Researchers (A. C. Amason, 1996; D. H. Gruenfeld, 1995; K. A. Jehn, 1995, 1997; M. A. Rahim, 1989; M. A. Rahim & A. A. Blum, 1994; D. M. Schweiger, W. R. Sandberg, & P. L. Rechner, 1989; P. E. Tetlock, D. Armor, & R. S. Peterson, 1994) have documented the value of conflictual discussions for solving problems, but few have explored the conditions under which people are motivated to engage in controversy (K. A. Jehn, C. Chadwick, & S. M. B. Thatcher, 1997). Some (M. Van Berklom & D. Tjosvold, 1981) have hypothesized that high expertise and a competitive social context arouse concerns about defending one's position and challenging the opposing one. In the present study, Chinese university students in Hong Kong who expected to disagree with an expert, compared with those who did not expect to disagree with an expert, had less confidence, felt less knowledgeable about their position, and selected an agreeable discussant. Consistent with the idea of maintaining distance from those in power, the participants were reluctant to disagree directly with someone with greater expertise.
[Copyright of Journal of Social Psychology is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00224540109600557]

A four-hour integrated teaching session on clinical decision analysis has been developed and introduced as part of the Life Long Learning Skills course for medical students at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. The feasibility and effectiveness of teaching the principles and practice of clinical decision analysis to final-year undergraduate medical students was evaluated. One hundred and thirty-two students were randomly assigned to medical (intervention) and surgical rotations (control) and were assessed two weeks before and three weeks following a teaching session. The students' performance was assessed in response to 10 A-type multiple choice question items that incorporated various clinical scenarios requiring decision making and interpreting cost-effectiveness ratios and sensitivity analysis graphs. More students in the intervention group improved their overall performance scores compared with those in the control group (23.4% vs. 7.4%; 16.1% difference; 95% confidence interval [CI], 3.8-28.5%; p = 0.01). Improvements were in interpretation of decision making (22.2% difference; 95% CI, 10.1-34.4%; p < 0.001). No improvements were seen for calculating cost-effectiveness ratios or interpreting sensitivity analysis graphs. The overall educational intervention was well received by students and effective in improving students' clinical decision analysis skills under simulated conditions. Practice points Clinical decision-making skill is an important aspect of evidence-based medicine. A randomized controlled trial assessed the effect of teaching clinical decision analysis to undergraduate medical students. An integrated teaching session consisting of three 40-minute lectures on the principles and practice of clinical decision analysis, followed by two 1-hour workshops is effective in undergraduate final-year medical students.
[Copyright of Medical Teacher is the property of Informa Healthcare . Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
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This research identifies a range of issues and factors which impact on the formation of initial expectations developed by local university students wishing to study for a foreign degree program in Hong Kong. Key factors were foreign university Internet sites, exhibitions, agents and associations, brochures and friends. This is one of the first times this kind of research has been undertaken relating to the delivery of foreign programs within the home country, as previous research has tended to focus on study abroad, where the student travels to the foreign country to undertake a degree program. The research also considers how expectations change over time, as students undertake their study for a foreign degree program in Hong Kong, and develops the concept of continuous formation of expectations whereby students mould change, rebuild and continually revisit their expectations of the university program as they undertake a wide range of subjects. This part of the research is quite new and indicates the volatile and changeable nature of the educational service encounter. Both parts of the research are of value not just in regard to the location of the data collection but potentially further afield as an indicator of formative factors regarding expectations and in regard to the concept of continuous formation of expectations.
[Copyright of Journal of Marketing for Higher Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1300/J050v14n01_01]