Design and Evaluation of a Performance Dashboard for the Faculty of Allied Medical Sciences, AJA University of Medical Sciences: A Protocol for a Mixed Methods Study

Background: Faculties, as educational systems, comprise various educational groups, faculty members, researchers, students, and administrative staff. The management of data records related to the performance and activities of the faculty and its members leads to better monitoring, identification of weaknesses and strengths, and, ultimately, promotion of the faculty's performance. Dashboards are data management tools that can be used for monitoring and evaluating a faculty's performance. Objectives: This study aims to develop a protocol for the design of a faculty performance dashboard with a sequential mixed methods approach. Methods: This cross-sectional study will be conducted in the Faculty of Allied Medical Sciences, AJA University of Medical Sciences, in 2023. A mixed methods study with a sequential mixed (qualitative and then quantitative) design will be conducted in four phases. First, all the resources related to the functional dashboard are reviewed to identify its operational requirements. Second, the requirements and necessities of the software are determined by qualitative (interviews) and then quantitative (Delphi) methods. In this phase, 8 people will be interviewed during the qualitative phase, and thematic analysis will be used to analyze the data. For the quantitative step, the 2-round Delphi technique will be conducted by the purposive selection of 21 individuals. Data analysis for the quantitative step will be conducted in SPSS v. 22 by using descriptive statistics, including mode, median, mean, and percentage of agreement. Third, software coding will be performed in C# programming language in Visual Studio. Finally, 15 people among faculty members and managers will be selected by using purposive sampling to evaluate the software. In this phase, the qualitative method and then the quantitative method are used for software evaluation. In the qualitative method, the think-aloud protocol will be used to evaluate usability, and in the quantitative method, the users' satisfaction with the dashboard software will be assessed using a questionnaire. The validity and reliability of the questionnaire have been confirmed previously (Cronbach's alpha: 0.94). The data will be analyzed using descriptive statistics in SPSS v. 21. Results: The paper identifies four steps that should be followed when designing and adopting performance dashboards to support student agency and empowerment. Conclusions: The final product of this study is a dashboard for monitoring, evaluating performance, and managing resources at the faculty level.