Standard setting in a small scale OSCE: a comparison of the Modified Borderline-Group Method and the Borderline Regression Method.

Full Abstract

When setting standards, administrators of small-scale OSCEs often face several challenges, including a lack of resources, a lack of available expertise in statistics, and difficulty in recruiting judges. The Modified Borderline-Group Method is a standard setting procedure that compensates for these challenges by using physician examiners and is easy to use making it a good choice for small scale OSCEs. Unfortunately, the use of this approach may introduce a new challenge. Because a small scale OSCE has a small number of examinees, there may be few examinees in the borderline range, which could introduce an unintentional bias. A standard setting method called The Borderline Regression Method will be described. This standard setting method is similar to the Modified Borderline-Group Method but incorporates a linear regression approach allowing the cut score to be set using the scores from all examinees and not from a subset. The current study uses confidence intervals to analyze the precision of cut scores derived from both approaches when applied to a small scale OSCE.

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Author information

Author/s: Wood, Timothy J (TJ); Humphrey-Murto, Susan M (SM); Norman, Geoffrey R (GR);

Affiliation: Medical Council of Canada and Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, K1G-3H7, ON, Ottawa, Canada. twood(-atsign-)mcc.ca

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Comparative Study; Journal Article

Journal: Advances in health sciences education : theory and practice (Adv Health Sci Educ Theory Pract), published in Netherlands. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2006-May; vol 11 (issue 2) : pp 115-22

Dates: Created 2006/05/26; Completed 2006/09/12; Revised 2006/11/15;

PMID: 16729239, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

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.

Bias (Epidemiology)
Education, Medical

Educational Measurement - methods; standards
Ontario

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