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Scientific processes

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Question 284

Clinical Empathy Study

Researchers were interested in evaluating the interpersonal communication skills of final-year medical students. They wanted to investigate whether a relationship exists between written test performance and real-world practical application of empathy. Medical students who had completed their Core Clinical Training were selected to participate in two tasks:

  • Task 1: A written situational judgment test assessing active listening and clinical empathy, yielding a standardized empathy score with a maximum score of 30.
  • Task 2: A practical roleplay scenario representing a difficult clinical consultation with a simulated patient. Each student's performance was observed and rated by a single trained clinical examiner, who gave a performance rating out of 15.

The results compiled by the researchers are displayed in Table 1 below:

Table 1: Written empathy scores and clinical consultation ratings of medical students

StudentWritten Empathy Score (Max 30)Practical Consultation Rating (Max 15)
12613
2127
32211
4189
564
695
71112
82010
92914

Using your knowledge of research methods and the context of the study:

a.

Briefly outline one problem of using a single trained examiner to rate the students' practical consultation skills.

[3]
b.

Briefly discuss how this data collection method could be modified to improve the reliability of the data collected.

[3]
Markscheme

Scientific processes Questions

  1. A Level
  2. /Psychology
  3. /Scientific processes

689 exam-style questions on AQA A Level Psychology Scientific processes. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.

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