Proportion of Students Who Pass

¶ … Proportion of students who pass the HESI exit examination

Locate at least one potential measurement tool for at least one of your identified dependent variables and describe the process that you used to locate the instrument and evidence of instrument quality that helped you to evaluate the utility of the instrument.

The aim of this paper is to review one potential measurement tool to be used in the proposed research study, the use of case studies vs. no case studies in predicting the proportions of students who pass the HESI exit examination; the focus will be on the dependent variable, which is proportion of students who pass the HESI exit examination.

The underlying objective of this study is to identify whether or not case studies present in nursing school curricula results in students that demonstrate greater knowledge and comprehension of subject material, and thus more adequately prepared to work in the field of nursing. Other tools that could be utilized to assess the efficacy of case studies could be teacher ratings of student performance, overall grade point averages of students, or specially designed examinations. For this study, we have chosen to assess the impact of case studies by observing the proportion of students who pass the HESI exit examination. This tool was chosen due to its universal application, standardization, and demonstrated reliability and validity. There are several instruments that can be used to predict the proportion of students passing an examination. The measurement tool that will be used to measure the proportion of students who pass the HESI exit examination - dependent variable - within schools that do or do not use case studies as part of their curricula is the HESI exit exam. The process used to locate the instrument is by reviewing similar studies using for HESI exams, including search engines and direct contact with the Health Education Systems, Inc. (HESI). This instrument will be chosen for this study because it was developed by nurse educators and clinicians using the model for writing critical-thinking test items which requires application of clinical nursing judgment to determine correct responses. The psychometric property of the HESI exit exam has an estimated reliability coefficient (KR-20) of 0.951. The HESI Predictability Model (HPM), a proprietary mathematical model, is used to calculate all HESI scores. The quality of the instrument that helped to evaluate the utility of the instrument is that the researchers in selecting the instrument, wanted to investigate the validity of a computerized exam because such an instrument could provide immediate feedback of students' scores, secondly it was important that the exam be similar to the NCLEX-RN test blueprint, and finally cumulative reports should provide information that might be useful in evaluating nursing curriculum.

2. Evaluate the measurement tool addressing the following:

Is the tool congruent with your chosen theoretical approach for your study? Provide rationale for your answer including a brief summary of your theoretical framework.