A Decision Making of Test Parallelism on Rational Drug Use by Using Formal Cultural Consensus Theory

Abstract

Introduction: In general, parallel tests on rational drug use that are constructed for learning evaluation prior to examination often lack appropriate empirical evidences for determining the test parallelism index. Objective: To compare the test parallelism on rational drug use as selected by pharmacological experts and decision making of test parallelism based on a formal cultural consensus theory, and to evaluate experts’ ability in determining the test parallelism. Methods: 225 instructors of the Phramongkutklao College of Medicine were populated in this research, with 63 instructors determining the test parallelism of 20 items on rational drug use, which passed the content validity verification by 3 pharmacological experts. Statistical analysis was then conducted to evaluate the ability in determining the test parallelism by experts and by using the cultural consensus theory with the UCINET program. Results: This study found that 43 out of 63 instructors (68.25%) met the criteria in determining the test parallelism, and evaluation form has a single dimension (the ratio of the highest Eigen value to the second Eigen value was 3.11). Determination of the test parallelism by instructors was highly correlated with that by pharmacological experts (with 16 correct items; 80.00%). Conclusions: Determination of the test parallelism by instructors that meet the criteria are highly correlated with that by pharmacological experts, and therefore can be used to determine the test parallelism prior to rational drug use examination.