title: Opinions of Tutors and Students about Effectiveness of PBL in Dokuz Eylul University School of Medicine.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The aim of this study is to determine the opinions of tutors and students about the effectiveness of Problem-based Learning in Dokuz Eylul University School of Medicine.
  
  
  METHODS
  A questionnaire with a five-point Likert scale, with 1:minimum, 5;maximum, rating PBL effectiveness was administered in February and March of 2001 to tutors and students. Response rates of tutors and students were respectively 65.0% (130 out of 201) and 82.4% (346 out of 420). The reliability of the scale was high (Cronbach α= 0.90).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Ratings of tutors and students respectively on identified outcomes of PBL varied between 3.80-4.69 and 3.69-4.27 out of 5 points. Both groups gave high ratings to the areas of clinical reasoning, communication and problem solving and gave lower ratings to gaining basic science knowledge. Basic science tutors rated the areas of problem solving, gaining basic science knowledge and intrinsic motivation of students significantly higher than did clinical science tutors.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  According to the results of this study, tutors and students opinions about PBL outcomes were similar to those previously reported in the literature. Both groups had positive opinions about PBL's effectiveness. As has been reported in other studies, tutors and students gave the lowest ratings to the area of gaining basic science knowledge. However, the ratings of basic science tutors were higher than those of clinical science tutors in this area. This may be due to preexisting beliefs of clinical science tutors regarding the effectiveness of PBL for teaching factual basic science knowledge.
authors.affiliation: a Medical Education Department Dokuz Eylul University School of Medicine Turkey.
authors.forename: Berna
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Musal
authors.affiliation: a Medical Education Department Dokuz Eylul University School of Medicine Turkey.
authors.forename: Cahit
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Taskiran
authors.affiliation: b Medical Education Department Southern Illinois University School of Medicine USA.
authors.forename: Ann
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kelson
keywords: PBL; PBL effectiveness; opinions of students and tutors