Modified personal interviews:  resurrecting reliable personal interviews for admissions?
OBJECTIVE
Traditional admissions personal interviews provide flexible faculty-student interactions but are plagued by low inter-interview reliability. Axelson and Kreiter (2009) retrospectively showed that multiple independent sampling (MIS) may improve reliability of personal interviews; thus, the authors incorporated MIS into the admissions process for medical students applying to the University of Toronto's Leadership Education and Development Program (LEAD). They examined the reliability and resource demands of this modified personal interview (MPI) format.


METHODS
In 2010-2011, LEAD candidates submitted written applications, which were used to screen for participation in the MPI process. Selected candidates completed four brief (10-12 minutes) independent MPIs each with a different interviewer. The authors blueprinted MPI questions to (i.e., aligned them with) leadership attributes, and interviewers assessed candidates' eligibility on a five-point Likert-type scale. The authors analyzed inter-interview reliability using the generalizability theory.


RESULTS
Sixteen candidates submitted applications; 10 proceeded to the MPI stage. Reliability of the written application components was 0.75. The MPI process had overall inter-interview reliability of 0.79. Correlation between the written application and MPI scores was 0.49. A decision study showed acceptable reliability of 0.74 with only three MPIs scored using one global rating. Furthermore, a traditional admissions interview format would take 66% more time than the MPI format.


CONCLUSIONS
The MPI format, used during the LEAD admissions process, achieved high reliability with minimal faculty resources. The MPI format's reliability and effective resource use were possible through MIS and employment of expert interviewers. MPIs may be useful for other admissions tasks.
Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. mark.hanson@utoronto.ca
Mark D
MD
Hanson
Kulamakan Mahan
KM
Kulasegaram
Nicole N
NN
Woods
Lindsey
L
Fechtig
Geoff
G
Anderson
D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic / Q000379:methods*; D007857:Leadership; D015233:Models, Statistical; D015588:Observer Variation; D009864:Ontario; D011446:Prospective Studies; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012570:School Admission Criteria; D012577:Schools, Medical