title: Attitudes of affiliate faculty members toward medical student summative evaluation for clinical clerkships: a qualitative analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Summative evaluation of medical students is a critical component of the educational process. Despite extensive literature on evaluation, few studies have centered on affiliate faculty members' attitudes toward summative evaluation of students, though it has been suggested that these attitudes influence their effectiveness as evaluators.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The objective is to examine affiliate faculty members' attitudes toward clinical clerkship evaluation using primarily qualitative research methods.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study used a nonexperimental research design and employed mixed methods. Data were collected through interviews, focus groups, and a questionnaire from 11 affiliate faculty members.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Themes emerging from the data fell into three broad categories: (a) factors that influence grading, (b) consequences of negative evaluations, and (c) disconnections in the grading process. The quantitative portion of the study revealed important discrepancies supporting the use of qualitative methods.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The study highlights faculty members' struggles with the evaluative process and emphasizes the need for improvements in evaluation tools and faculty development.
authors.affiliation: Pediatrics, Reading Hospital and Medical Center, Reading, Pennsylvania 19611, USA. wangk@readinghospital.org
authors.forename: Karen E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fitzpatrick
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: George
authors.forename: Lindsey
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lane
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002982:Clinical Clerkship / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003625:Data Collection; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004521:Educational Measurement / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004522:Educational Status; D005180:Faculty, Medical; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D008297:Male; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012577:Schools, Medical / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013637:Tape Recording; D014481:United States