Association between funding and quality of published medical education research.
BACKGROUND
Methodological shortcomings in medical education research are often attributed to insufficient funding, yet an association between funding and study quality has not been established.


OBJECTIVE
To develop and evaluate an instrument for measuring the quality of education research studies and to assess the relationship between funding and study quality.


METHODS
Internal consistency, interrater and intrarater reliability, and criterion validity were determined for a 10-item medical education research study quality instrument (MERSQI). This was applied to 210 medical education research studies published in 13 peer-reviewed journals between September 1, 2002, and December 31, 2003. The amount of funding obtained per study and the publication record of the first author were determined by survey.


METHODS
Study quality as measured by the MERSQI (potential maximum total score, 18; maximum domain score, 3), amount of funding per study, and previous publications by the first author.


RESULTS
The mean MERSQI score was 9.95 (SD, 2.34; range, 5-16). Mean domain scores were highest for data analysis (2.58) and lowest for validity (0.69). Intraclass correlation coefficient ranges for interrater and intrarater reliability were 0.72 to 0.98 and 0.78 to 0.998, respectively. Total MERSQI scores were associated with expert quality ratings (Spearman rho, 0.73; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.56-0.84; P < .001), 3-year citation rate (0.8 increase in score per 10 citations; 95% CI, 0.03-1.30; P = .003), and journal impact factor (1.0 increase in score per 6-unit increase in impact factor; 95% CI, 0.34-1.56; P = .003). In multivariate analysis, MERSQI scores were independently associated with study funding of $20 000 or more (0.95 increase in score; 95% CI, 0.22-1.86; P = .045) and previous medical education publications by the first author (1.07 increase in score per 20 publications; 95% CI, 0.15-2.23; P = .047).


CONCLUSIONS
The quality of published medical education research is associated with study funding.
Reed
Darcy A
DA
Division of Primary Care Internal Medicine, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, Minnesota 55901, USA. reed.darcy@mayo.edu
Cook
David A
DA
Beckman
Thomas J
TJ
Levine
Rachel B
RB
Kern
David E
DE
Wright
Scott M
SM
D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004501:Education, Medical; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D011643:Publishing; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012106:Research; D012107:Research Design; D012109:Research Support as Topic