PERCEPTIONS OF ORAL STRUCTURED EXAMINATION:A MOVE FROM SUBJECTIVITY TO OBJECTIVITY: Oral Structured Examination

Objective: To determine the student and examiner perceptions regarding structured viva in comparison with conventional viva as a method of assessment.Study Design: Quantitative survey.Place and Duration of Study: Anatomy Department of Foundation University Medical College, from July 2014 to Oct 2014.Material and Methods: A quantitative survey was conducted after introducing structured viva voce replacing traditional viva in the first and second year MBBS students. A total of 234 students and 12 examiners selected by simple random sampling filled a questionnaire regarding their perceptions. Their responses for each item were recorded on a like rt scale of 1 to 10. The total score for both types of viva were calculated. The mean of total score with SD for structured and conventional viva were calculated. The statistical significance between means scores of the two vivas were calculated using paired sample t-test.Results: It was found that 88.0% students, and 83.3% examiners preferred structured viva as compared to the conventional viva. The mean scores for structured & conventional viva regarding uniformity of assessment time, structuring of questions, confidence in correct judgment, decreased biases, decreased stress level, uniform coverage of topics, continuity of chain of thought, increase in thinking time and student friendliness were significantly greater for structured as compared to conventional viva. The mean overall score for structured viva was 67.55 ± 15.02, and for conventional viva was 49.42 ± 17.27 with a statistical significance of p=0.001. The mean scores perceived by students and examiners for structured viva were not statistically significant.Conclusion: Structured viva was more acceptable by the students as well as examiners due to its increased objectivity and less biases.