Using Simpson’s diversity index to examine multidimensional models of diversity in health professions education

Abstract

ObjectivesThis study explored new models of diversity for health professions education that incorporate multiple attributes and examined differences in diversity based on urbanicity, geographic region, and institutional structure.MethodsSimpson’s Diversity Index was used to develop race, gender, and interprofessional diversity indices for health professions schools in the United States (N = 318). Sullivan’s extension was used to develop a composite diversity index that incorporated multiple individual attributes for each school. Pearson’s r was used to investigate correlations between continuous variables. ANOVA and independent t-tests were used to compare groups based on urbanicity, geographic region, and Basic Carnegie Classification.ResultsMean (SD) for race, gender, and interprofessional diversity indices were 0.36(0.17), 0.45(0.07), and 0.22(0.27) respectively. All correlations between the three indices were weak. The composite diversity index for this sample was 0.34(0.13). Significant differences in diversity were found between institutions based on urbanicity, Basic Carnegie Classification, and geographic region. ConclusionsMultidimensional models provide support for expanding measures of diversity to include multiple characteristics and attributes. The approach demonstrated in this study enables institutions to complement and extend traditional measures of diversity as a means of providing evidence for decision-making and progress towards institutional initiatives.

Rethinking racial diversity benchmarks in higher education.

“…One concern with the location quotient approach is that it implicitly assumes all students are instate residents. Thus, Franklin (2012) and McLaughlin et al (2015, 2016) utilize the Simpson index, the foundation of which is Shannon’s entropy, commonly used in biology to determine species diversity: where, P i represents the proportion of the population that is in category i . The interpretation of this index is the likelihood that two randomly chosen students are of the same race (Allen & Wolniak, 2019).…”

“The Heart is a House”: A Heuristic for Generating Cardiac Differential Diagnoses

“…The Simpson's Diversity index, originally applied in ecological systems, can more generally reflect the dispersion in multiple categories with higher values suggesting greater diversity. 18 It has been recently used in examining diversity in medical education 19 and is defined using the following equation, where p i is the proportion of diagnoses for each i category (ie, big vessel, small vessel, conduction, walls): The index represents the probability dispersion of correct diagnoses across the four categories, with a higher values representing greater diversity. Students with no correct diagnoses were assigned a diversity index of zero.…”

“…The Simpson's Diversity index, originally applied in ecological systems, can more generally reflect the dispersion in multiple categories with higher values suggesting greater diversity. 18 It has been recently used in examining diversity in medical education 19 and is defined using the following equation, where p i is the proportion of diagnoses for each i category (ie, big vessel, small vessel, conduction, walls):…”

Comparative Study of Insect Biodiversity in Cultivated and Natural Steppes in the Region of Sidi Kacem of Northwest Morocco

“…Simpson's index measures the probability that two individuals selected at random belong to the same species. 36 It is calculated using the formula: D = 1-C ----------------(…”