What Is the Best Interview Format to Measure Student Aptitude for Medical School? (Course name: What does a test measure?)

Problem-Based Learning to Encourage Active Learning and Teamwork Among First Year Medical Students - Student Reports in 2016 -

抄録

　This study aims to identify the type of interview that is the most suitable for evaluating a student’s personality and communication skills as part of medical school entrance examinations. Based on the importance of interviews for testing the aptitude of a student in this context, we examined different interview formats, duration, content, evaluation criteria, and scoring methods of interview performance. We further evaluated four interview formats (i.e., an individual interview, a several-interviewer interview, a group interview, and a group discussion) from the viewpoints of practicality, reliability, and validity, as well as 11 abilities measured (i.e., communication skills, enthusiasm, logical thinking/reasoning, problem-solving ability, judgment, human nature, moral standards, physical ability, cooperativeness, resourcefulness, and personality/background). Based on our analysis, we argue that the most appropriate interview exam consists of two phases: a several-interviewer interview and a group discussion, because the several-interviewer interview comes first in terms of practicality, reliability, and validity, and ability measured scores. Furthermore, by combining the several-interviewer interview with the group discussion, problem-solving ability and cooperativeness are easier to measure than in a single interview format. Moreover, we recommend some measures to improve the interview system, for example, having a 15-minute interview for each of the two interview formats, and making the evaluation criteria for grading interviews open to the public. This improvement will enable each medical school to conduct effective interviews for entrance exams to measure an applicant’s suitability to become a medical professional.