Post on 19-Jan-2017
How MOOCs can be used as an instrument of scientific research
Claudia Zimmermann
Michael Kopp
Martin Ebner
The Dr. Internet Project
Relevance?
Digital era – Health Literacy – „Morbus Google“
Research question?
How does the practice of searching online for medical
information affects the doctor-patient relationship, and what
benefits and risks are associated with this behavior?
Research design?
MOOC & interview study & questionnaire-based survey
Current state?
MOOC completed, data collection finished, data
analysis in progress
Description of the MOOC
Short questionnaire at the beginning
Six medical case studies to be
assessed and diagnosed by the
participants
Special quiz format to gather data on
diagnosing preferences and to
provide feedback
Informative interviews with the
general practitioner who designed the
case studies © Uni Graz / Tzivanopoulos
Results (MOOC questionnaire, n=208)
Sociodemographics:
60% female
Average age 38.5 years (range 11-75)
57% university education
Health:
69% content or very content with their health
57% fairly or very health-conscious
Internet:
93% have googled symptoms of diseases before
40% told their physician about google results
32% skipped a medical consultation because of their online search results
10
Results (Diagnostic Quiz)
MOOC users: n = 130-43 Doctors: n = 7 or 19
1
2
3
4
Case 1
MOOC
Doctors
11
1
2
3
4
Case 2
MOOC
Doctors
1
2
3
4
Case 3
MOOC
Doctors
1
2
3
4
Case 4
MOOC
Doctors
1
2
3
4
Case 5
MOOC
Doctors
Results (diagnostic quiz)
Correlation coefficients for the diagnosing
assessments of doctors and MOOC users confirm
a strong correlation (r > .79 in all but one case)
Doctors and MOOC users have a similar
standard deviation (averaged per case), with
MOOC users varying between 0.72-0.88 and
doctors between 0.59-0.94)
LIMITATIONS: sample size, doctors‘ specialty
BENEFITS
Simple and convenient
Innovative way of
presenting materials,
administering tests, etc.
Motivation
Repeated testing
Intervention research
(evaluation and
implementation)
MOOCs as research tools
DRAWBACKS
Recruting bias
Limitations with regard
to research topics
Low completion rate and
declining frequency of
activities
Costs involved
Challenges in research
design and data analysis
Curious? (…and in command of the German language?)
Register at www.imoox.at
Start date (2nd run): May 2nd 2016
Duration: 6 weeks