A comparison of lecture-discussion and self-study methods in nursing education

Three groups of students in a Nurse Practitioner Program were subjected to a multiple-choice test based upon two articles from the Nurse Practitioner. Prior to testing, one group read and studied the articles for one hour with no discussion permitted. The other two groups did not read the articles but participated in a lecture-discussion on their contents. The testing followed each learning session. Overall, the results support strongly the hypothesis that the Lecture-Discussion method is superior to the Reading Only method. The fact that the Lecture-Discussion method utilized two different instructors suggests that this finding is not based on some unique personality characteristic of one particular faculty member. Naturally, these findings are limited to this particular subject matter with nurse practitioner students. It is possible that the Reading Only method would be equal to or superior to the Lecture-Discussion method with other topics or with other student bodies. In any case, the present results run counter to the current wave of enthusiasm for the Self-study method in nursing education. These results suggest that caution be employed in a wholesale shift to autotutorial results. As Hogan states: "Self-instructional materials are not replacements for . . . teacher-centered instruction. Instead they are supplements that encourage individual initiative, autonomy, and responsibility for students who can use and wish to use them."