The examination of the peformance of the internship candidate is based on an HTA report that is produced as an outcome of the internship. The grading will be performed by the supervisor at the hosting organization and one member of the VALIDATE faculty. For this the INAHTA checklist on quality of HTA reports will be used (see checklist). In addition, the minimium criteria used in evaluating the report that is part of the VALIDATE e-learning course final assignment will also be taken into account:
- Does the report answer the policy question and related research question(s)?
- Does it show a clear understanding of the concepts and methods that have been introduced in the VALIDATE course?
- Does the report provide relevant and valid arguments that support the conclusions and recommendations made? Does the argumentation refute the most common objections?
- Does the report adequately describe what sources of information have been used, how they are searched, accessed, evaluated, and synthesized?
- Does the format of the report satisfy the requirements?
- Is the report written in a well-structured and attractive way?
- Are the results clearly presented? Do findings follow logically from, and are they justified by, the data analysis? Are findings based on carefully described assumptions and rationale?
- Are conclusions linked to the findings? Are conclusions clear, clustred and prioritised?
- Are the recommendations linked to the conclusions? Are they fair, unbiased by personal or stakeholders’ views, and sufficiently detailed to be operationally applicable? Are they clustered and prioritised?
At the end of the internship the intern will also be asked to fill out an evaluation form to gather feedback on the VALIDATE programme and the intern’s experiences to identify areas of improvement. The supervisor will also be asked to fill out an evaluation form about his / her experiences with the intern and the VALIDATE programme.