The effectiveness of academic admission interviews: an exploratory meta-analysis

Admission to health-related professions is very competitive and selecting candidates with the best prospects for success is critical. A variety of measures are used to assess candidates to predict success. The purpose of this research was to assess the effectiveness of using selection interviews for admissions. Meta-analysis was applied to a sample of 20 studies examined in a comprehensive review article on the use of interviews in healthcare academic disciplines. Nineteen of these studies examined the relationship between performance in an interview situation and academic performance, while 10 examined the relationship between performance in an interview situation and clinical performance. A separate meta-analysis was conducted for each category of performance measure. The mean sample-size-effect size for studies examining the predictive power of interviews for academic success was 0.06 (95% confidence intervals 0.03-0.08), indicating a very small effect. The sample of studies was homogeneous using a fixed-effect model. The sample of studies for predicting clinical success had a mean effect size of 0.17 (95% confidence intervals 0.11-0.22), indicating modest positive predictive power. Using a random-effects model, this sample of studies was also homogeneous. Future research should investigate a larger sample of primary studies.