Cargando…

Exploring social media and admissions decision-making – friends or foes?

BACKGROUND: Despite the ever-increasing use of social media (e.g., Facebook, Twitter) little is known about its use in medical school admissions. This qualitative study explores whether and how social media (SM) is used in undergraduate admissions in Canada, and the attitudes of admissions personnel...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Law, Marcus, Mylopoulos, Maria, Veinot, Paula, Miller, Daniel, Hanson, Mark D.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: University of Calgary, Health Sciences Centre 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5344047/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28344689
_version_ 1782513479275511808
author Law, Marcus
Mylopoulos, Maria
Veinot, Paula
Miller, Daniel
Hanson, Mark D.
author_facet Law, Marcus
Mylopoulos, Maria
Veinot, Paula
Miller, Daniel
Hanson, Mark D.
author_sort Law, Marcus
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Despite the ever-increasing use of social media (e.g., Facebook, Twitter) little is known about its use in medical school admissions. This qualitative study explores whether and how social media (SM) is used in undergraduate admissions in Canada, and the attitudes of admissions personnel towards such use. METHODS: Phone interviews were conducted with admissions deans and nominated admissions personnel. A qualitative descriptive analysis was performed using iterative coding and comparing, and grouping data into themes. RESULTS: Personnel from 15 of 17 Canadian medical schools participated. A sizeable proportion had, at some point, examined social media (SM) profiles to acquire information on applicants. Participants did not report using it explicitly to screen all applicants (primary use); however, several did admit to looking at SM to follow up on preliminary indications of misbehaviour (secondary use). Participants articulated concerns, such as validity and equity, about using SM in admissions. Despite no schools having existing policy, participants expressed openness to future use. CONCLUSIONS: While some of the 15 schools had used SM to acquire information on applicants, criteria for formulating judgments were obscure, and participants expressed significant apprehension, based on concerns for fairness and validity. Findings suggest participant ambivalence and ongoing risks associated with “hidden” selection practices.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-5344047
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2016
publisher University of Calgary, Health Sciences Centre
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-53440472017-03-24 Exploring social media and admissions decision-making – friends or foes? Law, Marcus Mylopoulos, Maria Veinot, Paula Miller, Daniel Hanson, Mark D. Can Med Educ J Major Contribution/Research Article BACKGROUND: Despite the ever-increasing use of social media (e.g., Facebook, Twitter) little is known about its use in medical school admissions. This qualitative study explores whether and how social media (SM) is used in undergraduate admissions in Canada, and the attitudes of admissions personnel towards such use. METHODS: Phone interviews were conducted with admissions deans and nominated admissions personnel. A qualitative descriptive analysis was performed using iterative coding and comparing, and grouping data into themes. RESULTS: Personnel from 15 of 17 Canadian medical schools participated. A sizeable proportion had, at some point, examined social media (SM) profiles to acquire information on applicants. Participants did not report using it explicitly to screen all applicants (primary use); however, several did admit to looking at SM to follow up on preliminary indications of misbehaviour (secondary use). Participants articulated concerns, such as validity and equity, about using SM in admissions. Despite no schools having existing policy, participants expressed openness to future use. CONCLUSIONS: While some of the 15 schools had used SM to acquire information on applicants, criteria for formulating judgments were obscure, and participants expressed significant apprehension, based on concerns for fairness and validity. Findings suggest participant ambivalence and ongoing risks associated with “hidden” selection practices. University of Calgary, Health Sciences Centre 2016-10-18 /pmc/articles/PMC5344047/ /pubmed/28344689 Text en © 2016 Law, Mylopoulos, Veinot, Miller, Hanson; licensee Synergies Partners This is an Open Journal Systems article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Major Contribution/Research Article
Law, Marcus
Mylopoulos, Maria
Veinot, Paula
Miller, Daniel
Hanson, Mark D.
Exploring social media and admissions decision-making – friends or foes?
title Exploring social media and admissions decision-making – friends or foes?
title_full Exploring social media and admissions decision-making – friends or foes?
title_fullStr Exploring social media and admissions decision-making – friends or foes?
title_full_unstemmed Exploring social media and admissions decision-making – friends or foes?
title_short Exploring social media and admissions decision-making – friends or foes?
title_sort exploring social media and admissions decision-making – friends or foes?
topic Major Contribution/Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5344047/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28344689
work_keys_str_mv AT lawmarcus exploringsocialmediaandadmissionsdecisionmakingfriendsorfoes
AT mylopoulosmaria exploringsocialmediaandadmissionsdecisionmakingfriendsorfoes
AT veinotpaula exploringsocialmediaandadmissionsdecisionmakingfriendsorfoes
AT millerdaniel exploringsocialmediaandadmissionsdecisionmakingfriendsorfoes
AT hansonmarkd exploringsocialmediaandadmissionsdecisionmakingfriendsorfoes