Table 1.

Comparison of variable-centred and person-centred analyses with an example research question

	Variable-centred analysis	Person-centred analysis
Research question	How is empathy in HPE students associated with clinical performance?	How is empathy in HPE students associated with clinical performance?
Method and analysis that can be used	Collect scores on empathy using Jefferson’s Scale of Physician Empathy, collect clinical performance scores, run statistical analysis for association between the independent and dependent variables for the whole sample	Collect scores on empathy using Jefferson’s Scale of Physician Empathy, collect clinical performance scores, divide the sample into sub-groups of similar scoring students using a cluster analysis, run statistical analysis for association between subgroup membership as an independent variable and clinical performance as the dependent variable
Implications of findings for educational practice	Leads to general implications—If the association between empathy and clinical performance is positive, this can lead to an evidenced-based implication that training to foster empathy among students will help in better clinical performance (“One size fits all” approach)	Can lead to nuanced implications per subgroup—If the findings show that the groups with high and moderate empathy scores have good clinical performance and the low empathy score subgroup has poor performance scores, the implication would be that students with low, moderate and high empathy scores could receive different training programmes: modularization of education. (Personalized or “One size does not fit all” approach)
Possible further research	Provide empathy training to all students in the same manner and study the effects	Provide tailor-made empathy training to the students in each subgroup and study the effects of this personalized approach