The influence of undergraduate students’ research attitudes on their intentions for research usage in their future professional practice

Abstract

The main aim of vocationally oriented higher education is to train students to become future professionals in their chosen field. Therefore, the effectiveness of research education depends on students’ intention to use their research competencies in their future professional practice. This survey study describes the relationships between undergraduate students’ (N = 2192) intention to use their research competencies in their future professional practice and their perceptions of and attitudes towards research, students’ research activities, and students’ research context. To measure students’ attitudes, the Research Attitudes in Vocational Education Questionnaire (RAVE-Q) was developed. The findings show that students’ intention to use research in their future professional practice correlates highly with their perceptions of and attitudes toward research, whilst research activities and research context have less of an effect. Therefore, to increase the functionality of the integration of research into higher education pedagogies, students’ research attitudes should be considered.