Attending to Variable Interpretations of Assessment Science and Practice

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Assessment Philosophy
• Health Professions Education

Background:

• Assessment in health professions is increasingly influenced by diverse interpretive processes.
• Varying philosophical positions lead to different interpretations of assessment concepts and quality standards.
• This diversity creates uncertainty and challenges the legitimacy of assessment activities and outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To illustrate the interpretive processes of assessment in health professions education.
• To examine the evolution of assessment context through a philosophical lens.
• To demonstrate how variable interpretations arise even within specific philosophical positions like pragmatism.

Main Methods:

• Summarizing the health professions assessment context from a philosophical perspective.
• Analyzing assessment work and validity claims through practical examples.
• Examining pragmatism to highlight interpretive variability.

Main Results:

• Educators may unknowingly apply different assumptions and interpretive norms in assessment.
• This can lead to divergent views on assessment quality, even for the same program.
• Debates are shifting from within philosophical positions to across them.

Conclusions:

• Assessment is fundamentally an interpretive process.
• A philosophically explicit approach is needed in health professions assessment.
• Elucidating philosophical assumptions is key to defensible assessment processes and outcomes.