On Requiring Medical Student Participation on Course and Faculty Evaluations: Ethical and Methodological Implications Royal Kenneth D.1,*, Walter Rachael A.2 1Department of Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University, 1060 William Moore Dr. Raleigh, NC, 27607, USA 2Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA *Corresponding author email id: kdroyal2@ncsu.edu
Online published on 10 December, 2015. Abstract Many medical schools have policies that require student participation on various course and faculty evaluations. Consequences for non-participation often include threats to withhold grades and prohibiting students from further advancing with their studies. The rationale behind these policies is that mandatory participation is the only way to ensure a high response rate, which many faculty and administrators erroneously perceive as the primary requirement for valid feedback. Unfortunately, there are a number of ethical problems and methodological concerns underscoring these practices. The purpose of this opinion article is to briefly discuss some of the problems associated with this evaluation practice and encourage medical educators to conduct evaluations in more ethically responsible and methodologically appropriate ways. Top Keywords Medical education, Ethics, Faculty evaluation, Course evaluation, Research, Research methods. Top |