Zahra Zahedi; Hamid Salehiniya; Afagh Zarei; Hamid Abbaszadeh
Abstract
Background: Due to the widespread utilization of electronic exams, neglecting their quality is a major threat. Assessing the quality of electronic exams plays a decisive role in determining the efficacy of electronic learning.Objectives: This study aimed to assess the quality of electronic exams held ...
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Background: Due to the widespread utilization of electronic exams, neglecting their quality is a major threat. Assessing the quality of electronic exams plays a decisive role in determining the efficacy of electronic learning.Objectives: This study aimed to assess the quality of electronic exams held at the beginning of the coronavirus disease 2019 outbreak.Methods: Following a cross-sectional design, this study included all electronic exams of the electronic test center of Birjand University of Medical Sciences during the academic year of 2020. Reliability, discrimination index (DI), and difficulty index (DIF) of exams were used to assess the quality. Descriptive statistics and frequency distributions were used to describe the data.Results: Out of 101 E-exams, 59.4% had appropriate DIF, 61.4% had low DI, and 66.3% had unfavorable reliability. Also, 38.6% of exams had high DIF (easy questions). For all exams, the mean of DIF, DI, and reliability was 0.66±0.14, 0.28±0.08, and 0.56±0.31, respectively. The mean of DI (P= 0.30) and reliability (P= 0.09) was not significantly different based on faculty. The mean of DIF was significantly different according to the faculty (P=0.03).Conclusion: Concerning the quality of e-exams, most problems are related to the DI and reliability. It is recommended to hold empowerment workshops on how to design exam questions for faculty members to get them acquainted with strategies to increase the reliability and discrimination index of the exam.
Mohammad Reza Baneshi; saeide hajimaghsoodi; Azam Rastegari; Mohammad Reza Mahmoodi
Volume 8, Issue 1 , July 2011, , Pages 4-13
Abstract
In recent years using statistics in medical sciences is increasing and statistics is an essential part of each research At present for each study design and for each type of data there are appropriate statistical methods which yield to valid results and inferences Familiarity with such methods is essential ...
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In recent years using statistics in medical sciences is increasing and statistics is an essential part of each research At present for each study design and for each type of data there are appropriate statistical methods which yield to valid results and inferences Familiarity with such methods is essential especially for those involved in the field of medical research as they might confuse majority of readers who are not familiar with details of statistical analysis and data interpretation Other consequences include waste of money time and energy spent for each research project In recent years some papers have been published to enhance researchers knowledge of statistics and its application in research methodology but still there are many methodological mistakes in manuscripts In this article we aim to demonstrate appropriate methods for data analysis We will discuss importance of confidence intervals and their advantages over Pvalue We will finally highlight common errors in data analysis such as univariate methods ignoring power in detection of difference between groups and using correlation coefficient to assess the agreement between scores
