Emergency medicine residents' beliefs about contributing to a Google DocsTM presentation: a survey protocol

Background Web 2.0 collaborative writing technologies have shown positive effects on medical education. One such technology, Google DocsTM, offers collaborative writing applications that improve healthcare students' sharing of information. Since 2008, all graduating residents in emergency medicine in Canada have had access to an online Google DocsTM slideshow designed to help them share summaries of landmark articles in preparation for their Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada certification exam. A recent evaluation showed that contributions to the presentation were low. Objective This study will identify the factors that influence residents' decision to contribute or not to contribute to this online collaborative project. Methods Using the Theory of Planned Behaviour, semistructured interviews will be conducted with 25 graduating emergency medicine residents in Canada. Content from the interviews will be analysed to determine the most important beliefs in relation to the defined behaviour. Conclusion To our knowledge, this study will be the first to use a theory based framework to identify healthcare trainees' salient beliefs concerning their decision whether to contribute to an online collaborative writing project using Google DocsTM.