Pharmacy students’ and supervisors’ perceptions of the effectiveness of assessment rubrics for undergraduate research performance review

Abstract

Background: Research experience in pharmacy education fosters critical thinking, communication, and research skills; thus, it is crucial to ensure that research skills are acquired and research outcomes are achieved. Objective: This study aimed to evaluate students’ and supervisors’ perceptions of the effectiveness of assessment rubrics in measuring and enhancing student research performance. Methods: Two surveys were administered separately to research supervisors and students to collect information on their perceptions of the effectiveness of assessment rubrics. Results: Most supervisors agreed that assessment rubrics made scoring easier, accurate, unbiased, and consistent (>72% rated ≥4) and that they helped identify the strengths and weaknesses of their students in research (73.3% rated ≥4). About 80.5% of students ranked the rubrics ≥4, indicating that rubrics motivated them to improve their research performance. Essentially, the effective use of assessment rubrics to improve research performance would depend on students’ attitudes towards self-regulation and supervisors’ commitment to project supervision.