SELF-REPORT VERSUS OBSERVATION OF CONTINUING-EDUCATION ACTIVITIES - CANCER CASE CONFERENCES

Background: Observation is often recommended by experts in program eva luation, but it is considerably more expensive to implement than is se lf-report or self-study. Purpose: This study examined the accuracy of self-reports estimating the frequency of specific activities in compar ison to the observed frequency of these activities. Tumor conferences served as the setting for this study. Methods: This study compared est imates from the chairs of 25 general (hospital-wide) tumor boards from a sample of Southern California hospitals to observer ratings of 450 of their conferences. Results: Results showed a disparity between tumo r chairs' estimates of the frequency of selected educational activitie s versus the percentage of sessions in which these activities were obs erved, with all significant differences being in the direction of over statement. Conclusions: The 2 methods resulted in identical ranking of activities by occurrence, so self-report may be adequate for program improvement. However, for research purposes observation provides both greater accuracy and more insights into function than does self-report .