Evaluating student and practice educator (PE) experiences and understanding of the new ‘Common Placement Assessment Form’ (CPAF)
Student researchers: Lily-Rose Payne, Ella Mannion and Lucy Mandell
Research Supervisor: Dr. Julian Pearce and Dr. Rachael Summers
ERGO number: 76720
You are being invited to take part in the above research study. Please read the information below carefully and contact the researcher if you wish to ask questions or would like more information before you decide to take part.
What is the research about?
Student researchers are undertaking this study as part of their BSc Physiotherapy degree. As the ‘Common Placement Assessment Form’ (CPAF) has been recently introduced as a new placement assessment tool, little is known about how users of this form, both students and practice educators (PEs) experience using the form or how easy to use/understandable it is.
In this research, Physiotherapy students and PEs who have used the CPAF can share their experience and views by:
- Completing an online survey and/or
- taking part in a remote interview (via teams)
The findings from this research will provide much needed initial insight into how both PEs and Physiotherapy students experience and understand the form and could inform future refinements/improvements to the form.
Why have I been asked to participate?
You’re being invited to take part because you are either a physiotherapy practice educator or a physiotherapy student with experience of the common placement assessment form.
What will happen to me if I take part?
If you want to participate and you have experience of using the CPAF as a Physiotherapy student or as a PE, you will first need to tell us what part of the research you are interested in.
You can do this by using this link, which will open a tab in your browser. Here you will be able to register for one of following options:
For the interviews
If you take part in a practice educator interview, you will be asked to share your computer screen and go through a blank CPAF form, together with the researcher, to help us get feedback. We are only looking at the 10 learning domains and outcomes. You’ll also be asked to answer some questions about your experience and views on the CPAF.
If you take part in a student interview, you will be asked to share your computer screen and talk through a previous assessment document. We are only looking at the 10 learning domains and outcomes (including feedback/marks pages). We will ask you to remove or blank out any names/signatures on these pages prior to the session, so we don’t record any third party’s personal details. You’ll also be asked to answer some questions about your experience and views on the CPAF.
Because the sessions are in depth, it is essential that we audio and screen record to ensure we accurately capture participant experiences and feedback. The screen recording will only capture the CPAF form being discussed. As such, willingness to be recorded is essential to participate in this part of the research.
As we can only interview a small number of people, if we are not able to interview you because of a large number of volunteers, we will send you an email/letter to let you know.
Are there any benefits in my taking part?
Your participation offers no personal benefits. However, the results of this study will be fed back to the CSP, who may wish to use this information to improve user experience of the CPAF.
Are there any risks involved?
Taking part will mean giving some of your time to the study. For those only completing the survey, this will be around 10 minutes in total. For those taking part in an interview (and not the survey) this will be around 45 minutes to an hour in total. For those taking part in both the survey and interview, this will mean giving around 55-70 minutes of your time.
If you are taking part in an interview, you will be asked about your experience of using the CPAF on placement and to look at/give feedback on the form itself. It is important to know that whenever people talk about their experiences there can be a risk that some of it can be emotional. This is not always a bad thing, and some people find it relieving. However, to ensure you are at ease throughout, you will only be asked to describe as much or as little as you are comfortable with sharing. If you feel uncomfortable or emotional during the interview you can ask to pause or stop the interview at any time, without having to give a reason.