Attitude towards Research among Undergraduate Dental Students in Malaysia (Sikap Terhadap Penyelidikan dalam kalangan Pelajar Prasiswazah Jurusan Pergigian di Malaysia)

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17576/JPEN-2020-45.02-06

Abstract

The participation of dentists in dental sciences research within Asian countries is still substantially below the target. Exposure to research may improve the quality of dental education, and potentially increase the participation of dental graduates' in academic dentistry. This study aims to evaluate the attitude of students towards scientific research during their study in the School of Dental Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia as well as to identify the barrier that might affect their learning process in research. A cross-sectional, self-administered online questionnaire was distributed to 155 undergraduates among whom a total of 122 response were collected, between June to September 2016. In general, students demonstrated favourable attitudes about research integration in the undergraduate curriculum. The respondents also agreed that research is relevant to dental education (81.9%) and that participation in research activities may facilitate admission to postgraduate programs (77.7%). The effective presence of supervisors is a crucial element that affects student engagement in research, including the ability to provide proper training and guidance (61.7%) and flexibility for academic discussions (57.44%). Current data serve as an important evidence to evaluate the existing practice of delivering the research component to undergraduate dental students in Malaysia, which includes a proper project title, objectives, sampling population, literature review, analytical instrument, methodology and data analysis. In depth knowledge and improved research skills will allow for better participation of undergraduates in various dental sciences research, ranging from laboratory-based experiments to clinical and community-based research projects.Key Words: Attitude, Barriers, Dental, Undergraduates, Scientific, Research, Curriculum   Penglibatan doktor gigi dalam aktiviti penyelidikan sains pergigian di negara-negara Asian masih lagi di tahap yang rendah berbanding sasaran yang ditetapkan. Pendedahan terhadap penyelidikan dipercayai mampu meningkatkan kualiti pengajian dalam bidang pergigian, juga mampu meningkatkan penyertaan graduan pergigian dalam bidang akademik. Soal selidik ini dijalankan untuk menilai sikap pelajar prasiswazah terhadap penyelidikan saintifik semasa mengikuti kursus pergigian di Pusat Pengajian Sains Pergigian, Universiti Sains Malaysia. Kajian juga dijalankan untuk mengenalpasti faktor-faktor yang mempengaruhi proses pembelajaran mereka dalam penyelidikan. Suatu kajian rentas telah dijalankan secara atas talian melibatkan 122 orang pelajar prasiswazah jurusan pergigian (tahun ketiga hingga tahun kelima pengajian) dari Jun hingga September 2016. Secara keseluruhan, pelajar menunjukkan sikap positif terhadap integrasi penyelidikan dalam kurikulum pengajian pascasiswazah. Tinjauan juga mendapati bahawa pelajar bersetuju bahawa penyelidikan adalah penting untuk pengajian pergigian (81.9%) dan penglibatan dalam aktiviti penyelidikan akan memudahkan laluan ke program pengajian pascasiswazah (77.7%). Peranan penyelia dilihat sebagai elemen penting yang mempengaruhi penglibatan pelajar dalam penyelidikan, termasuk kebolehan untuk memberikan latihan dan bimbingan (61.7%) serta ketersediaan untuk mengadakan perbincangan ilmiah (57.44%). Data yang diperolehi ini membentangkan bukti penting yang dapat digunakan untuk menilai keberkesanan praktis sedia ada dalam memperkenalkan komponen penyelidikan, merangkumi tajuk penyelidikan yang sesuai, objektif, populasi sampel, tinjauan literasi, analisis instrumen, kaedah penyelidikan dan juga analisis data. Ilmu dan kemahiran penyelidikan yang mendalam mampu meningkatkan penyertaan pelajar dalam pelbagai bidang penyelidikan sains pergigian, daripada eksperimen di makmal sehingga ke kajian klinikal dan kes komuniti.Kata Kunci: Sikap; Halangan; Pergigian; Prasiswazah; Saintifik; Penyelidikan; Kurikulum

Downloads

Published

2020-11-30

Issue

JPM, Vol. 45, No. 2 (Nov 2020)

Section

Articles

License

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  1. Authors retain copyright of the article and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) Licence that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
  2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g. in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).

It is the author’s responsibility to ensure that his or her submitted works do not infringe any other existing copyright. Authors should obtain letters of permission to reproduce or adapt copyright material and enclose copies of these letters with the final version of the accepted manuscript.

The author indemnifies the editors and publisher against any breach of such a warranty.