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Multiple-Choice versus Open-Ended Questions in Advanced Clinical Neuroanatomy: Using a National Neuroanatomy Assessment to Investigate Variability in Performance Using Different Question Types |
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| Authors: | Wassim H Merzougui Matthew A Myers Samuel Hall Ahmad Elmansouri Rob Parker Alistair D Robson Octavia Kurn Rachel Parrott Kate Geoghegan Charlotte H Harrison Deepika Anbu Oliver Dean Scott Border |
| Institution: | 1. Center for Learning Anatomical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom;2. Center for Learning Anatomical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom
Department of Neurosurgery, Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust, Salford, United Kingdom Contribution: Conceptualization (equal), Data curation (equal), Formal analysis (equal), ?Investigation (equal), Methodology (equal), Project administration (equal), Resources (equal), Software (equal), Validation (equal), Writing - original draft (supporting), Writing - review & editing (equal);3. Center for Learning Anatomical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom Department of Neurosurgery, Wessex Neurological Centre, Southampton, United Kingdom Contribution: Conceptualization (equal), Data curation (equal), Formal analysis (equal), ?Investigation (equal), Methodology (equal), Validation (equal), Writing - original draft (equal), Writing - review & editing (equal);4. Department of Medical Education, Brighton and Sussex Medical School, University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom Contribution: Writing - review & editing (supporting);5. University of Southampton, School of Medicine, Southampton, United Kingdom Contribution: Data curation (equal), Formal analysis (supporting), Writing - review & editing (supporting);6. University of Southampton, School of Medicine, Southampton, United Kingdom Contribution: Data curation (supporting), Writing - review & editing (supporting);7. Department of Anatomy, St Andrews University, St Andrews, Scotland Contribution: Data curation (supporting), Resources (equal), Writing - review & editing (supporting);8. Department of Cardiology, Royal United Hospital, Bath, United Kingdom Contribution: Data curation (supporting), Writing - review & editing (supporting);9. Department of Emergency Medicine, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Oxford, United Kingdom Contribution: Data curation (supporting), Writing - review & editing (supporting);10. University of Southampton, School of Medicine, Southampton, United Kingdom |
| Abstract: | Methods of assessment in anatomy vary across medical schools in the United Kingdom (UK) and beyond; common methods include written, spotter, and oral assessment. However, there is limited research evaluating these methods in regards to student performance and perception. The National Undergraduate Neuroanatomy Competition (NUNC) is held annually for medical students throughout the UK. Prior to 2017, the competition asked open-ended questions (OEQ) in the anatomy spotter examination, and in subsequent years also asked single best answer (SBA) questions. The aim of this study is to assess medical students’ performance on, and perception of, SBA and OEQ methods of assessment in a spotter style anatomy examination. Student examination performance was compared between OEQ (2013–2016) and SBA (2017–2020) for overall score and each neuroanatomical subtopic. Additionally, a questionnaire explored students’ perceptions of SBAs. A total of 631 students attended the NUNC in the studied period. The average mark was significantly higher in SBAs compared to OEQs (60.6% vs. 43.1%, P < 0.0001)—this was true for all neuroanatomical subtopics except the cerebellum. Students felt that they performed better on SBA than OEQs, and diencephalon was felt to be the most difficult neuroanatomical subtopic (n = 38, 34.8%). Students perceived SBA questions to be easier than OEQs and performed significantly better on them in a neuroanatomical spotter examination. Further work is needed to ascertain whether this result is replicable throughout anatomy education. |
| Keywords: | gross anatomy education neuroanatomy anatomy education medical education undergraduate education methods of assessments anatomy assessment |