22 | JADE
ROSALYN A JURJUS ET AL.
Data Analysis and Statistics
Pooled quantitative data were subjected to statistical analyses using
InStat software (GraphPad Software, Inc., San Diego, CA). Means,
standard deviations and p-values were calculated for each question
and groups (1 and 2) were compared using the Mann-Whitney U
test to compare two groups, and the sign test for comparison within
a group. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. Qualitative
data were analyzed for themes and subthemes and significant
comments have been tabulated for illustration. Triangulation was an
important step in this study to ensure that biases were minimized as
much as possible in the qualitative data analysis (Moustakas, 1994).
Concepts and conceptual mapping was done using Leximancer
version 4.0 (Leximancer, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia),
computer-assisted statistical data software that analyzes text. It
finds the most commonly used words and calculates the relevance
of other words used in the text. A colored concept map generated
using Leximancer demonstrates stronger concepts in warmer
colors (red, brown/orange) and minor relevant concepts in cooler
colors (shades of green, blue and purple). The size of the circles is
a visual representation of the themes. The words within each circle
represent the thesaurus of relevant words that were included in the
development of the concept (Sweetman et al., 2013).
Results
Population characteristics
A total of seventy nine first year medical students filled the
questionnaire with an average age of 24.1 years ± 2.6 and a range
between 21 and 34 years. This is a post-graduate, bachelor
degree-holding mature population consisting significantly more
of females 58.8% than males 41.3%. 73.8% are U.S. citizens, while
the remainder constitute at least nine different nationalities; 8.8%
represent multiple ethnicities: Hispanic, Middle Eastern, Asian and
African American (Table 1).
Importance of cultural views in dissection
In line with the objective of this study to examine the effect
of the cultural identify and views of medical students on their
perception of cadaveric dissection and their impact on the learner’s
beliefs and attitudes, the sample was divided into two groups
based on identification with and personal importance of cultural
views. On a scale of 1 to 5 for the first 2 questions reflecting the
importance of cultural views to students, group 1 (cultural) scored