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Table 2 Data Extraction: Observational Studies

From: Barriers and facilitators to writing quality items for medical school assessments – a scoping review

Authors

Setting

Population

Study Design

Summary

Reference

Case SM, Holtzman K, Ripkey DR

USA, 1997

Medical faculty

Case study (uncontrolled trial)

Describes three item models and the item quality and cost outcome for each model.

Case SM, Holtzman K, Ripkey DR. Developing an item pool for CBT: a practical comparison of three models of item writing. Acad Med. 2001;76 Suppl 10:111–3.

Downing SM

USA, 2002

Year 1 basic science exam, single group

Cross-sectional

Suggests that item quality can be poor even with the use of faculty development and item writing guidelines.

Downing SM. Construct-irrelevant variance and flawed test questions: do multiple-choice item-writing principles make any difference? Acad Med. 2002;77 Suppl 10:103–4.

Holsgrove G, Elzubeir M

UK, 1996

Active MBBS examiners

Cross-sectional

Imprecise terms in MCQ items are routine and their interpretation by examiners is highly variable.

Holsgrove G, Elzubeir M. Imprecise terms in UK medical multiple-choice questions: what examiners think they mean. Med Educ. 1998;32(4):343–50.

Jozefowicz RF, Koeppen BM, Case S, Galbraith R, Swanson D, Glew RH

USA, 1998

Three medical schools

Cross-sectional

The overall quality of in-house examination items was low. Mean quality assessment scores were higher for items written by NBME-trained writers than for writers without formal training.

Jozefowicz RF, Koeppen BM, Case S, Galbraith R, Swanson D, Glew RH. The quality of in-house medical school examinations. Acad Med. 2002;77(2):156–61.

Pinjani S, Umer M, Sadaf S

Pakistan, 2008

Aga Khan University medical faculty

Case study

Immediate need for new questions due to hacking of the question database led to measures to rapidly generate new items.

Pinjani S, Umer M, Sadaf S. Faculty engagement in developing an internship entry test. Med Educ. 2015;49(5):540–1.