School of Pharmacy, University of Namibia, 340 Mandume Ndemufayo Avenue, Private Bag 13301, Windhoek, Namibia.
School of Medicine, University of Namibia, 340 Mandume Ndemufayo Avenue, Private Bag 13301, Windhoek, Namibia.
Curr Pharm Teach Learn. 2020 Feb;12(2):213-219. doi: 10.1016/j.cptl.2019.11.017. Epub 2019 Dec 4.
Pharmacy and medical training were introduced for the first time in Namibia in 2011 and 2010 respectively. All students must complete a research project as part of their training, which is supported by various courses in the respective curricula including research methods. Following a revision of the medical curriculum, there was an opportunity to review the way research methods was taught for both degrees, piloting in pharmacy then expanding to other disciplines. An educational activity that was part of the research methods course for training pharmacy students in Namibia is described.
The activity described related to a new approach in the running of the research methods course for pharmacy students and included, in a portfolio-based approach, a group project. Students were tasked to collect qualitative data from medical student colleagues that they then needed to codify and ultimately articulate into a survey questionnaire. The questionnaire was subsequently sent out to collect responses on medicines-related items that could be analyzed quantitatively in subsequent teaching sessions. Supportive lectures, tutorials and portfolio assignments were provided during the project. Data were collected the following year to create a more substantive dataset and a screencast video made to benefit future students in the course.
Through the course of this activity students developed a questionnaire survey tool based on qualitative responses to brief interviews with medical students and emergent themes based on qualitative analyses. A dataset was created that allowed demonstration of quantitative analyses and extraction of sub-scales from the questionnaire. Further educational resources were developed to ensure sustainability of this educational resource and retention in the taught curriculum.
The current article discusses the development, implementation and evaluation of this research methods course component. The application of data collected as part of the activity and its relevance to the educational activity is examined as well as lessons learned for the future running of the project and further evaluation.
2011 年和 2010 年，纳米比亚分别首次开设了药学和医学培训课程。所有学生都必须完成一个研究项目，作为培训的一部分，该项目得到了各自课程中包括研究方法在内的各种课程的支持。在修订医学课程后，有机会审查这两个学位的研究方法教学方式，先在药学中试行，然后扩展到其他学科。本文描述了在纳米比亚培训药学学生的研究方法课程中的一项教育活动。
所描述的活动与药学学生研究方法课程的新教学方法有关，包括基于组合的小组项目。学生被要求从医学专业的学生同事那里收集定性数据，然后对这些数据进行编码，并最终将其表达成问卷调查。随后，问卷被发送出去，以收集与药物相关的项目的回复，这些回复可以在后续的教学中进行定量分析。在项目进行过程中提供了支持性的讲座、辅导和组合作业。第二年收集了数据，以创建更实质性的数据集，并制作了一个屏幕录像，以便课程中的未来学生受益。
通过这个活动，学生们根据对医学生的简短访谈的定性回应以及基于定性分析的新兴主题，开发了一个问卷调查工具。创建了一个数据集，允许演示定量分析，并从问卷中提取子量表。进一步开发了教育资源，以确保该教育资源的可持续性，并保留在教学课程中。
本文讨论了该研究方法课程组成部分的开发、实施和评估。检查了作为该活动一部分收集的数据的应用及其与教育活动的相关性，以及为未来项目的运行和进一步评估所吸取的经验教训。
