Table 1.
MERSQI scores and paired comparisons between conference abstracts, journal abstracts, and published articles
| Itema | Paired Comparisonb | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MERSQI Domain (Max Pts) | A | B | C | |||
| Conf Abs | Jour Abs | Pub Art | B vs A | C vs A | C vs B | |
| Study design (3) | 1.54 (0.54) | 1.49 (0.55) | 1.50 (0.55) | .56 | .64 | >.99 |
| Sampling | 1.34 (0.82) | 1.29 (0.70) | 1.59 (0.82) | .54 | .006 | <.001 |
| No. of institutions (1.5) | 0.74 (0.43) | 0.75 (0.43) | 0.75 (0.43) | >.99 | >.99 | >.99 |
| Response rate (1.5) | 0.60 (0.52) | 0.54 (0.47) | 0.83 (0.63) | .45 | .008 | <.001 |
| Type of data (3) | 2.13 (1.00) | 2.39 (0.93) | 2.35 (0.95) | .03 | .06 | >.99 |
| Validity | 0.28 (0.62) | 0.26 (0.57) | 1.04 (1.01) | >.99 | <.001 | <.001 |
| Internal structure (1) | 0.11 (0.31) | 0.07 (0.25) | 0.26 (0.44) | .63 | .09 | .01 |
| Content (1) | 0.13 (0.34) | 0.20 (0.40) | 0.59 (0.50) | .45 | <.001 | <.001 |
| Relationships to variables (1) | 0.04 (0.21) | 0.00 (0.00) | 0.20 (0.40) | .50 | .04 | .004 |
| Data analysis | 2.43 (0.50) | 2.70 (0.66) | 3.00 (0.00) | .007 | <.001 | .004 |
| Appropriateness (1) | 0.54 (0.50) | 0.89 (0.31) | 1.00 (0.00) | <.001 | <.001 | .06 |
| Complexity (2) | 1.89 (0.31) | 1.80 (0.40) | 2.00 (0.00) | .34 | .06 | .004 |
| Outcomes (3) | 1.95 (0.63) | 1.83 (0.66) | 1.85 (0.67) | .23 | .36 | .77 |
| Total (18) | 9.67 (1.88) | 9.96 (2.29) | 11.33 (1.82) | .30 | <.001 | <.001 |
Abbreviations: Abs abstract, Art article, Conf conference, Jour journal, Max Pts maximum points, MERSQI Medical Education Research Study Quality Instrument
aValues are mean (SD) score
bSigned rank P values