Effects of examiner training on open‐ended, higher taxonomic level questioning in oral certification examinations

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Abstract
In general, clinical oral examinations are intended to measure problem‐solving ability of candidates in complex situations. However, some examiners tend to ask closed‐ended questions of lower taxonomic level. Over a 5‐year period, on four different certification examinations in orthopedic surgery of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, a total of 42 examiners were observed and their skills at asking open‐ended questions of higher taxonomic level assessed. In order to improve the taxonomic level of questions, groups of examiners were given a 3‐hr training session before the examination, which resulted in a twofold increase in the number of open‐ended questions of problem‐solving level. In another examination, trained examiners asked one third more open‐ended questions and 50% more questions of problem‐solving level than did untrained examiners. In the last examination, the difference in performance between examiners trained years before and that of untrained examiners was less important, although still significant. Thus, relatively short training of examiners in the art of asking open‐ended questions of problem‐solving level seems to improve the taxonomic quality of oral certification examination in orthopedic surgery.