The use of the nominal group technique as an evaluative tool in medical undergraduate education

Objectives In the present state of flux affecting UK medical undergraduate education, there is a pressing need for evaluative methods which will ident ify relevant outcomes both expected and unanticipated. The student perspect ive is now legitimately accepted to form part of any evaluative exercise bu t qualitative methods commonly used for this purpose are expensive in time and analytical skills. The nominal group technique (NGT) has been used for various purposes, including course evaluation, and appears well suited to t his application. It combines qualitative and quantitative components in a s tructured interaction, which minimizes the influences of the researcher, an d of group dynamics. The sequence and mechanics of the NGT process are desc ribed as applied to an end of first year evaluation in a novel undergraduat e course. Doubts have been raised as to whether the results of NGT can be generalized to the larger group. In this paper, this problem is overcome by compiling a questionnaire based on the NGT items which was distributed throughout the class. Design Nominal group technique with questionnaire development. Setting The medical school at The University of Liverpool. Subjects Medical students. Results Previous claims made on behalf of the NGT, such as the focus on the student voice, the minimizing of leadership influence and the richness of the data, are upheld in this report. Broad agreement was found with the NGT items but two items (10%) did not display any consensus. Conclusions The questionnaire extension of the NGT provides back-up evidenc e of the reliability of the data derived from the technique and enables it to be applied to the larger groups typical of undergraduate medicine.