TY - JOUR
T1 - The interpersonal, cognitive and efficiency domains of clinical teaching
T2 - Construct validity of a multi-dimensional scale
AU - Beckman, Thomas J.
AU - Mandrekar, Jayawant N.
PY - 2005/12/1
Y1 - 2005/12/1
N2 - BACKGROUND: We are unaware of any hypothesis-driven studies showing that teaching assessments are comprised solely of interpersonal and cognitive domains. Moreover, previous teaching assessments have been biased by heterogeneous samples of evaluators. Consequently, we investigated the construct validity of faculty assessments comprised of interpersonal and cognitive domains, utilising evaluations obtained from resident doctors on an internal medicine hospital service. METHODS: A total of 1000 inpatient evaluations were completed on 60 general internal medicine faculty members. Education theory supported a 2-dimensional, 14-item scale. Principal factor analysis was used to explore the scale's dimensionality. Internal reliability and interobserver agreement were determined. Relationships between domains and instructor characteristics were also examined. RESULTS: Principal factor analysis revealed interpersonal, clinical teaching and efficiency domains. Internal reliabilities of all domains are high (alpha > 0.90). Interobserver agreement is good (range 0.64-0.83). In the interpersonal domain there is a trend towards higher scores for lower ranking faculty. Significant findings are higher overall scores in the interpersonal domain (P < 0.001), higher scores for assistant professors in the interpersonal domain (P = 0.008) and higher scores for male than female faculty in the interpersonal (P = 0.041) and clinical teaching (P = 0.008) domains. CONCLUSIONS: Clinical teaching evaluations are reducible to interpersonal, clinical teaching and efficiency domains. Evidence for construct validity includes predicted domains and high internal and interobserver reliabilities. Utilising a homogenous sample of evaluators minimised variance. Interestingly, lower ranking faculty scored higher in the interpersonal domain, suggesting that lower ranking faculty may focus more attention on teaching activities than full professors do.
AB - BACKGROUND: We are unaware of any hypothesis-driven studies showing that teaching assessments are comprised solely of interpersonal and cognitive domains. Moreover, previous teaching assessments have been biased by heterogeneous samples of evaluators. Consequently, we investigated the construct validity of faculty assessments comprised of interpersonal and cognitive domains, utilising evaluations obtained from resident doctors on an internal medicine hospital service. METHODS: A total of 1000 inpatient evaluations were completed on 60 general internal medicine faculty members. Education theory supported a 2-dimensional, 14-item scale. Principal factor analysis was used to explore the scale's dimensionality. Internal reliability and interobserver agreement were determined. Relationships between domains and instructor characteristics were also examined. RESULTS: Principal factor analysis revealed interpersonal, clinical teaching and efficiency domains. Internal reliabilities of all domains are high (alpha > 0.90). Interobserver agreement is good (range 0.64-0.83). In the interpersonal domain there is a trend towards higher scores for lower ranking faculty. Significant findings are higher overall scores in the interpersonal domain (P < 0.001), higher scores for assistant professors in the interpersonal domain (P = 0.008) and higher scores for male than female faculty in the interpersonal (P = 0.041) and clinical teaching (P = 0.008) domains. CONCLUSIONS: Clinical teaching evaluations are reducible to interpersonal, clinical teaching and efficiency domains. Evidence for construct validity includes predicted domains and high internal and interobserver reliabilities. Utilising a homogenous sample of evaluators minimised variance. Interestingly, lower ranking faculty scored higher in the interpersonal domain, suggesting that lower ranking faculty may focus more attention on teaching activities than full professors do.
KW - Clinical medicine/ education
KW - Cognition
KW - Education, medical, undergraduate/ standards
KW - Educational measurement/ methods
KW - Female
KW - Humans
KW - Interpersonal relations
KW - Male
KW - Minnesota
KW - Observer variation
KW - Teaching/ standards/ methods
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U2 - 10.1111/j.1365-2929.2005.02336.x
DO - 10.1111/j.1365-2929.2005.02336.x
M3 - Article
C2 - 16313581
AN - SCOPUS:28644452052
VL - 39
SP - 1221
EP - 1229
JO - British journal of medical education
JF - British journal of medical education
SN - 0308-0110
IS - 12
ER -