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Health Education Research, Vol. 16, No. 6, 735-745, December 2001
© 2001 Oxford University Press

Can health professionals learn qualitative evaluation methods on the World Wide Web? A case example

Allan Steckler, Anita Farel1, Jean Breny Bontempi3, Karl Umble2, Barbara Polhamus and Amy Trester4

Department of Health Behavior and Health Education,
1 Department of Maternal and Child Health, and
2 The North Carolina Institute for Public Health, School of Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599,
3 Department of Public Health, Southern Connecticut State University, New Haven, CT 06515 and
4 National Centers for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA 30333, USA

The Enhancing Data Utilization Skills through Information Technology (EDUSIT) project trained Maternal and Child Health professionals to collect, analyze and interpret data via a year-long web-based course. The overall goal of the project was to strengthen the technology and analytic skills of the public health workforce. This article describes and analyzes a web-based module for training public health professionals to use qualitative research and evaluation methods that was one of six offered within the EDUSIT project. The qualitative module consisted of six units: overview of qualitative methods, planning qualitative studies, conducting field observations, qualitative interviewing, analyzing qualitative data and presenting qualitative findings. Evaluation results found no statistically significant changes in specific knowledge or beliefs about qualitative methods. However, the change in participants' self-efficacy was statistically significant. Participants' self-reports also showed significant changes in perceived skill levels in `collecting qualitative data through an interview' and `analyzing and interpreting qualitative data'. Most participants rated each lesson within the qualitative methods module as valuable, and most found the teaching methods used satisfactory, emphasizing the value of both the didactic teaching and the practical exercises and team project. The most common difficulty reported was finding the time to complete the module requirements while also working full-time. Implications of these findings for web-based teaching of public health professionals are discussed.


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