Abstract
Background
Medical and health science students are increasingly becoming involved in research throughout their undergraduate education. However, the quality of student research outcomes has recently come into question.
Methods
A cross-sectional online survey of Irish medical and health science student who received a summer student research grant in 2014 and 2015.
Results
Of 56 respondents (40.6% response rate), increasing competitiveness for future career opportunities was the highest rated motivational factor for pursuing research. Respondents were most often involved in analysing data (n = 51; 91.1%) and collecting data (n = 46; 82.1%). Respondents most often identified that they would have liked to be involved in coming up with research question (n = 34; 60.7%), while in reality, they were least commonly involved in that aspect (n = 14; 25.0%).
Conclusion
Despite the desire by summer research students to be involved in early components of research project design, this only occasionally occurs. Summer student research programs should explore the possibility of early involvement of students in the research design phase.
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Acknowledgments
Special thanks to the Health Research Board for facilitating the dissemination of the survey and financial support for the dissemination of the work.
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All authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
Ethics
This work was carried out in compliance with ethical standards of the journal, receiving ethical approval from the National University of Ireland, Galway College of Medicine Nursing, and Health Sciences Research Ethics Committee.
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Gouda, P., O’Flynn, S. & Cantillon, P. Desires versus reality of medical and health science summer student research opportunities. Ir J Med Sci 187, 817–820 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11845-017-1705-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11845-017-1705-x