OSCE rater cognition - an international multi-centre qualitative study.

Introduction: This study aimed to explore the decision-making processes of raters during objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs), in particular to explore the tacit assumptions and beliefs of raters as well as rater idiosyncrasies.

Methods: Thinking aloud protocol interviews were used to gather data on the thoughts of examiners during their decision-making, while watching trigger OSCE videos and rating candidates. A purposeful recruiting strategy was taken, with a view to interviewing both examiners with many years of experience (greater than six years) and those with less experience examining at final medical examination level.