CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 67Innovations in Medical EducationStudent Assessment and FeedbackClinical Reasoning and Diagnostic Skills

Self-assessment: With all its limitations, why are we still measuring and teaching it? Lessons from a scoping review

Open access
Yates, Natasha, Gough, Suzanne, Brazil, Victoria·2022·Medical Teacher
DOI 10.1080/0142159x.2022.2093704
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Self-Assessment (SA) is often assumed to be essential for learning, however, this assumption has been extensively rebutted. Research shows SA has significant limitations, including its lack of correlation with competence. METHOD: We undertook a scoping review of SA in medical education (2011-2021) and surprisingly discovered substantial research where SA was erroneously assumed to be a valid measure of successful learning, or a skill needing to be taught. Although the initial intent of our scoping review was to explore where SA is being effectively used to advance lifelong learning, we paused to explore the extent of the problem of its misuse and resulting in wasted research, by examining excluded studies. RESULTS: From 1151 articles, we identified 207 which ignored the documented limitations of SA. Thirty-nine studies explored SA of learning. This research has limited utility: increasing the accuracy of SA does not improve performance or lifelong learning. One hundred and sixty-eight used SA as an outcome measure to assess a program or intervention, including 63 where self-assessed improvement in knowledge/skills was the sole measure. SA of self-confidence was measured in 62 studies. When confidence was compared with an objective measure of performance, both invariably increased, but confidence did not always align with competence when measured. DISCUSSION: Many researchers mistakenly assume the ability to accurately self-assess is essential for learning, so focus on teaching self-calibration rather than evidence-based methods of advancing learning. Other researchers incorrectly suppose that self-reported improvements in knowledge/skills provide evidence of the efficacy of a program/intervention. This is particularly troubling with regards to novices, who may believe that because they self-assess to have improved/gained confidence, they are now competent. CONCLUSION: Our findings highlight the significant volume of research being done where SA is misunderstood and/or misused as a measurement. We posit reasons that such research continues to take place and suggest solutions moving forward.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1080/0142159x.2022.2093704

Cites

28 of 28 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

The text we found for this paper looks like another document, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The text we found for this paper looks like another document, so the self-check wasn’t run.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Yates, N., Gough, S., & Brazil, V.
Affiliations
Bond University (AU)
Corresponding author
Yates, Natasha
ORCID
Venue
Medical Teacher
Publisher
Informa UK Limited
Published
2022-07-04
Volume
44
Issue
11
Pages
1296-1302
ISSN
  • 0142-159X (ISSN-L)
  • 1466-187X
DOI
10.1080/0142159x.2022.2093704
OpenAlex
W4283801500
Cited by
67
References
28
Citations by year
2026: 17 · 2025: 20 · 2024: 21 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 2
FWCI
11.04
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by-nc
Locations
  • Medical Teacher (publishedVersion)
  • Bond University Research Portal (Bond University) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Innovations in Medical Education
  • Social Sciences › Education › Student Assessment and Feedback
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Family Practice › Clinical Reasoning and Diagnostic Skills
Keywords
self-assessment, medical education, self-confidence, self-calibration, competency assessment, outcome measures, lifelong learning, novices
MeSH terms
Clinical Competence, Education, Medical, Humans, Learning, Self-Assessment

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review