The effects of medical students' information literacy on participation in scientific research projects

Abstract

Objective To analyze the effects of information literacy on participation in scientific research for medical students. Methods The self-administered questionnaire was used to survey the general characteristics, information literacy, participation in scientific research projects of junior college students, undergraduates, and graduate students who majored in medical specialties such as clinical medicine. The participation in scientific research includes the following statuses: those who did not participate in any project (group A), those only participating in the teachers' projects (group B), the team members of college students' projects (group C), and the leaders of college students' projects (group D). The data were tested using χ2 test, one-way analysis of variance, and multinomial logistic regression analysis in SPSS 17.0 for windows. Results The survey recycled 1 236 copies of effective questionnaires. About 39.6% (489/1 236) students participated in scientific research. The scores of information consciousness, information ability, and infor-mation morality, and total scores had statistically significant differences among the four groups (P=0.000). The scores of information ability and total scores of group D (n= 73) were higher than those of group A (n=747), B (n=93), and C (n=323) (P<0.05), respectively. With group A as a reference category, the scores of information ability of group D, C, and B had statistically significant partial regression coefficients (P=0.005, P=0.000, P=0.000, respectively), as well as total scores (all P=0.000). Conclusion High information literacy may be one of factors that promote students to participate in college students' scientific research projects. Various comprehensive measures should be taken to cultivate students' information literacy and improve students' scientific research ability. Key words: Medical students; Information literacy; Scientific research; Survey