One popular procedure in the medical student selection process are multiple mini-interviews (MMIs), which are designed to assess social skills (e.g., empathy) by means of brief interview and role-play stations. However, it remains unclear whether MMIs reliably measure desired social skills or rather general performance differences that do not depend on specific social skills. Here, we provide a detailed investigation into the construct validity of MMIs, including the identification and quantification of performance facets (social skill-specific performance, station-specific performance, general performance) and their relations with other selection measures. We used data from three MMI samples (N = 376 applicants, 144 raters) that included six interview and role-play stations and multiple assessed social skills. Bayesian generalizability analyses show that, the largest amount of reliable MMI variance was accounted for by station-specific and general performance differences between applicants. Furthermore, there were low or no correlations with other selection measures. Our findings suggest that MMI ratings are less social skill-specific than originally conceptualized and are due more to general performance differences (across and within-stations). Future research should focus on the development of skill-specific MMI stations and on behavioral analyses on the extents to which performance differences are based on desirable skills versus undesired aspects.
Enhancing Social Skills in Adolescents with High Functioning Autism using Motor-based Role-play Intervention
