Newcastle University School of Medicine, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, North Shields, UK.
BMC Med Educ. 2024 May 24;24(1):569. doi: 10.1186/s12909-024-05517-9.
Online question banks are the most widely used education resource amongst medical students. Despite this there is an absence of literature outlining how and why they are used by students. Drawing on Deci and Ryan's self-determination theory, our study aimed to explore why and how early-stage medical students use question banks in their learning and revision strategies.
The study was conducted at Newcastle University Medical School (United Kingdom and Malaysia). Purposive, convenience and snowball sampling of year two students were employed. Ten interviews were conducted. Thematic analysis was undertaken iteratively, enabling exploration of nascent themes. Data collection ceased when no new perspectives were identified.
Students' motivation to use question banks was predominantly driven by extrinsic motivators, with high-stakes exams and fear of failure being central. Their convenience and perceived efficiency promoted autonomy and thus motivation. Rapid feedback cycles and design features consistent with gamification were deterrents to intrinsic motivation. Potentially detrimental patterns of question bank use were evident: cueing, avoidance and memorising. Scepticism regarding veracity of question bank content was absent.
We call on educators to provide students with guidance about potential pitfalls associated with question banks and to reflect on potential inequity of access to these resources.
在线题库是医学生最常用的教育资源。尽管如此，却缺乏文献来阐述学生是如何以及为何使用它们。本研究以 Deci 和 Ryan 的自我决定理论为基础，旨在探讨医学生在学习和复习策略中使用题库的原因和方式。
该研究在纽卡斯尔大学医学院（英国和马来西亚）进行。采用有目的、便利和滚雪球抽样方法选取二年级学生。进行了 10 次访谈。采用迭代主题分析方法，探索新出现的主题。当没有新的观点时，数据收集就停止了。
学生使用题库的动机主要是受外部动机驱动，高风险考试和对失败的恐惧是核心因素。题库的便利性和效率感知促进了自主性，从而激发了动机。快速反馈循环和与游戏化一致的设计特点则阻碍了内在动机。可能存在不利于题库使用的模式：提示、回避和死记硬背。学生对题库内容真实性的怀疑并不存在。
我们呼吁教育者为学生提供有关题库相关潜在陷阱的指导，并反思获取这些资源的潜在不公平性。
