Table 2: Project activities, milestones and KPIs TIME FRAME PLANNED ACTIVITIES & MILESTONES IDENTIFIED KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS OUTCOME CHANGES TO PROJECT PLAN (APPROVED VARIATION) PROJECT ACTIVITIES AND MILESTONES COMPLETED 31 Jan 2016 1.1 Establishment of Project Team Research Assistant and Statistician are contracted Research Assistant contracted from 1 February 2016 for 0.6 FTE. Resigned for bereavement leave on 17 Oct. Additional Research Assistant engaged on casual basis in Jan 2017. Statistician contracted in Dec 2016 (UNSW and Macquarie) Completed. 1.2 Application for appropriate ethics approvals Appropriate ethics approval applications are submitted at all partner institutions Ethics submitted on 1 May, approval received 26 July at UoN, 10 August UWS, 23 August UNSW, 25 August UNE, 1 Sept Macquarie University. Ethics approval took considerably longer than expected. Completed. 29 Feb 2016 2. Guide for conducting semi-structured interviews with current low status (SES) medical students and low SES students who did not accept an enrolment offer Student interviews guide is completed Interview guide completed in March 2016. Completed. 31 Mar 2016 3.1 Compilation of data on 2013-14 undergraduate applications and admissions from partner institutions’ medical schools Data compilation is completed Data compilation initiated on Sept 1 2016, data from all schools received. Cleaning of data-set completed on March 1 2017. Completed. 30 Apr 2016 4. Guide for conducting semi-structured interviews with teachers/career counsellors from a range of NSW schools Teacher/career counsellor interviews guide is completed Interview guide completed in April 2016. Completed. 31 May 2016 5.1 Analysis of admission data to determine: Application and admission data analysis is completed Data analysis initiated later than expected due to technical difficulties of merging data sets and delayed access of data Data analysis finished by end of Feb. Completed.
offers to enrol in medical school 30 Jun 2016 6. Journal article on whether the selection process at partner institutions’ medical schools disadvantages low SES background students Article is submitted to Medical Journal of Australia Writing not yet commenced as data analysis has not been completed (#5.1) Article writing to commence in March/April. Article submitted to Medical Journal of Australia 31 Aug 2016 7. Interviews with teachers/career counsellor to examine: identification of, preparation of and support for students seeking to apply to medical school, and perceived barriers and enablers to medical education Interviews are completed with 20 teachers and career counsellors Interviews completed with 7 career counsellors. Response rates on calls for participants below expectation. Additional recruitment drive in Feb, due to school holidays. Interviews in Feb/March. Completed. 30 Sept 2016 8. Journal article comparing the experiences of low SES students who have successfully or unsuccessfully applied for medical school Article is submitted to Critical Studies in Education Writing commenced. Writing to commence in April. Paper in final round of editing 31 Oct 2016 9.1 Qualitative analysis of interview data Qualitative analysis completed and complete data set with codings for themes and subthemes available Codings have been developed. Qualitative analysis of all 51 student interviews and 7 career counsellor interviews completed. Codings to be developed in Nov/Dec. First analysis of interviews in Completed.
Dec. Decision whether to continue interviewing depends on saturation and emerging themes. Additional interviews in Jan. Final analysis in Feb/March. 9.2 Journal article examining why eligible low SES students do not accept offers to enrol in medical school Article is submitted to International Studies in Widening Participation Available data would not support such analysis, as only 3/29 eligible respondents who did not accept an enrolment offer agreed to be interviewed. We have widened our sample to include applicants from low SES backgrounds who were unsuccessful in any stage of the application process. Writing of the paper that addresses the wider issues will commence in April. Writing to commence in April. Paper in final round of editing 30 Nov 2016 10.1 E-guide on entry to medical school for low SES students for distribution to universities, schools and state and territory departments of education E-guide is ready for distribution E-guide is completed. E-guide to be developed in Feb/March. Piloted with students and staff. Ready end of April. Completed 10.2 Journal article on effective strategies for teachers and career counsellors to identify, prepare and support Article is submitted to Education Research and Development Analysis complete. List of articles determined and authors assigned. Writing has commenced. Writing commenced in April. Paper in final round of editing