This study will be carried out by the combined method of consecutive mixed designs. In a sequential design, the data collection and data analysis of one component take place after the data collection and data analysis of the other component and depends on the outcomes of the other component [12]. Mixed Methods Research combines both closed-ended response data (quantitative) and open-ended personal data (qualitative) [13].
The research environment is the Faculty of Allied Medical Sciences of the Army University of Medical Sciences. The study has obtained an ethical approval and will be conducted in four phases.
Phase one: Identification of functional and non-functional requirements of performance dashboard and performance indicators of faculty through systematic review
The aim of this phase is to extract the functional parameters of the faculty, as well as the capabilities of the performance dashboard. In this step, the search is performed using a combination of keywords, including performance indicators, dashboard, faculty, and university in PubMed, ScienceDirect, Web of Science, and Google Scholar databases. The articles will be selected based on inclusion/exclusion criteria in terms of study design and whether or not they have assessed performance dashboards at the levels of faculty or university. The indicators are divided into five different groups, including education, research, cultural and student affairs, resource management, and development & technology, each of which has its own performance indicators.
Phase Two: Requirements Of The Performance Dashboard From The Perspective Of Users
This phase is conducted in two steps. First, a qualitative study is conducted to identify the requirements of the performance dashboard software. For this purpose, eight educational group directors and faculty directors are selected by purposeful sampling for interviews. The average duration of each interview will be 30 minutes. At this stage, after coordinating with the interviewee and obtaining informed consent, the voice of the interview is recorded using an electronic recorder, and then its text is transcribed verbatim in Microsoft Word. The questions of the interview are related to the functional and non-functional requirements of the dashboard, as well as the performance preferences of users. After transcription, the interviews are subjected to code extraction and then thematic analysis. Phase 1: Familiarizing yourself with your data, Phase 2: Generating initial codes, Phase 3: Searching for themes, Phase 4: Reviewing themes, Phase 5: Defining and naming, Phase 6: Producing the report themes [14].
In the second step, a questionnaire is designed to identify the key performance indicators of the faculty using the two- round Delphi technique. Twenty individuals are purposefully selected among academic members, educational group directors, and faculty directors. In the first step of the Delphi technique, a questionnaire with three-choice questions (disagree, no opinion, and agree) and an open-ended question at the end of each section are completed, so people could state if they think anything should be added to the questionnaire for the second step of the Delphi technique. In the second step, the indicators proposed are added and subjected to a poll. For data analysis, items with higher than 75% agreement are accepted, those with an agreement between 50–75% enter the second round of Delphi, and items with < 50% agreement are omitted from the questionnaire.
Phase Three: Software Development
For writing the codes of this software, Microsoft Visual Studio 2019 software, the ASP.NET MVC Core 3.1 framework, and C# server language are used. The interface of the software is designed using Html, JQuery, CSS, and Javascript languages. Finally, the MS SQL Server is used for designing tables and managing the database.
Phase Four: Evaluation Of User Satisfaction
In this phase, 15 of the academic members and managers of the faculty who are the users of the dashboard software are chosen. In order to evaluate user satisfaction with the dashboard software, a 20-question Dashboard Assessment Usability Model scored based on a five-point Likert scale (1 = "completely disagree"; 5 = "Completely agree") will be used. In addition, two open-ended questions are presented to the participants so that they can express their viewpoints and recommendations. This scale will evaluate the dimensions of satisfaction (four questions), effectiveness (two questions), efficiency (two questions), operability (five questions), learnability (four questions), user interface aesthetics (one question), appropriate recognizability (one question), and accessibility (one question).
Open-ended Questions
Is there any additional information besides the ones provided here that you would want to see in the dashboard?
Do you have any other comments or suggestions that you would like to share with us?
The validity and reliability of the questionnaire have been confirmed previously [15]. In the final step, the data are presented in tables using descriptive statistics such as frequency and percentage. Data analysis is conducted in SPSS software version 21.
Ethical considerations
This study has been approved by the Army University of Medical Sciences Ethics Committee.
The confidentiality and anonymity of participants’ information are strictly observed. During interviews, participants’ voices are recorded after obtaining their written informed consent. Participants’ information will not be disclosed in any publication form, and they will be clearly explained that they have the right to withdraw from the study at any time.