Attitude and Perceived Barriers towards Research among Undergraduate Medical Students of Bangladesh

BackgroundUndergraduate research opportunities teach students not only how to conduct research, but they too learn problem-solving aptitudes. Participating in research also increases students interest is being involved and making special contributions to the academic field. Therefore, the aim of our study was intended to assess the attitude and perceived barriers toward research among the medical undergraduates of Bangladesh. MethodsA cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted among third, fourth, and fifth year students across medical colleges in Bangladesh, during the month of July, 2020 to December, 2020. A Google-linked questionnaire was disseminated to the students via different social platform and the responses were received through Google drive. ResultThe questionnaire survey received responses from 1279 students, with 94% claiming to be familiar with the scientific method. 82.7% of students mentioned they could design and execute a research project as well as can write scientific articles. More than half of the respondents (66.4%) expressed an interest in participating in research. Almost all respondents (96.7%) agreed that research is beneficial as it aid critical thinking and policy implementation. 79.8% of respondents opined that education on research methodology should be required in the medical curriculum. Majority of the respondents reported that lack of time and priorities to do research work because of compact academic tasks (89.1%), insufficient guidance (86.6%), lack of familiarities with research methodology (87.5%) and statistical analysis (85.2%) are the barriers of research. ConclusionOur findings indicated that Bangladeshi medical students have a positive attitude toward research and that research methodology should be taught in undergraduate medical education. In order to increase participation in research, the challenges identified by students should be addressed.