The influence of goal orientation on students’ feedback seeking behaviour by using Mini-CEX in clinical clerkships

Abstract

Feedback can be seen as a valuable tool for students performing at the clinical workplace to achieve their goals and reduce uncertainty. One would think that if feedback possesses that kind of value, every student wants to have a lot of it. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Students show different types of behaviour to get information about their level of performance. Literature shows that the difference between the feedback seeking behaviour (FSB) of those students could partly be explained by students’ goal orientation. (11, 21 ,24) VandeWalle (2003) describes two main categories of goal orientation namely; a learning goal orientation and a performance goal orientation. Learning and performance goal orientation are each associated with a different pattern of how students interpret and respond to achievement situations.(24) The Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Utrecht (FVMU), has implemented ePASS; an electronic portfolio assessment and support system. ePASS provides different instruments for students to collect feedback. One is the Mini-CEX, a mini clinical examination. It is students’ own responsibility to find and ask a feedback source to fill out such a Mini-CEX. The exam quality commission of FVMU has screened a number of students’ portfolios in ePASS. They found that a significant group of students has not collected the requested number of Mini-CEX. This is a problem, which raises the following question: Is there a relation between students’ goal orientation and the number of Mini-CEX they collect in clinical clerkship? It is suggested that the number of Mini Clinical Examinations a student collects during the clinical clerkship is influenced by goal orientation. In order to answer this research questions and subsequent hypotheses I will use a quantitative study design.