Explaining the Characteristics of a Good Professor Based on the Perceptions of Dental Students: A Qualitative Study

Background:

 The quality of teaching is strongly related to the characteristics of teachers. Evaluating the performance of teachers, based on the students’ opinions can be beneficial for teachers and education. This study aims to survey the perceptions of dental students about the characteristics of a good dental professor.

Methods :

This is a qualitative study using the content analysis approach conducted in 2021. The opinions of 18 students from the Faculty of Dentistry in Yazd, Iran, were surveyed using a semi-structured interview. After recording and transcribing interviews, the coding and theme extraction were done. Data were analyzed using the content analysis method based on Colaizzi’s seven-step method.

Results:

 According to the results, three main themes were extracted; Personal characteristics, scientific characteristics, and clinical characteristics. Personal characteristics had four sub-themes of teaching, manner, personality, and communication), while scientific characteristics and clinical characteristics had two sub-themes of teaching and manner.

Conclusion :

According to the opinions of dental students, a “good dental professor” is a teacher who has good personal, scientific, and clinical characteristics together, in interaction with each other. Further studies to define the characteristics of a good professor in other medical fields are recommended.