Dental Student Perceptions of Learner Agency in Problem-Based Learning

Qualitative thematic analysis of 22 undergraduate dental students' perceptions of learner agency development within a problem-based learning curriculum. Data includes coded transcripts from four focus group discussions conducted between September 2024 and March 2025, authored by Nidhi Gupta.

Use Cases

• Analyze coded themes like 'enhanced motivation' and 'self-efficacy' to model factors supporting learner agency in dental education.
• Identify relationships between 'peer collaboration' and 'facilitator guidance' themes to understand enablers of student ownership.
• Examine 'workload intensity' and 'time management difficulties' barrier themes to assess challenges in problem-based learning curricula.
• Compare thematic findings across Year 2 and Year 3 student cohorts from the purposive sampling strategy.

Strengths

• Includes verbatim transcripts from four audio-recorded focus group sessions.
• Analysis performed using MAXQDA software with a combined deductive and inductive approach.
• Dataset is openly licensed under CC BY 4.0.

Limitations

• Small sample size of 22 participants limits statistical generalizability.
• Qualitative data from a single dental program may not represent other institutions or geographies.
• Data scope is limited to 9.5 KB, containing coded analysis rather than raw interview data.

Provenance

Source

figshare, authored by Nidhi Gupta.

Collection Method

Purposive sampling of Year 2 and 3 dental students for focus group discussions, transcribed and analyzed thematically.

Time Range

Focus groups conducted between September 2024 and March 2025.

Freshness

Last updated March 2026, covering focus groups from 2024-2025.

Geography

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