliveira Filho, Suely Grosseman American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine®.2024; 41(7): 792. CrossRef
Purpose Setting standards is critical in health professions. However, appropriate standard setting methods do not always apply to the set cut score in performance assessment. The aim of this study was to compare the cut score when the standard setting is changed from the norm-referenced method to the borderline group method (BGM) and borderline regression method (BRM) in an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) in medical school.
Methods This was an explorative study to model the implementation of the BGM and BRM. A total of 107 fourth-year medical students attended the OSCE at 7 stations for encountering standardized patients (SPs) and at 1 station for performing skills on a manikin on July 15th, 2021. Thirty-two physician examiners evaluated the performance by completing a checklist and global rating scales.
Results The cut score of the norm-referenced method was lower than that of the BGM (P<0.01) and BRM (P<0.02). There was no significant difference in the cut score between the BGM and BRM (P=0.40). The station with the highest standard deviation and the highest proportion of the borderline group showed the largest cut score difference in standard setting methods.
Conclusion Prefixed cut scores by the norm-referenced method without considering station contents or examinee performance can vary due to station difficulty and content, affecting the appropriateness of standard setting decisions. If there is an adequate consensus on the criteria for the borderline group, standard setting with the BRM could be applied as a practical and defensible method to determine the cut score for OSCE.
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Analyzing the Quality of Objective Structured Clinical Examination in Alborz University of Medical Sciences Suleiman Ahmadi, Amin Habibi, Mitra Rahimzadeh, Shahla Bahrami Alborz University Medical Journal.2023; 12(4): 485. CrossRef
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Newly appointed medical faculty members’ self-evaluation of their educational roles at the Catholic University of Korea College of Medicine in 2020 and 2021: a cross-sectional survey-based study Sun Kim, A Ra Cho, Chul Woon Chung Journal of Educational Evaluation for Health Professions.2021; 18: 28. CrossRef