Hanoverian Screening of Study Motivation (HSM)

The Hanover Screening of Study Motivation (HSM) has supplemented the course evaluations and the annual Screening of Study Conditions (HSC) at the MHH for many years in order to identify potential for improvement in studies and student selection and thus ensure continuous further development.

In addition to study motivation itself, the HSM records factors that can help or hinder successful studies: this includes biographical information such as vocational training, schooling and study progress (e.g. doctoral projects) as well as career aspirations, personality traits or academic skills.

The HSM has been conducted as a panel since 2021. This means that participants are repeatedly asked about the same aspects during their time at the MHH.

The HSM was changed in particular due to the motivation to make the information obtained usable for analyses of student selection and academic success and to expand it to include dimensions that go beyond pure examination success. The panel makes it possible both to record differences between different groups and to examine the influence of study progress on individuals.

The HSM is currently aimed at all students of Human medicine at the MHH, who receive a link to the survey online each November. A so-called basic questionnaire is completed the first time they take part, and a shorter follow-up questionnaire is completed the next time they take part.

Participation is voluntary at all times and students must explicitly consent to their data being used for the above-mentioned analyses. This is done using a button on the questionnaire.

The information provided by participants will be treated confidentially and used exclusively by the Office of Academic Affairs - Evaluation & Capacity in anonymized form for statistical analyses (quality assurance in studies and research). It will not be passed on to third parties.

Students and lecturers of the MHH can view summative reports of the individual surveys in ILIAS: https://elearning.mh-hannover.de/goto.php?target=cat_102691&client_id=elearning

Dr. Stefanos Tsikas (Tsikas.Stefanos@mh-hannover) from the Office of Academic Affairs - Evaluation & Capacity will be happy to answer any questions or provide information on the HSM.