Evaluation of clinical research knowledge and interest among pharmacy residents: survey design and validation

The development and validation of a survey to describe the research knowledge, attitudes, and skills of pharmacy practice residents are described.

A survey was drafted to determine if pharmacy practice residency experience and the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP)-required project improve the residents' objectively and subjectively assessed research knowledge, to determine if the residency experience and the ASHP-required project affect the residents' attitudes regarding research as a component of their future professional practice, and to subjectively assess the effect of the residency experience and the ASHP-required project on other essential skills, such as problem solving, critical thinking, and time management. An initial questionnaire was developed and underwent content validation testing by clinical pharmacists and faculty, residents, and research fellows. Following content validation, the questionnaire underwent construct validity testing (for discriminative validity and responsiveness) in students, residents, and clinical pharmacists and faculty. Reliability was tested in a subgroup of subjects who completed the questionnaire twice within two to four weeks. From the content validation phase, average scores for individual questions ranged from 1.00 to 2.00. Discriminative validity testing of the revised questionnaire demonstrated the instrument's ability to discriminate between groups expected to differ. Effect-size and mean-knowledge score differences indicated high levels of responsiveness, signifying the instrument's ability to detect change over time or after an intervention.

A survey questionnaire developed to measure research knowledge and interest among pharmacy practice residents demonstrated its validity and reliability with significant sensitivity and responsiveness.