Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1 General Practitioner & Epidemiologist, Associate Professor in Epidemiology and Biostatistics Dept. and Physiology Research Center, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran
2 General Practitioner, Researcher in Education Development Center, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Iran
Abstract
Background & Objective : Assessing students grades in their courses and in national comprehensive exams may help us in the assessment of educational status of different departments indirectly In this study the internal consistency of medical students scores in Kerman University of Medical Sciences was assessed Methods : In a historical cohort study students grades and other information for entrance years between 1995 and 2003 were extracted from the central admission office and 10 indicators for educational achievement were defined for each student Having used Cronbachs alpha and linear regression we checked the internal consistency of scores Also we used factorial analysis and related graphs (Dendrogram) to evaluate the consistency between factors of students educational achievement Results : Females were more successful in all series of students except for national comprehensive exams Although internal consistency in males scores was more than females males scores in specific courses of basic sciences were more related to the scores of their basic sciences comprehensive exams In addition internal consistency in males scores was more than females especially in clinical courses Higher age at entering university could cause a decrease in educational success Students grades in various courses had slight consistency with national comprehensive exams Moreover the internal consistency of scores during clerkship and internship were significantly lower than the other phases Conclusion : Lower consistency of scores in clinical courses may imply lower validity of these scores Unlike higher educational success in females it seems that stability in males scores was greater in most indicators
Keywords
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