Training In Research Methodology Research Articles

Medical Research in India: Time to Act

The country has more than 400 medical colleges. In the area of patient care, India is recognized as a leading country. It is time that we have an objective look into our contribution in medical research. The state of medical research in the majority of medical colleges has been far below the desired level. We need to take measures to improve the quality of medical research in India: Training in Research methodology, Physician - Scientist Interaction and Public and Industrial Investment.

Research and publishing practices, attitudes, and barriers among dental faculty: Results of a survey study of 200 teachers across India

Objectives: Research experience imparts skills such as literature search, analyzing data, and critical appraisal of evidence and is associated with continued academic development, evidence-based clinical practice, and future research activity. There is a paucity of literature reflecting attitude of dental faculty toward research and publication. This study aims to ascertain research and publishing practices, attitudes, and barriers among dental faculty. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional survey of dental faculty (mean age 37.6 years, 100 males/100 females) from dental colleges across India was done between June and August 2015. A 24-point questionnaire was framed and validated, and data from 200 participants were collected after seeking informed consent. Results: This study revealed that 138 (69%) teachers were involved in research projects and 180 (90%) had articles published in journals. The most common reason for not being involved in research was lack of time (25.8%) and for not having publications was lack of opportunity (50%). The main motivation to consider publication was career progression (53%) and selection of journal was mainly based on journal's prestige (40%). Majority of faculties were aware of impact factor, plagiarism, and H-index; however, 45% were unaware of MeSH keywords. Forty-three percent had training in research methodology, scientific writing, or publishing practices, and 93% were willing to participate in such a conference. The entire faculty agreed that research methodology should be made part of the curriculum at postgraduate level, 96% agreed that research hours should be allotted separately in the curriculum, whereas 51% of teachers approved that the completion of research project should be mandatory for promotion. Conclusion: This study revealed the positive attitude of teachers toward research and publication.

Periodical Pedagogy in the Undergraduate Classroom

This essay considers methods for encouraging students at smaller, regional universities to engage in Victorian periodicals research. Even at institutions where access to hardcopy originals and digitized resources is limited, students desire training in research methodology in order to engage with the vast amount of material available to them in the wake of the “digital revolution.” Instructors at these institutions should work to develop teaching collections of hardcopy originals in order to complement digitized resources and to enable students to engage with the materiality of print culture.

PERCEPTIONS AND VIEWS OF MEDICAL STUDENTS ABOUT RESEARCH AND RELATED ISSUES.

Background: There are decreasing numbers of physician-scientists at the global level. A review of the literaturereveals a lack of interest in research when examining the perceptions of and attitudes towards research amongmedical students. The present study aims to explore these perceptions and attitudes to identify factors that couldencourage students to choose research careers.Aims: To understand (1) the perceptions and attitudes among undergraduate (UG) medical students regardingresearch and (2) the factors contributing to a willingness to take up research as a career.Methods: This is a questionnaire-based cross-sectional study, conducted in the College of Medicine of KingKhalid University among 590 undergraduate students. A questionnaire examining student perceptions and attitudes regarding medical research was used. SPSS software version 16 was used to analyse the results. Variousstatistical tests – Chi-square test, t-test, odds ratio – were used to analyse the data with a significance level of0.05.Results: The questionnaire had a response rate of 93% (550 of 590 students returned the questionnaire).Around half of the students felt that research in the field of medicine is important, while only a minority felt thatresearch would be their future career. The greatest barriers to involvement in research in medical school appearto be time, the availability of research mentors and training in research methodology. Furthermore, students consider research as an activity with low status and financial benefits.Conclusion: Although medical students feel that research should be part of medical education, they are neitherinspired nor enthusiastic about choosing research as a career. Aside from there being insufficient time in the programme allocated to science education, the lack of sufficient staff members able to act as role models for students could play an important role.

Research training, productivity and challenges among trainees of pediatric residency programs across Saudi Arabia.

Background and objectivesResearch provides skills for lifelong learning and promotes patient care. In Saudi Arabia, until recently, research training has not been integrated effectively in postgraduate medical education. The aim of this study was to investigate the factors involved in research training, productivity, challenges, and attitude among trainees in pediatric residency programs across Saudi Arabia.Materials and methodsThis is a cross-sectional, multicenter study using a questionnaire designed to assess several aspects of research training among trainees of the national pediatric residency program in Saudi Arabia from September to December 2013.ResultsEighty-three residents from seven training centers participated (response rate of 65.5%). Ninety percent of participants agreed that research training must be mandated in each residency program. The majority of participants (85.5–89.2%) agree that research is beneficial because it improves patient care, enhances the pursuit of academic careers, and improves fellowship acceptance rates and success. More than half (51.8%) of participants believe that research training will interfere with their efforts to become a medical expert in their fields. The survey indicated low research involvement by trainees, with 86.7% of participants having never published scientific manuscripts. The majority of participants (73.5%) reported a lack of regular, structured research activity in their training curriculum. The main challenge in research training was the lack of protected time (according to 86.7% of respondents). The majority of participants (85.6%) agreed that training in research methodologies represents their top educational need.ConclusionThis study represents a “needs assessment” phase in the development of a research training curriculum for the Saudi pediatric residency program. The majority of participating residents have a positive attitude toward research. Research productivity and training were found to be low. A dedicated research curriculum within the residency program represents an effective and evidence-based solution.

Health economics and outcomes research fellowship practices reviewed.

The guidelines for health economics and outcomes research (HEOR) fellowship training programs devised by the American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP) and the International Society of Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) suggest that continuous improvements are made to ensure that postgraduate training through didactic and professional experiences prepare fellows for HEOR research careers. The HEOR Fellowship Program at Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation was standardized to enhance the fellows' HEOR research understanding and align professional skill sets with the ACCP-ISPOR Fellowship Program Guidelines. Based on feedback from an internal task force comprised of HEOR employees and current and former fellows, the HEOR Fellowship Program was normatively and qualitatively assessed to evaluate the current curricular program. Fellowship program activities were instituted to ensure that the suggested minimum level requirements established by the guidelines were being met. Research opportunities enabling fellows to work hand-in-hand with other fellows and HEOR professionals were emphasized. Curricular enhancements in research methodology and professional training and development, and materials for a structured journal club focusing on specific methodological and HEOR research topics were developed. A seminar series (e.g., creating SMART Goals, StrengthsFinder 2.0) and professional courses (e.g., ISPOR short courses, statistics.com) were included to enhance the fellows' short- and long-term professional experience. Additional program attributes include an online reference library developed to enrich the current research facilities and a Statistical Analysis Software training program. Continuously assessing and updating HEOR fellowship programs keeps programs up-to-date in the latest HEOR concepts and approaches used to evaluate health care, both professionally and educationally.

Knowledge, Attitude and Practice on Medical Research: The Perspective of Medical Students

This descriptive cross sectional study was conducted to assess the level of knowledge, attitudes and practices towards research among Undergraduate Medical students. This study also focused to emphasize the need of Research Methodology training programs for undergraduate medical students. About 308 undergraduate medical students of S.R.M. Medical College, Chennai were given a structured questionnaire to evaluate their knowledge, attitudes and practices about medical research. A total of 301 returned the completed questionnaires and were included in the analysis. Data collected was subjected to descriptive analysis. About 68.4% of students are interested in participating in research and 9.3% of them actively participated in research projects. Lack of knowledge about research methodology (40.86%), lack of time (39.86%), Lack of guidance (14.2%) and lack of financial support (4.6%) were considered as the obstacles to carry out research projects by the interested students. In conclusion even though a fair number of undergraduate students interested in research, a very few actively participate in research projects. This was probably due to lack of knowledge about research methodology and lack of time.

EPA-0878 - Challenges to trainee's research in psychiatry; a survey and focus groups of higher psychiatry trainees in the northwest of England

Introduction Paricipating in research is mandatory in the psychiatry higher training in the UK. The current view is that research should be embedded in the National Health Services (NHS) and that all trainees should have some involvement in research. Objectives We aimed to assess the attitudes and satisfaction of trainees with the research activities in their training. We also aimed to identify the challenges they face and their views on how to improve the research experience. Methods We conducted an online survey of all General Adult Psychiatry (GAP) higher trainees in the Northwest of England. It was followed by Focus Groups during the regional training day involving 35 trainees. They were asked to reflect on the challenges to trainee's research and come out with solutions. Results 31 trainees returned the questionnaire giving a response rate of 66% of the GAP trainees. 83% of the trainees were participating in research. Half were in the preparatory stages, the rest progressed further. Of all participants 43% thought research should be part of the curriculum and 60% were satisfied with the research experience. The common challenges were time constraints, the difficulty in identifying a suitable project and lack of training in research methodology. Conclusions The provision of protected research time within the training is important. It is crucial to find innovative ways to link trainees to researchers and research centre. We advocate the adoption of a new policy with three research streams reflecting trainees desired level of involvement in research.

Lack of research aptitude in medical education

Students are attracted towards the medical profession to become a doctor and not to be a researcher. According to a recent study there are about 1,00,000 undergraduate medical students in India at a given point of time, out of them only 0.9% of the students have shown research aptitude. During their training period of graduation in medical sciences, they are so much burdened with the work load of exams, practicals, ward duties and tutorials. In such an over burdened situation very few of them can think about research. A study had shown that training in research methodology received early in medical school helps students to develop a positive attitude towards research. So changes in the undergraduate and postgraduate curriculum are required to promote research among medical students.

Projects not initiated by investigators

Some investigators on receiving queries from Institutional Ethics Committee (IEC), either leave the queries unanswered or withdraw their studies. The present study was conducted to assess the queries raised by two IECs after reviewing studies that were not initiated and to identify reasons for the same. Clinical Trials Registry-India (CTRI) website was checked to review approval status of these studies at other sites. A retrospective analysis of studies (submitted between January 2006 and December 2011) not initiated by investigators on receiving queries from IECs were identified. The nature of of these studies: whether sponsored (pharmaceutical industry (pharma)/government/investigator initiated), single-centre/multi-centric, and queries raised were analyzed. Status of multi-centric trials; not initiated at our site was checked at CTRI. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics. A total of 219/2075 (11%) studies were not initiated. The proportions in pharma sponsored, investigator initiated, and government sponsored were 33%. 7.4%, and 8%, respectively. Out of a total of 1676 queries, the maximum queries were related to ethics (42%) and the least were administrative (7%). The largest proportion of queries in the pharma studies was ethical (47%), whereas majority were scientific queries (45.5%) for the investigator initiated studies. Twenty-one of the 94 multi-centric studies not initiated at our site were found registered at the CTRI and were ongoing or completed at 2-55 sites. Inability of investigators to defend studies due to lack of good clinical research practice (GCP) and research methodology training or unwillingness of sponsors to comply with local IEC requirements could be potential reasons for studies remaining uninitiated. Continued GCP training of investigators and IEC members and development of uniform ethical review standards across IECs are strongly recommended.

Getting started in the scholarship of teaching and learning: A “how to” guide for science academics

SoTL stands for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. The acronym, said "sottle" or "sote-all," describes research that involves rigorous examination of teaching and learning by faculty who are actively involved in the educational process. The number of natural-science faculty engaged in SoTL is increasing, and their important work has broad implications for the measurement and improvement of college teaching and learning outcomes. The data show, however, that many faculty who conduct SoTL projects in science departments begin their education research careers with no training in SoTL research methodologies, and find they are working alone, with few colleagues who can nurture (or even understand) their efforts. In this article we provide a guide intended to help natural-science faculty initiate SoTL projects while they negotiate the mechanics and politics of developing and maintaining a SoTL research program in a science department.

Use of clinical practice guidelines and factors related to their uptake: a survey of health professionals in Spain.

This study aims to assess the use of clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) among health professionals and factors related to their uptake in clinical practice. Cross-sectional study based on an online survey conducted among primary care (PC) and hospital-based care (HC) doctors in Spain in 2011. Questionnaire development included adaptation of similar surveys and contextualization through a qualitative study. After a pilot study and review, the final survey contained five domains: demographics, involvement in CPGs, consultation of CPGs, perceptions and attitudes regarding CPGs and Spanish NHS CPGs Programme. Professionals from selected health care centres in seven regions were contacted by email with an invitation and link to the Web-based questionnaire. We analysed between-group differences and explored potential predictors of CPGs use by means of a logistic regression. Six hundred seventy-six doctors responded to the survey (27.7% response rate). 47.1% were PC and 49.5% were HC doctors. 32.5% stated previous involvement in CPGs and 56.5% stated training in research methodology. 67.5% of the surveyed professionals reported using CPGs more than one time per week. The use of a system for classifying the quality of evidence (62.3%) and for grading the strength of the recommendations (58.6%), as well as the use of a rigorous methodology (49.6%), were the most frequently reported aspects related to CPG credibility. The lack of time (56.4%), especially in PC (65.3% versus 49.5% in HC; P < 0.001), and the absence of brief and easily accessible format (42.2%) were the main reported barriers to using CPGs. None of the studied factors showed statistically significant association in the logistic regression model. Study results suggest that, in general, Spanish doctors trust and use CPGs frequently. To improve uptake by health professionals and to overcome existing barriers, CPGs should be rigorously developed and made accessible at the point-of-care in user-friendly electronic formats. Due to the low response rate, findings should be extrapolated with caution.

Nursing students' experiences of involvement in clinical research: An exploratory study

BackgroundNursing education can positively affect nurses' attitudes toward nursing research, resulting in better patient outcomes. Experiential learning theory was the basis for this study. ObjectivesTo explore nursing students' experiences of involvement in clinical research, their approach to learning and their interest in nursing research. DesignCross-sectional. MethodsOne hundred and twenty-six nursing students were invited to be involved as data collectors in a research project as part of their training in research methodology. The students completed an evaluation form and the Revised Study Process Questionnaire. The questionnaires were analyzed quantitatively and one open-ended question was analyzed qualitatively. ResultsOn the whole, the students were happy to be involved in the data collection although a minority felt uncertain and exposed. Students with a deeper approach to learning felt that their involvement had increased their interest in nursing research and they stated that data collection should be a regular feature of the course. ConclusionsParticipation as data collectors in research has the potential to increase interest in nursing research among students with higher levels of deep learning. Further studies are needed to examine ways to increase interest in research among students with lower levels of deep learning.

Apreciación de estudiantes de Medicina latinoamericanos sobre la capacitación universitaria en investigación científica

Learning research skills should be a goal during undergraduate training of physicians.To identify Latin American medical students' appraisal on research skills university training.A self-administered survey about experience in research, self-assessment of research skills, quality of training in the area received at the university and that importance of publishing as undergraduate students, was answered by 208 medical students aged 23 ± 3 years (54% male), attending a medical students congress.Seventy percent of respondents pertained to medical students' scientific societies and 34% had published in a scientific journal. Fifty two percent considered as good or very good the training level received at their universities on information retrieval and 45% considered good the training in research methodology. Thirty two percent considered as poor or none the training received in scientific writing and 37% in the publishing process. Eighty nine percent considered student publishing as important and 61% perceived limitations in this matter.The university training level received by Latin American medical students on research and publication process was evaluated as deficient by these students.

Using the Three Stooges to Illustrate the Scientific Method

An exercise using a comedy film is proposed for illustrating social science experimentation and the scientific method. Not every consumer of research or data reports may have had training in research methodology. This article offers a way of introducing research methods and the critical examination of such reports to these consumers, who are often the ones most needful of rigor in assessing data, rather than taking things at face value. Whether one is evaluating information from business, government, or media sources, the lessons learned from Moe, Larry, and Curly in Hoi Polloi are quite valuable.

144 Primary Health Care Physicians’ Willingness and Perceived Barriers Towards Conducting Research

Background and aimsHealth research supports health systems in the delivery of better, fairer and more equitable health care to people. Saudi Arabia government has acknowledged the importance of research to...

A participative research for learning methodology on education doctoral training programmes

PurposeThis paper aims to outline a participative approach to researching education doctoral students' trajectories that functions both as a form of training in research methodology and as a means of reflection on the doctoral trajectory and what doctoral students have brought to the doctoral process through their experience.Design/methodology/approachTen participants formed dyads and acted as both researchers and subjects of research, using narrative accounts and interviews. The collaborative approach aimed to allow “hands‐on” experience of the selected methods, as well as full engagement in negotiating each stage of the project.FindingsProject group meetings and the data generated by participants provided a rich source of learning about methodological issues in education research, in addition to the personal understandings emerging from such a project.Originality/valueThis project reports an approach to “hands‐on” learning of methodological and ethical issues within doctoral development programmes that could be adapted for use on similar programmes. It suggests an alternative to the more common forms of doctoral training (such as exposition, discussion, reading, or simulation) that is of real value to doctoral students in that it enables deep reflection on the journeys that have brought students to doctoral study, whilst at the same time providing a rich resource for methodological learning.

Evidence‐Based Surgery: Barriers, Solutions, and the Role of Evidence Synthesis

Surgery is a rapidly evolving field, making the rigorous testing of emerging innovations vital. However, most surgical research fails to employ randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and has particularly been based on low-quality study designs. Subsequently, the analysis of data through meta-analysis and evidence synthesis is particularly difficult. Through a systematic review of the literature, this article explores the barriers to achieving a strong evidence base in surgery and offers potential solutions to overcome the barriers. Many barriers exist to evidence-based surgical research. They include enabling factors, such as funding, time, infrastructure, patient preference, ethical issues, and additionally barriers associated with specific attributes related to researchers, methodologies, or interventions. Novel evidence synthesis techniques in surgery are discussed, including graphics synthesis, treatment networks, and network meta-analyses that help overcome many of the limitations associated with existing techniques. They offer the opportunity to assess gaps and quantitatively present inconsistencies within the existing evidence of RCTs. Poorly or inadequately performed RCTs and meta-analyses can give rise to incorrect results and thus fail to inform clinical practice or revise policy. The above barriers can be overcome by providing academic leadership and good organizational support to ensure that adequate personnel, resources, and funding are allocated to the researcher. Training in research methodology and data interpretation can ensure that trials are conducted correctly and evidence is adequately synthesized and disseminated. The ultimate goal of overcoming the barriers to evidence-based surgery includes the improved quality of patient care in addition to enhanced patient outcomes.

Research in emergency medicine in Europe

Health research is fundamental for clinical excellence, a fact that applies equally to emergency medicine (EM). Although European scientific publication rates in EM have traditionally been lower than those of other medical specialties, from 1995 steady progress has been made. To increase the scientific output in EM it is necessary to resolve issues that hinder this progress, including the fact that EM is a new specialty, or even nonexistent in many European countries. This has resulted in a relative lack of scientific culture and training in research methodology of emergency physicians, of explicit recognition of scientific work, or of emergency physician competitiveness to apply to national and European grants for research projects. In addition, it is necessary to improve representation of European journals indexed in the category of EM and to receive a firm boost to EM research from the European Society for Emergency Medicine as well as from all European national societies. This study reviews these aspects and offers a personal perspective on where European EM research should be going.

Adaptación al castellano y validación del cuestionario sobre práctica basada en la evidencia en fisioterapeutas

IntroductionEvidence-based practice (EBP) is defined as a process aimed at selecting the best scientific arguments for solving problems within the clinical practice. However, the lack of validated instruments and scientific publications in Spanish is a challenge when it comes to establishing what is the current status of this scientific approach within Physiotherapy in Spain. The aim of this study was to analyze and assess the reliability of EBP in physiotherapy using a questionnaire adapted to Spanish. Material and methodsA back-translation of the questionnaire on EBP was performed in order to conduct a prospective test-retest study for the analysis of the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the questionnaire. A sample of 41 licensed clinical physiotherapists participated in the study. None of them had prior training in EBP or advanced research methodology. ResultsValues for the ICC were in the range of 0.333-0.885, resulting in a moderate to good reproducibility in all items (ICC> 0.400). The Cronbach's alpha analysis was set at alpha> 0.700, obtaining a good overall internal consistency. The analysis of intra-observer reliability using kappa index was 0.396-0.688 for dichotomous items. ConclusionsThrough the analysis of the psychometric properties of the adapted and translated Spanish version of the questionnaire on EBP designed by Jette et al., this study has obtained sufficient validity for its use as a tool for collecting data for research.