A standardized open-ended questionnaire as a substitute for a personal interview in dental admissions

This paper discusses the need for reliable and valid measures of personality and motivational factors in the prediction of success and attrition in a dental school. The admissions system currently used in most schools includes personality factors that are measured by an interview. Our study examined whether the interview could be replaced by a standardized, open-ended questionnaire, thus increasing standardization and objectivity and avoiding the possible biases of the interview. The relationship between the standardized questionnaire score and the interview score in a dental school in Israel was examined, as well as the relationship between the standardized questionnaire score and the admissions decisions. The results showed that the questionnaire and the interview probably measure a common construct, enabling us to tentatively recommend a two-stage admissions process: all candidates meeting certain academic criteria should be asked to answer the questionnaire; those candidates scoring above a certain percentile on the questionnaire should either be admitted outright or invited for an interview.