Medical Student Surveys
The UNC School of Medicine seeks to facilitate education research with medical students. Conducting surveys facilitates scholarship pertaining to medical education by our students, faculty, and staff. Surveys also enhance the diffusion of knowledge within the institution by providing a mechanism for streamlined administration of targeted surveys about students’ views on relevant educational issues.
The Medical Education Research Surveys are an effective method for creating high quality scholarship. Your submissions will receive blinded peer feedback and accepted questions will be pilot tested and data will be returned to you ready to analyze. There are typically up to 5 sections for the surveys (total of 40-50 items related to research topics).
Guidelines for question submission:
- The maximum number of questions submitted from an individual member/team: 15
- Each section of the survey should take no more than 3 minutes to complete.
- Topics will not be repeated on surveys unless:
- Two years have passed since the topic was included
- Significantly different questions are asked about the subject
- The questions are reviewed and approved by the survey committee
- Topics will not be repeated on surveys unless:
- If there topics overlap or complement one another, the survey committee will ask submitters to collaborate and resubmit questions.
Surveys will be administered once a semester (Oct, Mar) and once during the summer (July). The Survey Intake Form must be submitted by the following dates so an IRB application can be completed:
| Invitation to submit questions | November 1 | April 1 | August 1 |
| Submissions due | December 1 | May 1 | September 1 |
| Members notified | 2-3 business days | ||
| Final/revised questions due | tbd | ||
| Target release of surveys to students | March | July | October |
| Data sets to investigators | 2 weeks after closing surveys |
Administering Program Evaluation ONLY (NOT for any research purposes):
Course Directors do not need review or permission to request students complete special course evaluations, but the Office of Educational Scholarship is available for assistance in planning evaluations/QI projects and developing questionnaires that will yield valid and reliable data to meet course/program objectives.
Program evaluation requests might not require IRB review and approval. However, if you choose to disseminate findings from these evaluations the IRB will need to review to determine if it is exempt or not.