Jove
Visualize
Contact Us

Related Experiment Videos

Relative or Absolute Standards in Assessing Medical Knowledge Using Progress Tests.

A.M.M. Muijtjens1, R.J.I. Hoogenboom, G.M. Verwijnen

  • 1Dept. of Medical Informatics, Dept. of Educational Development & Research, and Skillslab, University of Maastricht, P.O. Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands.

Advances in Health Sciences Education : Theory and Practice
|October 19, 2002
PubMed
Summary

Using an absolute standard in health sciences education testing can be precarious. While intended to correct for test difficulty, it led to significant shifts in pass/fail decisions and highly variable failure rates.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

The Relation Between Time Spent on Individual Study and Academic Achievement in a Problem-Based Curriculum.

Advances in health sciences education : theory and practice·2002
Same author

Evaluating Communication Skills.

Advances in health sciences education : theory and practice·2002
Same author

An Inter- and Intra-University Comparison With Short Case-Based Testing.

Advances in health sciences education : theory and practice·2002
See all related articles
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Area of Science:

  • Medical Education
  • Psychometrics
  • Health Professions Education

Background:

  • Norm-referenced (relative) standards are common in health sciences achievement testing.
  • While relative standards adjust for test difficulty, they have drawbacks.
  • Absolute standards are often preferred but their impact needs investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the consequences of using an absolute standard versus a relative standard in health sciences education.
  • To evaluate a developed standard-setting procedure using real-world data.

Main Methods:

  • The study analyzed progress test scores from Maastricht Medical School over eight years.
  • A standard-setting procedure was developed and its performance evaluated.
  • Pass/fail decisions were compared between absolute and relative standards.

Related Experiment Videos

Main Results:

  • Switching from a relative to an absolute standard changed 6% of pass/fail decisions.
  • 2.6% of outcomes shifted from fail to pass, and 3.4% from pass to fail.
  • Failure rates varied dramatically (2%-47%) with an absolute standard, unlike the stable rate with a relative standard.

Conclusions:

  • An absolute standard in health sciences education testing is precarious due to inherent variations in test difficulty.
  • The variability in failure rates highlights the instability of absolute standards when test difficulty fluctuates.
  • Careful consideration of standard-setting methods is crucial for reliable achievement testing in health sciences.