Impact of vocational interests, previous academic experience, gender and age on Situational Judgement Test performance

Nienke R Schripsema,Anke M Van Trigt,Janke Cohen-Schotanus,Jan C C Borleffs

doi:10.1007/s10459-016-9747-9

Abstract

Situational Judgement Tests (SJTs) are increasingly implemented in medical school admissions. In this paper, we investigate the effects of vocational interests, previous academic experience, gender and age on SJT performance. The SJT was part of the selection process for the Bachelor’s degree programme in Medicine at University of Groningen, the Netherlands. All applicants for the academic year 2015–2016 were included and had to choose between learning communities Global Health (n = 126), Sustainable Care (n = 149), Intramural Care (n = 225), or Molecular Medicine (n = 116). This choice was used as a proxy for vocational interest. In addition, all graduate-entry applicants for academic year 2015–2016 (n = 213) were included to examine the effect of previous academic experience on performance. We used MANCOVA analyses with Bonferroni post hoc multiple comparisons tests for applicant performance on a six-scenario SJT. The MANCOVA analyses showed that for all scenarios, the independent variables were significantly related to performance (Pillai’s Trace: 0.02–0.47, p < .01). Vocational interest was related to performance on three scenarios (p < .01). Graduate-entry applicants outperformed all other groups on three scenarios (p < .01) and at least one other group on the other three scenarios (p < .01). Female applicants outperformed male applicants on three scenarios (p < .01) and age was positively related to performance on two scenarios (p < .05). A good fit between applicants’ vocational interests and SJT scenario was related to better performance, as was previous academic experience. Gender and age were related to performance on SJT scenarios in different settings. Especially the first effect might be helpful in selecting appropriate candidates for areas of health care in which more professionals are needed.

Highlights

In medical school selection, a growing emphasis is placed on the measurement of so-called ‘non-academic’ characteristics, such as professionalism, empathy, communication skills, and integrity (Salvatori 2001; Siu and Reiter 2009)
We examined whether vocational interests, previous academic experience, gender, and age were related to performance on Situational Judgement Test (SJT) scenarios set in different contexts
We found that vocational interest was related to performance on the different SJT scenarios

Summary

Introduction

A growing emphasis is placed on the measurement of so-called ‘non-academic’ characteristics, such as professionalism, empathy, communication skills, and integrity (Salvatori 2001; Siu and Reiter 2009). One instrument measuring such ‘nonacademic’ variables is the Situational Judgement Test (SJT), which is increasingly used for medical school selection purposes. The influence of factors other than gender and ethnicity on SJT performance in medical school selection has not yet been studied. We wondered whether differences between applicants in terms of vocational interests, academic experience and age are related to differences in SJT performance in medical school selection

Methods

Results

Conclusion