Research team

Chief Investigator: Dr Louella McCarthy, MD Project Coordinator (Launceston Clinical School) Other investigators: A/Prof Anthea Dallas, Director Medical Program TSoM Assoc Prof Rohan Church, Director Launceston Clinical School Prof Jan Radford, Professor of General Practice, Launceston Clinical School Prof Lizzi Shires, Director Rural Clinical School Dr Caroline McCulley, MD Project Coordinator Hobart Clinical School Contact phone: +61 3 6220 5991 Contact email: louella.mccarthy@utas.edu.au

1. Invitation

You have been invited to participate as a 3rd year student enrolled in the MD program, who will be completing the MD project as part of your program in years 4 and 5. 

This project sets out to evaluate the effectiveness of the program’s design.

2. What is the purpose of this study?

This study aims to investigate whether the MD project design is effective in improving reported experience and confidence in research, and analytical skills of students enrolled in the University of Tasmania MD program.

We will do that by asking you to record your self-assessed perception of your research capability and confidence in your research skills before commencing the project, and after the completion of the project.

We are also interested in evaluating the types of projects that are selected. We seek permission to qualitatively analyse the abstract from your written reports (year 5) to explore themes.

Finally, we will investigate whether demographic information (such as age or gender for example) relates to both the choice of project and/or the perceived confidence in research skills. Your student number will be used to link the data from the 3 aspects of the project, however this will be removed to allow deidentification prior to analysis.

3. How is the study being funded?

This study is not funded, and no remuneration will be offered to participants. The results of the study will be used for quality improvement of the MD projects program for future cohorts.

4. Why have I been invited to participate?

You have been invited to participate as a 3rd year student enrolled in the MD program, who will be completing the MD project as part of your program in years 4 and 5.

Your participation is voluntary, and your choice to take part or not take part will not affect your relationship with the researchers, or the University of Tasmania.

5. What will I be asked to do?

We will ask you to complete a short demographic survey and a spider research tool prior to commencing the MD project (year 3), and a second spider tool after completing the MD project (year 5). This is expected to take less than 10 minutes each time (total time burden of up to 20 minutes). We are also seeking your consent to analyse the abstract from your written report in year 5. We will seek your consent for the demographic and abstract analysis again in year 5.

6. Are there any possible benefits from participation in this study?

We do not expect direct benefits for participants in this study. However, this study will allow us to assess the efficacy of the existing MD project design in meeting the learning outcomes, and the results will assist in planning the program for future students.

7. Are there any possible risks from participation in this study?

There are no risks anticipated for participation in this study. Participation is voluntary. The researchers will only use the student numbers to match the data collected and then removed to enable deidentification. The data will not be analysed until after you have completed the course. There is no disadvantage to those who do not wish to participate.

8. What if I change my mind during or after the study?

If you wish to withdraw your participation from the study, you can do so at any time. Data collected can be withdrawn any time up to two weeks after the final data collection in year 5. After this time your data may have been included in the analysis, and it will not be possible to remove it because it will have been de-identified. To withdraw, please contact the primary contact (Dr Louella McCarthy) via the details below.

9. What will happen to the data when this study is over?

Data will be linked via student number to allow comparison of the research spiders before and after the MD project, the abstract and the demographic data. All data will be de-identified by the researchers and aggregate data reported in any presentations, publications or reports. Data will be stored on a University of Tasmania server for at least five years from the completion of the study. This server is password-protected and only accessible to the researchers of this study.

As this data will be most meaningful across multiple cohorts, consent is requested for the future use of this data as part of a longitudinal study of MD students’ attitudes and experiences of MD research projects. This data may be used for related research projects, subject to HREC review.

10. How will the results of the study be published?

Data collected in this study will be used for quality improvement of the MD program. De-identified data may be used for presentations, reports and publications (including journal papers).

11. What if I have questions about this study?

If you have any queries, concerns or issues with this study, please feel free to contact us:

Primary contact: Dr Louella McCarthy, MD Coordinator (Launceston Clinical School)

Contact phone: +61 3 6220 5991 Contact email: louella.mccarthy@utas.edu.au

This study has been approved by the University of Tasmania Human Research Ethics Committee (H40168 ). If you have concerns or complaints about the conduct of this study, you can contact the Executive Officer of the HREC on (03) 6226 6254 or email human.ethics@utas.edu.au. The Executive Officer is the person nominated to receive complaints from research participants. You will need to quote H40168

12. How can I agree to be involved?

To participate, please complete the consent section.