Sampling Criteria in International Comparative Education Research: A Scoping Review to Inform Health Professions Education

Health Professions Education research is playing an increasing role in ensuring evidence-based practice in Health Professions Education (HPE). To this end, HPE research uses, among other approaches, comparisons as a method in the sense of Comparative Education Research (CER), which allows to compare programs at different levels of education. To obtain evidence-based results, it needs a methodologically sound approach with transparent and justifiable sampling strategies as well as defined sampling criteria. The aim of this research is to identify sampling criteria used in CER for program comparisons and to draw conclusions about what HPE research can probably learn from that. We conducted a scoping review following the Arksey and O’Malley framework, searching three databases and grey literature for international comparative education studies. Four reviewers selected and analyzed the studies using content analysis. A total of 68 studies were included, and six sampling criteria for international CER were identified: (1) culture, (2) education system, (3) curriculum of an education program, (4) ranking, achievement or performance, (5) state and relevance of research, and (6) opportunities and pragmatic reasons. All these criteria appear to be applicable to education research on HPE programs. The sampling criteria derived can serve as a guide for sample selection in international CER and HPE research, providing impetus to improve the quality of research methodology. This necessitates unrestricted access to data on educational programs and a more profound comprehension of the cultural, political and educational characteristics of the respective country.