Dental Students Research Inventory: A Questionnaire to Assess Research Challenges and Opportunities

Abstract

The aim of this study was to develop and test a questionnaire to measure the research challenges and opportunities faced by dental students. The initial part of the study dealt with designing, developing, and pilot testing of the questionnaire (Dental Students Research Inventory, DSRI), and the later part consisted of ield testing. The validity, internal consistency, and test-retest reliability of the DSRI were performed to provide a standardized measure and an interpretation scale. The results showed good reliability and repeatability of the questionnaire, with a greater reliability observed in postgraduate students as compared to undergraduates. In the survey of regional dental colleges in India, 25 percent of the postgraduate and 35 percent of the undergraduate students reported that there was an overall lack of opportunities in conducting research. The DSRI questionnaire can be a good measure for understanding the challenges and opportunities faced by dental students while conducting and reporting research.

A Cross-Sectional Study to Assess Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Research Opportunities and Challenges among Medical and Dental Interns in Central India

“…The questionnaire showed good consistency for post graduates and average reliability for undergraduates. In general, postgraduate students obtained better research opportunities as compared to undergraduate students who see many opportunities [2].…”

“…Research exposure and knowledge in medical and dental schools are useful in stimulating critical thinking, encouraging practitioners to actively use the literature, initiating training for future medical researchers [1]. People who actively participate in research are more likely to complete vocational study and likelihood to become teachers, contributing to future research [2]. The most important tool for accumulating knowledge is research.…”

“…Priorities for research vary depending upon the disease burden and socioeconomic conditions [3]. However, an important point in dental education is to recognize elements that promote or hamper student to take part in research [2]. An effective measure is to treat students directly participate in research funding institution.…”

Formación del pensamiento científico en alumnos de primer año de Odontología en dos universidades latino-americanas

“…Luego, se desarrolló un cuestionario destinado a recoger información sobre opiniones de los alumnos acerca del conocimiento científico, su aprendizaje y aplicación a la formación de estudiantes de odontología. Este cuestionario fue basado en otro, previamente utilizado y calibrado, desarrollado por Shirahatti (2010) en India 11 . El cuestionario autoadministrado fue validado en una muestra correspondiente al 10% del total de inscritos en las disciplinas en estudio de cada universidad.…”

“…Por otra parte, los estudiantes no consideran de fundamental importancia a estos conocimientos y al desarrollo del razonamiento clínico para el futuro ejercicio profesional, aunque en los contenidos de las asignaturas se explicita la importancia del conocimiento científico para la odontología, así como también la odontología basada en la evidencia. Esta última debería ser el norte de la actuación clínica y la investigación no debería quedar solamente a nivel teórico 11 . Es importante tener en cuenta que estos alumnos de primer año de la carrera no han realizado aún actividades académicas relacionadas con la práctica clínica.…”