Evaluating the impact of differential attainment interventions
What were the key findings?
Researchers found 69 different ways to measure medical training. They grouped these into nine categories to help show how training paths differ. And to measure if changes made to improve fairness (known as differential attainment) are actually working.
Six of these categories focus specifically on medical training. The other three focus on how well a student:
- learns
- stays motivated
- feels about their progress.
The researchers also helped us create a practical guide for anyone wanting to test how well their own programs are working.
Why did we commission this research?
The goal was to make training fairer for everyone. We wanted to encourage training organisations and teachers to test their programs. See what works and share that data with others.
Previous research found that many organizations were trying to make training fairer. But very few were actually measuring if their efforts made a difference. This study helps fix that by providing the tools to:
- Identify and assess different ways to measure training pathways.
- Measure the impact of changes aimed at helping students with protected characteristics.
- Create a guide to help organizations test their own fairness programs.
What did the research involve?
The study used a mixed-methods research design, which included:
- A realist literature review of 137 articles and documents.
- Individual semi-structured interviews with 46 people, representing a wide range of viewpoints.
- Four focus groups with 15 people, including foundation doctors, fairness experts, and psychometricians.
