Transferability of principles of evidence based medicine to improve educational quality: systematic review and case study of an online course in primary health care

Appendix 2:   CRITICAL APPRAISAL OF QAA GUIDELINES FOR QUALITY ASSURANCE OF DISTANCE LEARNING

Appendix 3:  Commentary on the synthesis phase of the project

Appendix 4:  The quality framework
 
 

List of qualitative techniques used in evaluation of pilot year of course

In-depth telephone interviews with pilot cohort of eight students (four interviews each over 18 months). The students comprised three general practitioners, one public health doctor, one health visitor, two nurse managers, one community pharmacist, and one chief executive of a primary care organisation

Focus groups (three in total) and interviews with all 10 staff (one per staff member)

Participant observation at team meetings (around 30)

Shadowing of students during summer school and of academic, administrative, and technical staff throughout pilot year

Analysis of transcripts of virtual seminars and informal bulletin board discussions

Analysis of critical incidents using the standard approach described by Robinson et al (see below)

Analysis of online evaluation forms completed by students after each module and of informal comments posted in evaluation/feedback forum

Invited peer review of our online course by external experts in the course content, computer mediated conferencing, the interactive learning environment, human computer interaction, and the support of students with special needs

Explanatory note: Our approach to qualitative evaluation followed the recommendation of Denzin and Lincoln for exploration of complex social phenomena. They describe the role of the researcher in such settings as "deploying whatever strategies, methods or empirical materials are at hand in a pragmatic and self-reflexive manner in order to secure an in depth understanding of the phenomenon in question from as many angles as possible."

1. Robinson LA, Stacy R, Spencer JA, Bhopal R. How to do it: use facilitated case discussions for significant event auditing. BMJ 1995;311:315-8.
2. Denzin M, Lincoln P. Handbook of qualitative research. London: SAGE, 1994.