MEDICAL-STUDENTS APPROACHES TO STUDYING

A 32-item short version of the Approaches to Studying Inventory (ASI) was administered to all students (years 1-6) at an Australian universi ty medical school (return rate 77% = 806 students). The aim was to ass ess the ASl's psychometric characteristics and to examine any differen ces in scale scores between students in different enrolment years. The analysis of the ASI was based on 806 students; factor analyses were c onducted on (1) eight subscales and (2) the 32 ASI items, followed by a second-order analysis of the correlations among the first-order fact ors. The analyses confirmed the theoretical distinction between the me aning (deep learning) and reproducing (surface learning) orientations, with both showing satisfactory internal consistency reliability for g roup comparisons. The failing students did not show any disintegration in their responses to the ASI. This short-version ASI is recommended as a practical tool for curriculum committees and individual teachers to use as an entry point for discussions aimed at changing major conte xtual factors at the institutional level with a view to improving teac hing and learning.