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Problem Based Learning (PBL) has been adopted around the world as a philosophy and method for teaching and learning in professional education in particular. Advocates of the approach have made many claims for its success. Despite the apparent widespread use of this approach and the plethora of published papers on PBL, there are numerous basic questions about the method that remain controversial. At a fundamental level there is no universal agreement about what PBL actually is. There is little agreement about what the specific measurable outcomes of PBL are or how they should be measured. These conceptual, methodological, and practical problems were tackled in the Project on the Effectiveness of Problem Based Learning (PEPBL). This paper explains the rationale for the field trial and outlines the research design and methods used in the study as an illustration of one approach to the issue of assessing impact on student learning. (Contains 90 references.) (Author/SLD) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. 1 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and improvemen