Assessment of examiner leniency and stringency ('hawk-dove effect') in the MRCP(UK) clinical examination (PACES) using multi-facet Rasch modelling

BACKGROUND: A potential problem of clinical examinations is known as the hawk-dove problem, some examiners being more stringent and requiring a higher performance than other examiners who are more lenient. Although the problem has been known qualitatively for at least a century, we know of no previous statistical estimation of the size of the effect in a large-scale, high-stakes examination. Here we use FACETS to carry out a multi-facet Rasch modelling of the paired judgements made by examiners in the clinical examination (PACES) of MRCP(UK), where identical candidates were assessed in identical situations, allowing calculation of examiner stringency. METHODS: Data were analysed from the first nine diets of PACES, which were taken between June 2001 and March 2004 by 10,145 candidates. Each candidate was assessed by two examiners on each of seven separate tasks. with the candidates assessed by a total of 1,259 examiners, resulting in a total of 142,030 marks. Examiner demographics were described in terms of age, sex, ethnicity, and total number of candidates examined. RESULTS: FACETS suggested that about 87% of main effect variance was due to candidate differences, 1% due to station differences, and 12% due to differences between examiners in leniency-stringency. Multiple regression suggested that greater examiner stringency was associated with greater examiner experience and being from an ethnic minority. Male and female examiners showed no overall difference in stringency. Examination scores were adjusted for examiner stringency and it was shown that for the present pass mark, the outcome for 95.9% of candidates would be unchanged using adjusted marks, whereas 2.6% of candidates would have passed, even though they had failed on the basis of raw marks, and 1.5% of candidates would have failed, despite passing on the basis of raw marks. CONCLUSION: Examiners do differ in their leniency or stringency, and the effect can be estimated using Rasch modelling. The reasons for differences are not clear, but there are some demographic correlates, and the effects appear to be reliable across time. Account can be taken of differences, either by adjusting marks or, perhaps more effectively and more justifiably, by pairing high and low stringency examiners, so that raw marks can be used in the determination of pass and fail

Assessing fitness-to-practice of overseas-trained health practitioners by Australian registration & accreditation bodies

Assessment of fitness-to-practice of health professionals trained overseas and who wish to practice in Australia is undertaken by a range of organisations. These organisations conduct assessments using a range of methods. However there is very little published about how these organisations conduct their assessments. The purpose of the current paper is to investigate the methods of assessment used by these organisations and the issues associated with conducting these assessments

Photochemical versus Thermal Synthesis of Cobalt Oxyhydroxide Nanocrystals

Photochemical methods facilitate the generation, isolation, and study of metastable nanomaterials having unusual size, composition, and morphology. These harder-to-isolate and highly reactive phases, inaccessible using conventional high-temperature pyrolysis, are likely to possess enhanced and unprecedented chemical, electromagnetic, and catalytic properties. We report a fast, low-temperature and scalable photochemical route to synthesize very small (~3 nm) monodisperse cobalt oxyhydroxide (Co(O)OH) nanocrystals. This method uses readily and commercially available pentaamminechlorocobalt(III) chloride, [Co(NH3) 5Cl]Cl2, under acidic or neutral pH and proceeds under either near-UV (350 nm) or Vis (575 nm) illumination. Control experiments showed that the reaction proceeds at competent rates only in the presence of light, does not involve a free radical mechanism, is insensitive to O 2, and proceeds in two steps: (1) Aquation of [Co(NH3) 5Cl] 2+ to yield [Co(NH3) 5(H2O)] 3+, followed by (2) slow photoinduced release of NH3 from the aqua complex. This reaction is slow enough for Co(O)OH to form but fast enough so that nanocrystals are small (ca. 3 nm). The alternative dark thermal reaction proceeds much more slowly and produces much larger (~250 nm) polydisperse Co(O)OH aggregates. UV-Vis absorption measurements and ab initio calculations yield a Co(O)OH band gap of 1.7 eV. Fast thermal annealing of Co(O)OH nanocrystals leads to Co3O4 nanocrystals with overall retention of nanoparticle size and morphology. Thermogravimetric analysis shows that oxyhydroxide to mixed-oxide phase transition occurs at significantly lower temperatures (up to T = 64 degrees C) for small nanocrystals compared with the bulk

Från papper till pixel : Digitaliseringens påverkan på revisionsbranschen

I en allt mer digitaliserad värld genomgår revisionsbranschen en omfattande digitalisering. Detta ställer nya krav på teknisk kompetens hos revisorer vilket i sin tur ställer högre krav på organisationer att säkerställa att dess medarbetare får den kompetensutveckling som krävs. Studiens syfte är att undersöka hur digitaliseringen har påverkat revisionsbranschen samt hur de stora revisionsbolagen arbetar med teknisk kompetensutveckling för att möta dagens och morgondagens behov av tekniskt kunnande. För att undersöka detta genomfördes sex intervjuer med anställda från de fyra stora revisionsbolagen, även benämnda som The Big Four. En tematisk analys genomfördes på empirin som utgick från studiens analysmodell, vilken grundar sig på relevant tidigare forskning. Studiens resultat visar att digitaliseringen har haft en omfattande påverkan på branschen, där digitala verktyg blivit en viktig del av arbetet vilket har haft en positiv inverkan på effektivitet och revisionskvalitet. Teknisk kompetens har blivit allt viktigare för revisorer och de studerade organisationerna arbetar aktivt med en kombination av metoder för kompetensutveckling för att vidareutveckla sina anställdas kompetens.

Från papper till pixel : Digitaliseringens påverkan på revisionsbranschen

I en allt mer digitaliserad värld genomgår revisionsbranschen en omfattande digitalisering. Detta ställer nya krav på teknisk kompetens hos revisorer vilket i sin tur ställer högre krav på organisationer att säkerställa att dess medarbetare får den kompetensutveckling som krävs. Studiens syfte är att undersöka hur digitaliseringen har påverkat revisionsbranschen samt hur de stora revisionsbolagen arbetar med teknisk kompetensutveckling för att möta dagens och morgondagens behov av tekniskt kunnande. För att undersöka detta genomfördes sex intervjuer med anställda från de fyra stora revisionsbolagen, även benämnda som The Big Four. En tematisk analys genomfördes på empirin som utgick från studiens analysmodell, vilken grundar sig på relevant tidigare forskning. Studiens resultat visar att digitaliseringen har haft en omfattande påverkan på branschen, där digitala verktyg blivit en viktig del av arbetet vilket har haft en positiv inverkan på effektivitet och revisionskvalitet. Teknisk kompetens har blivit allt viktigare för revisorer och de studerade organisationerna arbetar aktivt med en kombination av metoder för kompetensutveckling för att vidareutveckla sina anställdas kompetens.