Cognitive levels in testing knowledge in evidence-based medicine: a cross sectional study

BMC Medical Education

Table 5 Test scores (median, 95% confidence interval) on EBM topics by the first-year students, third-year students and experts (N = 203)

Evidence based medicine topic^a	Overall sample (N = 203)	First-year students (n = 119)	Third-year students (n = 70)	Experts (n = 14)	P†
Evidence based practice	2 (2 to 2)	2 (2 to 3)	2 (1 to 2)	2 (1 to 3)	0.029
Internal validity	3 (3 to 3)	3 (3 to 3)	3 (2 to 3)	4 (2 to 4)	0.104
Clinical importance	2 (2 to 2)	2 (1 to 2)^b	2 (2 to 3)	2 (1 to 3)	< 0.001
Study design	3 (3 to 3)	3 (3 to 3)	3 (3 to 3)	4 (3 to 5)^c	0.002
Sources of evidence	2 (2 to 2)	2 (2 to 2)	2 (2 to 2)	3 (2 to 4)^c	0.004
Diagnostic studies	1 (1 to 1)	2 (1 to 2) ^b	1 (1 to 1)	2 (0 to 3)	< 0.001

†Kruskal Wallis test with Dunn post hoc comparison. Bonferroni correction set the level of significance at 0.007
^aTheoretical range for each cognitive level was 0–5
^bSignificantly different from the third year
^cSignificantly different than others

ISSN: 1472-6920