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Factors that influence voluntary participation in a graduate

professional student ETD project

Charles J GreenbergHarvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library,

Yale University

John N Forrest Jr. Office of Student Research, Yale School of Medicine

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The Origin of the Yale Medicine Thesis Digital Library

[presented at ETD2003] • Yale Medical Thesis Tradition Dates from 1839

• The 19th Century Medical thesis - Academic Formality

• In 1925-- the “Yale System of Medical Education” original student research.All students.

variety of topics

Prior sources of data OK

There must be a specific hypothesis

Each student works closely with a faculty research mentor and must submit a completed print or multimedia thesis.

It was customary at the turn of the century for medical students to pose with the body they were dissecting. This photograph was taken in March 1899 by William Blackwood, the janitor.

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Recently: More than 50% of the medical

school class originally matriculated to graduate in spring 2005 exercised the

option of an extra [5th year] of undergraduate medical study, with at least one year devoted

to thesis researchLeo Kim discussed his work during the poster

session at Student Research Day in May 2003. Photograph by Terry Dagradi

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Spring 2002: Yale Medicine Thesis Digital Library Debut

http://ymtdl.med.yale.edu/

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First Results (Spring 2002)

• Twelve students, or about 15% of the graduating class responded

• Manuscripts were eventually received from 8 students.

• The participation form was modeled on VT• The low percentage of response was

nevertheless considered significant

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YMTDL History: 2002-2005

• Participation has ranged in each year from 5-10% of graduates– One multimedia thesis: “Development and assessment of an

innovative video to introduce concepts of adherence in Soweto, South Africa” by Dr. Ilene Wong (YSM, 2004)

– Annual disappointment as promised deposits by students do not usually materialize.

– Increasing participation--must address student motivations, questions, or concerns.

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Spring 2005

• Survey?

• A brief anonymous survey of 2005 graduating students due to submit their thesis

• My Goal: form a better understanding of what factors influence voluntary participation in YMTDL.

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Wanted: Wanted: Class of 2005 MD ThesesClass of 2005 MD Theses

Setting the Stage for the Survey

•The targeted student population was sent an email request to participate in the YMTDL project

•No mention was made of the impending survey

•Only one student inquiry was received from this invitation to deposit their thesis.

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Survey Method

• A brief 5-point likert [agreement] scale response to 6 opinion statements – paper and on the web with Survey Monkey.

• Survey invitation was sent to 79 graduating medical students

• Survey responses were also solicited directly in person from students during the student research day

• No student identifying characteristics were tracked or analyzed

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Survey (Web Version)

Figure 1: Survey Questions and Response Scale

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Result

• 37 responses (47% of those invited to participate) were collected between May 9 and May 24, 2005.

• 28 through the web-based survey; 9 responses collected in person during Student Research Day.

• Charts were produced to compare response total participation (N) , average response (M), and variance (V) for the range of responses to a statement.

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Figure 2: Statement 1 Responses

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Figure 3: Statement 2 Responses

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Figure 4: Statement 3 Responses

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Figure 5: Statement 4 Responses

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Figure 6: Statement 5 Responses

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Figure 7: Statement 6 Responses

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Conclusion

• The proportion of students intending to deposit their thesis (Statement 1) demonstrates a significant readiness to participate in an electronic thesis repository

• Student life is decidedly less chaotic for medical students in the final weeks after they receive their “match” for post-graduate medical training in mid-March, though at Yale the final submission of the

print student thesis becomes a priority.

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• AUTHORS’ CONTRIBUTIONS– CJG created and distributed the survey instrument, created data analysis, and

formatted the final manuscript. JNF provided editorial support for the discussion and conclusion, as well as valuable feedback and support as a co-director of the Project.

• ACKNOWLEDGEMENT– The administrative support staff of Yale School of Medicine Office of Student

Research provided invaluable support to assist the completion of this study.• REFERENCES For Paper

– Belanger, A., Mayman, G., & Greenberg, C. J. (2003, 19 May 2003). The Yale Medicine Thesis Digital Library. Paper presented at the ETD 2003: Sixth International Conference on Electronic Theses and Dissertations, Berlin.

– Forrest, J. N., Jr. (1989). The medical student thesis at Yale. Yale Journal of Biology & Medicine, 62(3), 291-292.

– Gesensway, D. (2000). PubMed Central: Government as Publisher? Annals of Internal Medicine, 133(10), 841-844.