ERIC Number: EJ1438145
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2024-Sep
Pages: 13
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1382-4996
EISSN: EISSN-1573-1677
Available Date: N/A
The Effect of the Attitude towards Risk/Ambiguity on Examination Grades: Cross-Sectional Study in a Portuguese Medical School
Filipe Leite-Mendes; Luis Delgado; Amelia Ferreira; Milton Severo
Advances in Health Sciences Education, v29 n4 p1309-1321 2024
Given the high prevalence of multiple-choice examinations with formula scoring in medical training, several studies have tried to identify other factors in addition to the degree of knowledge of students which influence their response patterns. This study aims to measure the effect of students' attitude towards risk and ambiguity on their number of correct, wrong, and blank answers. In October 2018, 233 3rd year medical students from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto, in Porto, Portugal, completed a questionnaire which assessed the student's attitudes towards risk and ambiguity, and aversion to ambiguity in medicine. Simple and multiple regression models and the respective regression coefficients were used to measure the association between the students' attitudes, and their answers in two examinations that they had taken in June 2018. Having an intermediate level of ambiguity aversion in medicine (as opposed to a very high or low level) was associated with a significant increase in the number of correct answers and decrease in the number of blank answers in the first examination. In the second examination, high levels of ambiguity aversion in medicine were associated with a decrease in the number of wrong answers. Attitude towards risk, tolerance for ambiguity, and gender did not show significant association with the number of correct, wrong, and blank answers for either examination. Students' ambiguity aversion in medicine is correlated with their performance in multiple-choice examinations with negative marking. Therefore, it is suggested the planning and implementation of counselling sessions with medical students regarding the possible impact of ambiguity aversion on their performance in multiple-choice questions with negative marking.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Medical Schools, Medical Students, Student Attitudes, Risk, Ambiguity (Context), Scores, Multiple Choice Tests, Scoring, Fear
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Portugal
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A