Assessment of clinical knowledge: Correlation between questionnaire and multiple choice test.

The study was conducted in 183 sixth year medical students of academic year 1989 at Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital. The questionnaires were composed of 56 topics randomly drawn from 213 topics in the table of specification of standard minimal requirement for medical degree in Thailand. Multiple choice test of 322 questions were also constructed according to the table of specification. The students were asked to respond the questionnaires just prior to the test containing the items in questionnaires. The study results revealed that there were no correlations between the responses from questionnaires and the scores from multiple choice tests. About 57 to 63% of the students gave correct answers to the tests no matter what they responded to any categories in questionnaires. It is indicated that attitude assessment of clinical knowledge using questionnaires is not valid to predict clinical knowledge attained in medical students and it should neither be used as an instrument to evaluate clinical knowledge nor as an indicator for making policy in medical education.