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Automated Analysis of Preceptor Comments: A Pilot Study Using Sentiment Analysis to Identify Potential Student Issues
Kathryn Fuller1, Carly Lupton-Smith1, Robert Hubal1
1UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
A new sentiment analysis program accurately identifies pharmacy students at risk for academic progression by automatically scoring preceptor comments. This tool streamlines faculty review of qualitative feedback, enhancing educational support.
Area of Science:
- Pharmacy Education
- Natural Language Processing
- Educational Technology
Background:
- Preceptor comments provide valuable qualitative feedback on student performance in pharmacy practice experiences.
- Identifying students at risk for progression issues requires efficient analysis of extensive qualitative data.
- Manual review of numerous comments can be time-consuming for faculty.
Purpose of the Study:
- To describe a sentiment analysis program designed to automatically score preceptor comments.
- To identify pharmacy students at risk for progression issues using automated sentiment analysis.
- To evaluate the accuracy and utility of sentiment analysis in pharmacy education.
Main Methods:
- An R-based sentiment analysis program was developed and piloted.
- The algorithm was compared against human coding in initial phases.
- The final algorithm analyzed 1560 midpoint student evaluations (3919 comments) in a validation phase.
Main Results:
- Phase 1 showed 96% agreement between human coders and sentiment analysis.
- Phase 2 refinement, including keyword addition, achieved 92.4% agreement.
- Phase 3 validation confirmed alignment between sentiment scores and quantitative assessment data.
Conclusions:
- The sentiment analysis algorithm accurately captures positive and negative feedback on pharmacy student performance.
- This tool can effectively flag preceptor comments indicating potential progression issues.
- Sentiment analysis offers significant implications for efficient and targeted support in pharmacy education.
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