Abstract :
In India, medical education is challenged with the shortage of teachers. The teachers are not adequately
prepared to handle tasks in response to the emergent needs. In spite of more than five decades of
research on the educational process and the accumulation of significant understanding of the nature of
learning, curriculum design, and evaluation, there has been surprisingly little opportunity for interested
faculty members in medical college to obtain teaching experience other than by self‑education, often
by trial‑and‑error technique.[1] Studies addressing medical education have rarely used qualitative
educational methods to contribute knowledge about the phenomenon under investigation. There are
two possible reasons for this. First, in the past, the qualitative works were rejected due to the lack
of objective evidence, considered to be “unscientific” and “anecdotal”[1] Second, medical educators
have failed to communicate the methods, canons, and utilization of qualitative inquiry approaches to
professional colleagues or undergraduate medical students.[1‑3]
It seems that the latter point is most
pertinent here. In India, there are few studies which are grounded in qualitative methods, and doctors
tend to scrutinize quantitative research designs in order to glean empirical data, which is rooted in
objective reality.[2,3]
We wished to acquire knowledge about several aspects of education in general
and their specific application to medical education.
