Virginia Commonwealth University School of Pharmacy, Richmond, Virginia.
University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Pharmacy, Memphis, Tennessee.
Am J Pharm Educ. 2019 Oct;83(8):7246. doi: 10.5688/ajpe7246.
To compare educational outcomes between two iterations of a scholarship and research course for Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) students at Virginia Commonwealth University's School of Pharmacy. The first iteration of a course intended to teach pharmacy students the knowledge and skills necessary to design and conduct research involved lectures and application exercises, including limited guided questions about different aspects of the research process. In the fall of 2015, multiple structured activities and accompanying grading rubrics, each designed around the structure and content of a section of a research proposal, were introduced to the course to supplement lectures. Both iterations of the course culminated with students submitting a research proposal. After establishing interrater reliability, faculty members graded a random sample of 20 research proposals, 10 from each version of the course, and section-specific and overall proposal scores were compared. In the proposals submitted after the course revisions, significant improvements in three areas were identified: the overall score, the section-specific scores for research hypothesis/specific aims, and institutional review board (IRB) discussion/informed consent. Nominal, though not statistically significant, improvements were observed in other sections. Additional research is needed regarding the best instructional strategies to reinforce data analysis and statistical testing knowledge and skills in PharmD students. Overall, our findings support the hypothesis that a more formalized, guided approach for teaching research methods improves learning outcomes for PharmD students.
比较弗吉尼亚联邦大学药学院药学博士（PharmD）学生奖学金和研究课程两个迭代版本的教育成果。 该课程的第一版旨在教授药学学生设计和进行研究所需的知识和技能，包括有关研究过程不同方面的有限指导问题。 2015 年秋季，该课程引入了多项结构化活动和配套的评分标准，每项活动都围绕研究计划的一个部分的结构和内容设计，以补充讲座。两个版本的课程都以学生提交研究计划为最终目标。在建立了评分者间的可靠性之后，教师对 20 份研究计划中的随机样本进行了评分，每个版本的课程各 10 份，并对特定部分和整体计划评分进行了比较。在课程修订后的研究计划中，在以下三个方面发现了显著的改进：整体评分、研究假设/具体目标的特定部分评分以及机构审查委员会（IRB）讨论/知情同意。在其他部分也观察到了名义上的、但没有统计学意义的改进。需要进一步研究最佳的教学策略，以加强 PharmD 学生数据分析和统计测试知识和技能。总体而言，我们的发现支持了这样一种假设，即更正式、有指导的研究方法教学可以提高 PharmD 学生的学习成果。
