Why is evidence from ethnographic and discourse research needed in medical education: the case of problem-based learning.

Full Abstract

While the need for evidence-based medical education is widely acknowledged, it is often assumed that the 'gold standard' used in evidence-based medicine is sufficient evidence for practising evidence-based medical education. Using the introduction of a problem-based learning (PBL) curriculum as an example, this paper argues that evidence from ethnography can provide valuable insight into medical education, although few such studies have been carried out. Ethnography attempts to capture the true nature of human social behaviour by going beyond what individuals say to what they actually do, and explores social and educational phenomena beyond mere mechanical products of our purported educational interventions. Applied to problem-based learning, ethnographic accounts would be valuable to help us understand the PBL process and improve our educational practice.

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Author information

Author/s: Leung, Wai-Ching (WC);

Affiliation: Health Practice and Policy, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK. w-c.leung@uea.ac.uk

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: Medical teacher (Med Teach), published in England. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2002-Mar; vol 24 (issue 2) : pp 169-72

Dates: Created 2002/07/05; Completed 2002/09/06; Revised 2004/11/17;

PMID: 12098436, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Anthropology, Cultural - education
Attitude to Health - ethnology
Curriculum
Education, Medical - methods
Evidence-Based Medicine

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