Designing and Validating an Instrument for Measuring the Effectiveness of Education in Medical Universities

Abstract

Background and Objectives: The objectives of educational systems are missions, ideals, general goals, and behavior. Evaluation and judgment are essential for the training courses. Determining the effectiveness of the courses makes it possible to improve them. Numerous models evaluate training effectiveness, success, performance improvement, and desirability of training programs. Educational planners have always considered medical education and training of an efficient workforce. Because of the importance of education and the need for its continuous effectiveness in medical universities, we designed a tool to measure the effectiveness of medical education. Methods: The study method is a mixed qualitative-quantitative approach. The qualitative part of the content analysis was prepared to design and validate a tool with the statistical community of faculty members using qualitative and quantitative purposeful sampling. In the qualitative phase, 30 people were interviewed using semi-structured interviews. The components found were classified based on research methodology in 4 areas of course curriculum development, training course implementation, educational outcome and performance, and other accompanying factors. Then an effective measurement tool with good validity and reliability was designed. Regarding the face validity of the questionnaire, it was distributed among ten experts. To assess the reliability of the research tool, a questionnaire was distributed among 490 faculty members. Results: The results of measuring the reliability of the instrument by the Cronbach α values in the four domains were as follows: 0.875 in the area of curriculum development, 0.885 in the area of curriculum implementation, 0.890 in the curriculum outcome and performance, and 0.925 in other areas of the effective factors. These figures confirmed the validity of the tool. Also, using the agreement coefficient-test, the responses of faculty members and physicians and all stakeholders of medical universities showed more than 69% agreement. Conclusion: The study's findings showed that all the found components impact the effectiveness of education, and our designed tool was confirmed with appropriate and reliable validity and reliability.