The Application Of Mixed Methods Research In Evidence-Based Medicine Teaching Evaluation

ObjectiveTo explore the application conditions and research methodology of MixedMethods Research, to further attempt to resolve issues in the practice ofEvidence-Based Medicine Teaching Evaluation with Mixed Methods Research, and toevaluate its effect.MethodsWe retrieved literatures on Mixed Methods Research and Evidence-BasedMedicine teaching evaluation home and abroad and determined the applicationconditions, typeof design and research methodology after collating and reviewingliteratures.With the Sequential exploratory designs, we collected the comments, suggestions,demands and other materials of8-year Clinical Medicine students who havecompleted the course of Evidence-Based Medicine and conducted QualitativeResearch based on the Grounded Theory using the software Nvivo9.0. Then, weconstructed the theoretical model of comments and suggestions by repeatedlyexploring the relationships among open coding, axial coding, and selective coding, aswell as by revising codes. Sequentially, we quantified the data according to classification indicated by the theoretical model, and conducted descriptive dataanalysis using SAS9.2. Then, we got the complete teaching evaluation results byintegrating the results of qualitative and quantitative researches. Finally, we adjustedthe teaching scheme and compared the comments and suggestions before and after theadjustment.Results1. Definition, type of research, research methodology, as well as method of datacollection and analysis were explicitly defined.2. Sequential exploratory designs were chosen according to the specific conditions ofthis study, and were successfully applied to analyze the teaching feedback ofEvidence-Based Medicine as well as to collect and analyze the open text data.①In2012, feedback from998-year Clinical Medicine students were collected; thefollowing4dimensions need to be improved suggested by Qualitative Research:curriculum arrangement, teaching content, teaching method, and classroomcircumstances.123free nodes were obtained by summarizing all codes,31of whichwere included in the conception of EBM teaching comment,43of which wereincluded in the conception of EBM teaching suggestion. Comments and suggestionswere counted by classification and were sequentially analyzed based on the results ofQualitative Research.4directions and15measures were obtained.②In2013,feedback from488-year Clinical Medicine students were collected; the following4dimensions need to be improved suggested by Qualitative Research: academic hourarrangement, teaching content, teaching method, classroom circumstances, andperformance appraisal.924free nodes were obtained by summarizing coding,35ofwhich were included in the conception of EBM teaching comment,38of which wereincluded in the conception of EBM teaching suggestion. Comments and suggestionswere counted by classification and were sequentially analyzed based on the results ofQualitative Research.4directions and13measures were obtained.3. Comparison between the results of2012and2013indicated that: Comments of2012focused on academic hour arrangement and teaching content while comments of 2013focused on academic hour arrangement. Of the comments,“less than normalacademic hours” accounts for27.27%and31.25%, respectively; comments of2012focused on few cases and no highlights, which accounts for40.40%and32.32%respectively. Only1student of2013came up with the comment that there was a lackof case analysis. Suggestions of2012focused on teaching methods and teachingcontents. Suggestions concerning teaching methods were to increase classroomdiscussions and to increase practical courses, which accounts for50%of therespondents; Suggestions of2013primarily focus on the increase of group discussionand the strengthen of practical education; Suggestions of2013focused on teachingcontents and curriculum assessment. Suggestions concerning teaching contents wereto strengthen theory with practice (31.25%), and suggestions concerning curriculumassessment were to increase assessment of the practical part (25.5%). Comments of2013on teaching content and teaching method declined compared with2012.Suggestions of2013focused accordingly on further strengthening theory withpractice after computer practice and more cases being added based on findings of2012.ConclusionsThis study found that the results from the open text data of Mixed MethodsResearch in EBM teaching evaluation are more in-depth and comprehensive than theresults with merely Qualitative Research or Quantitative Research, and are of greaterpractical significance.InnovationMixed Methods Research were successfully applied to study open text data usingQualitative method and Quantitative method as well as an integration of the twomethods in EBM teaching evaluation to solve practical problems and acted well. Thisprovided experiences and references for future popularization of this method andEBM teaching reform.