Abstract
Background: This study investigated undergraduate nursing students’ attitude towards research. It has been shown in numerous studies that there exists a negative attitude towards research among undergraduate students and this attitude acts as a barrier. This negative attitude affects the willingness and efforts of students to excel in a research course.
Methods: A 15-item pre and post-test questionnaire was administered to undergraduate nursing students to identify the factors that may have an effect on their attitude towards research. The Georgia Southern University Institutional Review Board approved the study. Statistical analysis was performed using paired sample t-test and IBM SPSS 23.0.
Results: Factors that affected students’ attitude towards research included ‘anticipatory anxiety taking a research course’ (p=0.005), ‘glad that research course was over’ (p=0.009), and ‘research is a boring field’ (p=0.040) were significant at the alpha=0.05. However, students recognized the usefulness of research to their professional career (p=0.004) and indicated the importance of attending their research classes (p=0.039).
Conclusions: With the drive to make a doctorate in nursing the entry level for advanced nursing practice, changing the mindset of undergraduate nursing students towards research is essential. Therefore, the selection of teaching methods and the development of content to promote student engagement can make a difference in students’ attitudes toward undergraduate research and optimize learning outcomes.
First Page
20
Last Page
20
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Bhattacharya, Anunay and Tabi, Marian M.
(2016)
"Attitude Towards Research among Undergraduate Nursing Students,"
Journal of the Georgia Public Health Association: Vol. 6:
No.
1, Article 7.
DOI: 10.21633/jgpha.6.002
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/jgpha/vol6/iss1/7