A ten-year analysis of surgical education research

BACKGROUND: Surgical education peer-reviewed publications have markedly inc reased over the last decade. The purpose of this study was to review the su rgical education literature published over the last 10 years and address th e following questions: What subjects in surgical education tend to be studi ed? What are the most to least commonly employed research designs and stati stics? Has there been a change in how research data are collected? Where ar e these studies published? METHODS: A literature search encompassing surgical education papers publish ed between January 1988 and August 1998 was performed. Four investigators c oded qualifying abstracts on journal type, subject of research, data collec tion methods, research design, and statistics. Each investigator was asked to code 10 articles at the start of the study to assess interrater reliabil ity. RESULTS: A total of 420 abstracts were evaluated. Interrater reliability yi elded percent agreements ranging from 82% to 96%. Curriculum and teaching w ere the most frequent topics studied (40%), followed by assessment (23%) an d program evaluation (18%). Most research designs used were descriptive (41 %), Experimental design has progressively increased from 2% in 1988-89 to 1 6% in 1998, A total of 551 statistical methods were accounted for in the 42 0 abstracts. The most common statistical analyses used were descriptive sta tistics (32%). The predominant mode of data collection was through testing or direct observations (34%). Survey instruments followed closely as a popu lar data collection method at 27%. The majority of papers were published in peer-reviewed surgical journals (64%),followed by medical education journa ls (22%) and "other" journals (14%), CONCLUSIONS: An analysis of the surgical education literature demonstrates the growing emphasis on the use of educational research to explore relevant issues and problems. Descriptive research is most popular, with an increas ing trend in experimental research. Publication of educational research in peer-reviewed surgical journals is becoming more popular. This study inform s those interested in the surgical education research literature of current trends, and what they need to know for a more critical appraisal of this b ody of literature. (C) 2000 by Excerpta Medica, Inc.