Motivating assessment item writers in medical programs: A qualitative study

Abstract

Background The challenge of generating sufficient quality items for medical student examinations is a common experience for medical program coordinators. Faculty development strategies are commonly used, but there is little research on the factors influencing medical educators to engage in item writing. To assist with designing evidence-based strategies to improve engagement, we conducted an interview study informed by self-determination theory (SDT) to understand educators’ motivations to write items.Methods We conducted 11 semi-structured interviews with educators in an established medical program. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and underwent open coding and thematic analysis.Results Major themes included; responsibility for item writing and item writer motivations, barriers and enablers; perceptions of the level of content expertise required to write items; and differences in the writing process between clinicians and non-clinicians.Conclusions Our findings suggest that flexible item writing training, strengthening of peer review processes and institutional improvements such as improved communication of expectations, allocation of time for item writing and pairing new writers with experienced writers for mentorship could enhance writer engagement.

Scenario-Based, Single Best, Multiple-Choice Questions (SB-SB-MCQs) in Basic Medical Sciences: An Exploratory Study about the Staff Awareness, Knowledge and Difficulties Encountered

“…Some have related this to lack of expertise or language barrier. These findings are nearly similar to the results of Karthikeyan et al, 2019 [19] who think allocation of reasonable time for item writing, beside bonding the experienced writers with new writers for advisership could enhance writer commitment. Others (Bligh and Brice, 2009) have indirectly highlighted the issue of time needed in the construction of the scenario-based questions as medical educators have many duties among them is writing high quality items [20].…”