Table 2.
Subgroup analysis of selected studies according to various disciplines
| Comparison groups | No. of studies | Summary estimates of mean difference (95% CI) | I2 (%) | Heterogeneity test
|
Egger’s test
|
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q | P | t | P | ||||
| Comparison groups | |||||||
| PBL vs LBL | 17 | 0.87 (0.65, 1.08) | 59 | 38.98 | 0.001 | 0.22 | <0.00001 |
| PBL+LBL vs LBL | 4 | 0.57 (0.07, 1.07) | 83 | 18.01 | 0.0004 | 0.11 | 0.02 |
| Discipline | |||||||
| Nursing student | 10 | 0.90 (0. 56, 1.24) | 67 | 26.96 | 0.001 | 0.19 | <0.00001 |
| Medical student | 5 | 0.64 (0.16, 1.13) | 84 | 24.65 | <0.0001 | 0.25 | 0.01 |
| Dentistry student | 4 | 0.66 (0.25, 1.08) | 10 | 3.34 | 0.34 | 0.01 | <0.00001 |
| Other | 2 | 1.20 (0.52, 1.88) | 71 | 3.42 | 0.06 | 0.18 | 0.0005 |
| Grade | |||||||
| Freshman | 5 | 0.53 (0.22, 0.85) | 64 | 11.20 | 0.02 | 0.08 | 0.001 |
| Sophomore | 5 | 1.01 (0.65, 1.38) | 33 | 5.99 | 0.20 | 0.06 | <0.00001 |
| Junior | 3 | 0.59 (-0.18, 1.36) | 79 | 9.64 | 0.008 | 0.36 | 0.13 |
| Senior | 2 | 0.85 (0.53, 1.17) | 0 | 0.00 | 0.95 | 0 | <0.00001 |
| Other | 6 | 1.01 (0.52, 1.50) | 81 | 26.23 | <0.0001 | 0.3 | <0.00001 |
| Theory vs laboratory | |||||||
| Theory | 19 | 0.77 (0.55, 1.0) | 72 | 26.23 | <0.0001 | 0.17 | <0.00001 |
| Laboratory | 2 | 1.18 (0.75, 1.61) | 71 | 0.73 | 0.39 | 0.00 | <0.00001 |
Abbreviations: PBL, problem-based learning; LBL, lecture-based learning.