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Engaging in the Publication Process Improves Perceptions of Scientific Communication, Critique, and Career Skills Among Graduate Students.

ABSTRACT: Reading and critiquing primary scientific literature is an important skill for graduate students, as reviewing literature is critical to advancing science. Prior research indicates that graduate students lack understanding of effective communication as well as basic experimental design, but also that graduate students are capable of growth in their experimental design abilities when given proper opportunities. The Journal of Emerging Investigators (JEI) provides graduate students with the opportunity to review and edit original research papers submitted by middle and high school student-authors. The purpose of this project was to determine whether participation in the primary literature process through JEI effectively aids in developing graduate students' perceived abilities in the domains of communication, scientific critique, and career preparation. A 12-question survey was distributed using SurveyMonkey to 215 JEI reviewers and editors. Editors, whose role involves the synthesis of feedback from multiple reviewers and interaction with papers in their earliest stages, perceived that they benefited more than did reviewers in every domain assessed by the survey. Perceived impact on critiquing skills was only rated more highly by reviewers than by editors once the graduate students in question had reviewed 10 or more papers. The results of this research suggest that graduate students should participate early and often in the reading and reviewing of primary literature; furthermore, the study of flawed science writing can help to improve experimental design, critique, and science communication skills.

SUBMITTER: Johnson EA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5969397 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Engaging in the Publication Process Improves Perceptions of Scientific Communication, Critique, and Career Skills Among Graduate Students.

Johnson Elizabeth A EA Fankhauser Sarah C SC

Journal of microbiology & biology education 20180330 1

Reading and critiquing primary scientific literature is an important skill for graduate students, as reviewing literature is critical to advancing science. Prior research indicates that graduate students lack understanding of effective communication as well as basic experimental design, but also that graduate students are capable of growth in their experimental design abilities when given proper opportunities. The <i>Journal of Emerging Investigators (JEI)</i> provides graduate students with the ...[more]

PMID: 29904511

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Project description:PurposeA better understanding of how communication skills education impacts trainees' communication skills is important for continual improvement in graduate medical education (GME). Guided by the Kirkpatrick Model, this review focused on studies that measured communication skills in either simulated or clinical settings. The aim of this systematic review was to examine the effect of experiential communication skills education on GME trainees' communication behaviors.MethodFive databases were searched for studies published between 2001 and 2021 using terms representing the concepts of medical trainees, communication, training, and skills and/or behaviors. Included studies had an intervention design, focused only on GME trainees as learners, used experiential methods, and had an outcome measure of communication skills behavior that was assessed by a simulated or standardized patient (SP), patient, family member, or outside observer. Studies were examined for differences in outcomes based on study design; simulated versus clinical evaluation setting; outside observer versus SP, patient, or family member evaluator; and length of training.ResultsSeventy-seven studies were ultimately included. Overall, 54 (70%) studies reported some positive findings (i.e., change in behavior). There were 44 (57%) single-group pre-post studies, 13 (17%) nonrandomized control studies, and 20 (26%) randomized control studies. Positive findings were frequent in single-group designs (80%) and were likely in nonrandomized (62%) and randomized (55%) control trials. Positive findings were likely in studies evaluating communication behavior in simulated (67%) and clinical (78%) settings as well as in studies with outside observer (63%) and SP, patient, and family member (64%) evaluators.ConclusionsThis review demonstrates strong support that experiential communication skills education can impact GME trainees' communication behaviors. Marked heterogeneity in communication trainings and evaluation measures, even among subgroups, did not allow for meta-analysis or comparative efficacy evaluation of different studies. Future studies would benefit from homogeneity in curricular and evaluation measures.

Dataset Information

Engaging in the Publication Process Improves Perceptions of Scientific Communication, Critique, and Career Skills Among Graduate Students.

Publications

Engaging in the Publication Process Improves Perceptions of Scientific Communication, Critique, and Career Skills Among Graduate Students.

Similar Datasets

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