A comprehensive process of content validation of curriculum consensus guidelines for a medical specialty

In this article, we outline an innovative and comprehensive approach to the development by consensus of curriculum content guidelines for a medical specialty. We initially delineated the content domain by triangulation of sources, validated a curriculum blueprint by both quantitative and qualitative methodology, and finally reached consensus on content by Delphi methodology. Development of curricular objectives is an important step in curriculum development. Content definition or "blueprinting" refers to the systematic definition of content from a specified domain for the purpose of creating test items with validity evidence. Content definition can be achieved in a number of ways and we demonstrate how the concepts of content definition or validation can be transferred beyond assessment, to other steps in curriculum development and instructional design. Validity in Education refers to the multiple sources of evidence to support the use or interpretation of different aspects of a curriculum. In this approach, there are multiple sources of content-related validity evidence which, when accumulated, give credibility and strength to curriculum consensus guidelines.