The study is a cross sectional qualitative research design. The proposed population used during the proposed study will be fifty six (56) Radiographic Sciences students enrolled for Radiographic Sciences (DIR 200) the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Pretoria during their 2021 academic year. The students will be informed of free and willing consent to participate in the study with no risk of active participation affecting their module marks or outcomes.
Convenient sampling will occur where the sampling population will be identified as all undergraduates registered for second year of study for Radiography.
Record keeping
This method makes use of the already existing reliable documents and similar sources of information as the data source. The documents included questionnaires, puzzle based assessments. This data can be used in a new research.
Approval to be obtained from the Research and Ethics Committee of health Sciences.
Written, online consent to be obtained from students involved, followed by an information session on the topic" Image evaluation and interpretation of radiographic imaging".
The jigsaw puzzle and crossword puzzle to be tested, will receive peer evaluation from internal departmental evaluators.
The online programme to be used will be Puzzel.org, which has multiple interactive teaching and puzzle options to be used during the course of this study. The platform allows embedding onto the Clickup LMS system of the university of Pretoria which promotes engagement on their current platform of choice.Students who have provided informed consent to participate, will be given weekly 30 minute sessions, during their free time to complete the associated components of the proposed researched. A pre-quiz assessment of conventional x-ray imaging will be provided to the first group followed by the jigsaw and cross word puzzle as an interventional training method for the second group on the topic of basic knee projections.
Following the interactive learning puzzles, a post-quiz assessment of the same conventional x-ray imaging will be provided to assess if the use of puzzles improved the students overall though and understanding of imaging and evaluation of imaging in Radiography.
The two groups used during the study for both theoretical and puzzle methods, will have an informal mark assigned to their image evaluation output. The students are informed that the informal mark is only for the purpose of research output and comparison of methods and will not affect their formal year mark associated with the module, DIR 200. A comparison will be made to the marks if there is a significant difference between the two methods of teaching image evaluation. The topics assigned to this research study is not related to their core curriculum of DIR 200, thus non-participants to the study will not be disadvantaged by means of additional teaching and learning methods used for participants of the study.
The data will be organized in online paper based format, after which the recorded data will be loaded onto the University of Pretoria’s Cloud system for research data. The data will be kept for 15 years at the Department of Radiographic Sciences.
Grounded theory analysis will be used derived from data, where the eventual theory are in close relation. The key tool to be used will be coding of components into research outcomes such as concepts and categories. 5–6,12A narrative/thematic approach to data analysis will be used to assess what is being said by the students in their r reports as opposed to how they are saying it. Thematic analysis and the coding process has a similar action which can be related back to the literature review. The framework for this approach is best used in a matrix to order and synthesize data into central themes and subthemes. When themes are being sourced from the collected data, factors such as repetition, local expressions, similarities, differences and missing data will be assessed.
Ethical considerations
Initial consent was obtained from Teaching and Learning Department of the Faculty of Health Sciences prior to commencement of the study for permission of student participation during the study. The Research and Ethics Committee of the University of Pretoria also provided consent to continue with the study obtained. The information obtained from the students was kept strictly confidential and anonymous in the interactive group sessions. The students will handed in reflection and assessment reports as an anonymous participant identifier number, with no reference to their age, gender or other socio-economical demographics. The Nuremburg code16 was upheld in the manner of voluntary consent of the human subject being essential. The research is focused on the good of society, unprocurable by other methods or means of study, and not random and unnecessary in nature. During the course of the study, the researcher is willing to end the research study at any stage, if there is probable cause to believe, in the exercise of the good faith, superior skill and careful judgment required of him that a continuation of the research is likely to result in injury36. In line with the Belmont report, the three fundamental ethical principles for using any human subjects for research will be upheld namely, respect for persons in the form of protecting their autonomy, beneficence (first do no harm) and justice to ensure non exploitative, well considered methodology.14
A comprehensive layout of POPIA compliancy is discussed below:
Participants for the proposed study was recruited directly on campus during online teaching of the proposed module following an information session, discussing their rights to privacy, access to information and what data was obtained during the study.
Participants were provided an online survey link to complete during the course of the study, no reference to their age, name, ID or other personal information will be included in the questionnaire
Voluntary participation is elucidated during the initial information session.
No impediment of University of Pretoria Intellectual Property will be actioned.
The study is part of the development of improved teaching and learning pedagogical tools for undergraduate studies to educated and enhance student’s overall performance and assessment outputs in the Faculty of Health Sciences.