O'Halloran C M, Altmaier E M, Smith W L, Franken E A
College of Education, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City.
Invest Radiol. 1993 Mar;28(3):274-7. doi: 10.1097/00004424-199303000-00026.
Traditional, narrative letters of recommendation solicited by medical students applying for radiology residency are widely used as a selection tool. Letters of recommendation are considered a source of reliable information about the attitudes and behaviors (non-cognitive variables) of the resident applicant. However, in many instances, this information is not present or is highly encoded and cannot be extracted. This study attempted to document the deficiencies of traditional letters of recommendation and determine the effectiveness of a structured letter of recommendation in obtaining information regarding noncognitive variables.
One hundred thirteen randomly selected letters of recommendation were analyzed by two radiologists with experience in residency selection. Deficiencies in inclusion of information or the ability to extract information about noncognitive variables were documented. A standard behavioral assessment was sent to the writers of these letters of recommendation and these results tabulated.
The traditional letters of recommendation were frequently deficient in data regarding the noncognitive variables. In letters that contained such data, two experienced reviewers could not reliably extract the information. The structured form produced clearly identifiable information about the letter writer's assessment of noncognitive variables.
Traditional letters of information are frequently deficient in data regarding noncognitive variables. A standardized statement is effective in eliciting information on noncognitive variables related to applicant performance.
医学生申请放射科住院医师职位时所提交的传统叙述性推荐信被广泛用作选拔工具。推荐信被视为获取住院医师申请人态度和行为（非认知变量）可靠信息的来源。然而，在许多情况下，这些信息并不存在或高度加密，无法提取。本研究试图记录传统推荐信的不足之处，并确定结构化推荐信在获取非认知变量信息方面的有效性。
由两名有住院医师选拔经验的放射科医生对113封随机挑选的推荐信进行分析。记录在纳入信息或提取非认知变量信息能力方面的不足。向这些推荐信的撰写者发送一份标准行为评估，并将结果制成表格。
传统推荐信在非认知变量数据方面常常存在不足。在包含此类数据的信件中，两名经验丰富的评审人员无法可靠地提取信息。结构化表格能清晰地提供关于信件撰写者对非认知变量评估的可识别信息。
传统推荐信在非认知变量数据方面常常存在不足。标准化陈述在引出与申请人表现相关的非认知变量信息方面是有效的。
