INVESTIGATION OF COGNITIVE STRUCTURES OF STUDENTS RELATED TO THE KEY CONCEPTS OF THE HEALTHCARE MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT BY WORD ASSOCIATION TEST

10.6338/JDA.202406_19(2).0007

Selin Kalender；Aslı Metin；Ramazan Erdem

Cognitive structure ； Healthcare management department ； Students ； The word association test

Journal of Data Analysis

19卷2期（2024 / 06 / 01）

51 - 60

英文

The Word Association Test (WAT) is one of the most common and oldest educational tools used to objectively measure learning and investigate learners' cognitive structures. This study aims to analyze the students' cognitive structures related to the key concepts of the health management department with the WAT. This study aims to analyze the students' cognitive structures related to the key concepts of the health management department with the WAT. WAT was applied to 95 undergraduate students who took the "New Trends in Health Management" course in the Department of Health Management at Suleyman Demirel University. A word list consisting of 10 key concepts related to the health management department was given to the students. Students were asked to write a maximum of ten words that they thought were closely related to each key concept in the given list. The students did the WAT in the classroom environment. The total time is 10 minutes. The tester collected and checked the list at the time's end. The answers given by the students were transferred to the Microsoft Excel program. Frequency and content analysis were made in the program. It has been determined that the students most often associate the words "management - manager", "patient - hospital", "quality - brand", "hospital - physician", "physician - surgery", "health - wellness", "communication - telephone", "technology - computer", "policy - politics" and "cost - money" with each other. The results of this research, which was conducted with the WAT method, are considered important in revealing the students' cognitive structures related to the key concepts of the health management department.