Purpose: Research methodology is an essential part of evidence-based medicine. Many educational programs include clinical research methodology within their curriculum. Moreover, students’ preferences for learning methods are different than before, as they now prefer alternative methods, such as peer teaching. Peer-assisted learning enhances students’ tutoring skills. Thus, the current study aimed to evaluate the effect of peer teaching on enhancing clinical research skills.
Participants and Methods: Peer-assisted learning was evaluated during a four-week online research methodology course designed for medical students at King Abdulaziz University. A total of 121 students’ and 38 tutors’ attitudes and perceptions of peer teaching were evaluated using a self-administered questionnaire. The effectiveness of peer teaching was assessed using pre- and post-course knowledge tests. Chi-square was used to assess the association of qualitative data, and Mann–Whitney U-test and Wilcoxon rank test were used as nonparametric tests for the variables that were not normally distributed.
Results: The post-course knowledge score was significantly higher than the pre-test score. Students had a positive perception of peer-assisted learning. Over 90% of the students preferred peer-assisted learning to traditional teaching. Similarly, the tutors had significantly positive perceptions of peer-assisted teaching. Younger students who had higher post-test mean knowledge scores had a good perception of peer teaching.
Conclusion: The current study demonstrates students’ and tutors’ positive perceptions of peer-assisted learning as well as the effectiveness of peer learning. Medical schools should pay more attention to students and prepare them for peer-teacher roles.

Keywords: peer-assisted learning, medicine, clinical, methodology, education

中文翻译：

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同伴辅助学习对提高医学生临床研究技能的影响：学生和导师的看法

目的：研究方法是循证医学的重要组成部分。许多教育计划在其课程中包括临床研究方法。此外，学生对学习方法的偏好与以前不同，因为他们现在更喜欢替代方法，例如同伴教学。同伴辅助学习提高了学生的辅导技能。因此，本研究旨在评估同伴教学对提高临床研究技能的影响。
参与者和方法：在为阿卜杜勒阿齐兹国王大学的医学生设计的为期四周的在线研究方法课程中，对同伴辅助学习进行了评估。使用自我管理的问卷评估了 121 名学生和 38 名导师对同伴教学的态度和看法。同伴教学的有效性通过课前和课后知识测试进行评估。卡方用于评估定性数据的关联性，Mann-Whitney U检验和 Wilcoxon 秩检验用作非正态分布变量的非参数检验。
结果：课后知识分数明显高于前测分数。学生对同伴辅助学习有积极的看法。超过 90% 的学生更喜欢同伴辅助学习而不是传统教学。同样，导师对同伴辅助教学有非常积极的看法。具有较高后测平均知识分数的年轻学生对同伴教学有良好的认识。
结论：目前的研究表明学生和导师对同伴辅助学习的积极看法以及同伴学习的有效性。医学院应该更加关注学生，并为他们担任同伴教师角色做好准备。

关键词：同伴辅助学习，医学，临床，方法论，教育