Faculty's Perception and Readiness for IPE in Medical Curriculum

This assignment presents a qualitative study focused on faculty perceptions and readiness to integrate interprofessional education (IPE) within an undergraduate medical curriculum. The study employs ethnographic research, exploring data collection methods such as questionnaires, interviews, and focus groups, while discussing the pros and cons of each approach and addressing potential challenges. Learning activity 1 focuses on data collection, comparing questionnaires, interviews, and focus groups. Learning activity 2 covers data analysis, including the use of qualitative data analysis software (NVivo, Hyper Research), thematic analysis, and the application of inductive approaches. The assignment highlights potential challenges, such as variations in faculty experience and response rates, and suggests strategies to mitigate these issues. The study emphasizes the importance of informed consent, ethical considerations, and the selection of appropriate research methods to ensure the validity and reliability of the findings.

Please answer the below two learning activitiesdrawing on the reading of one or two of the
following references:
 Chapters 16-18 and 23 of the SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research
by Bourgeault, Dingwall, and de Vries.
 Relevant chapters in (Cohen, L., Manion, L. and Morrison, K. (2007a) Research methods in
education. Or (Seale C. (2018) Researching Society and Culture)
Topic:
Faculty’s perception and readiness to integrate interprofessional education (IPE) in
undergraduate medical curriculum. A qualitative study
 Specify the method : Ethnographic Research
 I want to interview faculties but don’t know how: Focus Group
Learning activity 1
Data collection:
 What might be a good way to collect data to explore this research focus? Why?
Faculty’s perception and readiness to integrate IPE may be investigated during the
course in college, using Readiness for Inter-professional Learning Scale (RIPLS)
Questionnaire. Structured questionnaire of learning experiences may also be collected
after the course. The questionnaire may be distributed to faculty members through
emails and social network. Previous evaluations may be compared with the current
evaluations of collected data. Open comments in form of feedback may also be invited
from the students and faculty members.
Ethnographic Research would provide in-depth observational method to collect data in
the natural environment of their college.
 Are there any different options? What are the pros and cons of both options?
Data may also be collected through interviews or focus groups. The interviews will help
to explore individual perspectives. However, it would be time taking to interview the
faculty members more than once, every year. They may not be available physically every
time due to their busy schedule.
In focus group method, person to group discussion and interviews may explore detailed
information about the faculty members’ perspective (Macpherson and Mckie, 2012).
However, I will have to get a venue, and will have to organize multiple sessions, for

which the faculty members may not be ready. Perceptions may also be collected through
workshop.
 What challenges might this present and how would you address them?
The faculty members and the educational organisation I will choose for my study may not
be ready every time for during their coursework to attend my evaluation. The method of
data collection need not be disturbing for the participants. It should not disturb their
normal schedule. We need to take informed consent from the faculty members and the
Ethics Committee of the Organisation. The Ethnographic research method is best suited
for this study as it would study the perspective of participants in their own environment
(Allen, 2012).
Learning activity 2
Data analysis
“Consider in more detail how you might choose to analyse your data in the best way to
address your study focus”
 Which approaches to data analysis have potential in your area and why?
Data analysis may be done using qualitative data analysis software like NVivo or Hyper
Research 2.8 (Tiina, 2018).Findings may be themed under multiple categories like
barriers for faculty, challenges in industry and future opportunities OR as Positive
Response, Critical Comments and Suggestions.
 For the focus of research, you identified above in your clinical education setting,
how do you think you might analyse your data?
Thematic Analysis of collected data, can be done by grouping the responses into three
categories: Positive Response, Critical Comments and Suggestions. Each response
collected through questionnaire will have five subscales: Strongly Agree, Agree, Undecided,
Disagree and Strongly Agree. Inductive approach would be used to reflect frequently
reported patterns in the questionnaire (Barbour, 2012). For comparing the groups with
RIPLS score and for categorizing the themes, we can use software like NVivo or Hyper
Research 2.8.
 What challenges might this present and how would you address them?

Differences in perception for IPE may be identified among the faculty members who are
experienced and who have newly joined the organisation. It may influence our response
rate. We need to start relatively with greater number of participants, to achieve >80%
response rate from RIPLS questionnaire.
References
Allen,D.(2012). Fieldwork and Participant Observation. In: The SAGE Handbook of
Qualitative Methods in Health Research. Sage Publications: London.
Barbour, R.S.(2012). Focus Groups. In: The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Methods in Health
Research. Sage Publications: London
MacPherson,I. and McKie,L.(2012). Qualitative Research in Programme Evaluation. In: The
SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Methods in Health Research. London: Sage Publications
Tiina,T.(2018). Interprofessional Education During Undergraduate Medical And Health Care
Studies. Juvenes Print: Finland.