Baseline characteristics of participants
Table 1 shows the characteristics of 211 students. A total of 104 (49.3%) students were from the fifth grade, and 107 (50.7%) were from the sixth grade. Female students (131) accounted for 62.1%. The average age was 22.7 0.9 years. There is no significant difference in the demographics among the 5 medical schools (age: P = 0.374, gender: P = 0.187). A total of 209 (99.1%) students chose clinical doctor as one of their career goals. While, 28 (13.3%) students also considered of becoming a researcher, and 28 (13.3%) of becoming a medical educator.
Table 1 Characteristics of the medical students
|
Total
|
With research experience
|
No research experience
|
P value
|
Number, n
|
211
|
142
|
69
|
|
Male, n (%)
|
80 (37.9%)
|
55 (38.7%)
|
25 (36.2%)
|
0.725
|
Age ()
|
22.690.93
|
22.70 0.92
|
22.68 0.96
|
0.909
|
Fifth grade, n (%)
|
104 (49.3%)
|
64 (45.1%)
|
40 (58.0%)
|
0.079
|
Professional plan (multiple choices)
|
Clinical doctors
Researchers
Medical teachers
Others
|
209 (99.1%)
28 (13.3%)
27 (12.8%)
18 (8.5%)
|
140 (98.6%)
22 (15.5%)
18 (12.7%)
15 (10.6%)
|
69
6 (8.7%)
9 (13.0%)
3 (4.3%)
|
0.323
0.172
0.940
0.109
|
Difficulties, median (range)
|
4 (3-4)
|
4 (3-4)
|
4 (3-5)
|
0.274
|
Pressure, median (range)
|
3 (3-4)
|
3 (3-4)
|
3 (3-4)
|
0.538
|
Motivations, n (%)
|
0.331
|
For graduation or employment
Interests
|
160 (75.8%)
51 (24.2%)
|
106 (74.6%)
36 (25.4%)
|
54 (78.3%)
15 (21.7%)
|
|
Obstacles for research (multiple choices)
|
Heavy load from study or internship
Insufficient research abilities
No suitable research groups
No help
No clear targets
|
153
86
45
54
79
|
107
64
29
26
53
|
46
22
16
28
26
|
0.185
0.067
0.645
0.001
0.040
|
Ideal time to begin research, n (%)
|
<0.001
|
Premedical period
Medical courses
Internship
|
53 (25.1%)
125 (59.2%)
33 (15.6%)
|
42 (29.6%)
86 (60.6%)
14 (9.9%)
|
11 (15.9%)
39 (56.5%)
19 (27.5%)
|
|
Research ability weaknesses (multiple choices)
|
Experimental design
Statistical analysis
Academic writing
Experimental skills
Literature research and reading
|
112 (53.1%)
103 (48.8%)
77 (36.5%)
66 (31.3%)
64 (30.3%)
|
75 (52.8%)
73 (51.4%)
53 (37.3%)
44 (31.0%)
39 (27.5%)
|
37 (53.6%)
30 (43.5%)
24 (34.8%)
22 (31.9%)
25 (36.2%)
|
0.912
0.280
0.719
0.895
0.918
|
Pressures and obstacles
Students felt high pressure for research, with a median score of 3 (3-4), and had difficulty doing research, with a median score of 4 (3-4). The major pressure came from concern about graduation and future employment (75.8%), which was also the pivotal motivation to conduct research among 160 (75.8%) students. Only 51 (24.2%) students chose research interest as their pivotal motivation.
The major obstacles or challenges to conducting research were as follows: heavy load from study or internship (153, 72.5%), insufficient research abilities (86, 40.8%), and lack of access to the appropriate research team (45, 21.3%). With regard to research abilities, students hoped to improve their abilities in research design (112, 53.1%), statistical analysis (103, 48.8%), academic writing (77, 36.5%), and experiment skills (66, 31.3%). A total of 125 (59.2%) students suggested that the ideal time for starting research was the semesters when they took basic and clinical medical courses.
Research experience
Table 2 shows the students’ research experience. In total, 142 (67.3%) students had previous research experience, including 120 (84.5%) who participated in one or two research projects and 22 (15.5%) who participated in three or more research programs. Among students with research experience, 69 (48.6%) had undertaken one or more research projects as the first applicant. Furthermore, 19 (13.4%) students had applied for nation-funded projects, 10 (7.0%) for province-funded projects and 25 (17.6%) for school-funded projects. Most students’ research topics (118, 83.1%) were provided by their mentors. A total of 121 (85.2%), 117 (82.4%), and 96 (67.6%) students received research training in basic bioscience teams, clinical research teams, and both types of teams, respectively. Eighty-four (59.2%) students began research training in the third and fourth grades. A total of 123 (86.6%) students had a fixed research mentor. Forty-five (31.7%) spent 5 to 10 hours per week on research activities (including attending a seminar, literature reading, doing experiments, and academic writing), and 31 (21.8%) spent 10-20 hours per week.
However, 69 (32.7%) students had no research experience by the survey time. Among them, 16 (23.2%) already had a research plan, and 52 (75.4%) were willing to conduct research. The reason they had not started research training was mainly time restriction due to a heavy load from courses or clinical work (66.7%, 46/69).
In the comparison between students with and without research experience, there was no difference in demographics, scores in pressure and difficulty, and motivation. However, students with research experience preferred the earlier beginning time for research training (P 0.001). The proportion of students who preferred the premedical period as an ideal beginning time for research was 29.6% among students with research experience and 15.9% among students without research experience.
Table 2 Characteristics of medical students with research outputs and associated factors
Variables
|
Numbers and percentage
|
Total(n=142)
|
With outputs
(n=84)
|
Without outputs
(n=58)
|
P value
|
Age ()
|
22.70 0.92
|
22.70 0.92
|
22.69 0.94
|
0.936
|
Gender (male), n (%)
|
55 (38.7%)
|
33 (39.3%)
|
22 (37.9%)
|
0.871
|
Grade (5th grade), n (%)
|
64 (45.1%)
|
37 (44.0%)
|
27 (46.0%)
|
0.768
|
School*
PUMC
PKU
QU
THU
XJTU
|
39 (27.5%)
35 (24.6%)
21 (14.8%)
14 (9.9%)
33 (23.2%)
|
24 (28.6%)
21 (25.0%)
14 (24.1%)
9 (10.7%)
20 (23.8%)
|
15 (25.9%)
14 (24.1%)
11 (19.0%)
5 (8.6%)
13 (22.4%)
|
0.839
|
Begin time for scientific research training
|
0.337
|
1st -2nd year
3rd -4th year
5th - 6th year
|
33 (23.2%)
84 (59.2%)
25 (17.6%)
|
23 (27.4%)
48 (57.1%)
13 (15.5%)
|
10 (17.2%)
36 (62.1%)
12 (20.7%)
|
|
Average hours dedicated to research a week
|
0.172
|
over 20hrs
10-20hrs
5-10hrs
0-5hrs
nearly no time
|
12 (8.5%)
31 (21.8%)
45 (31.7%)
42 (29.6%)
12 (8.5%)
|
9 (10.7%)
20 (23.8%)
25 (29.8%)
25 (29.8%)
5 (6.0%)
|
3 (5.2%)
11 (19.0%)
20 (34.5%)
17 (29.3%)
7 (12.1%)
|
|
Having fixed research mentor
|
123 (86.6%)
|
75 (89.3%)
|
48 (82.8%)
|
0.261
|
Feelings for obstacles during research work
|
0.827
|
Avoiding or/and anxious
Peaceful or/and excited
|
97 (66.2%)
48 (33.8%)
|
55 (65.5%)
29 (34.5%)
|
39 (67.2%)
19 (32.8%)
|
|
Scoring difficulty for research, median (range)
|
4 (3-4)
|
4 (3-4)
|
4 (3-4)
|
0.995
|
Scoring pressure for research, median (range)
|
3 (3-4)
|
3 (3-4)
|
3 (3-4)
|
0.205
|
Motivations for research
|
0.046
|
Graduation or/and employment
Interests in research or/and knowledge
|
92 (64.8%)
50 (35.2%)
|
60 (71.4%)
24 (28.6%)
|
32 (55.2%)
26 (44.8%)
|
|
* PUMC: Peking Union Medical College, PKU: Peking University, QU: Qingdao University,
THU: Medical Doctor Program of Tsinghua University, XJTU: Xi’an Jiaotong University
Research outputs and the associated factors
Among students with research experience, 84 (59.2%) students had research outputs that included paper publications and successful applications for research funding. Forty-one students (28.9%) had one or more articles published or accepted by medical or biological journals, with 35 of them as the first author or coauthor. The most common type of publication was an original article.
Compared with the group without research outputs, students with outputs were more likely to consider graduation and future employment as their original motivation for research (71.4% vs. 55.2%, P = 0.046). Furthermore, students motivated by graduation or employment requirements generally scored higher for pressure than students motivated by interest (median vs. median: 3.5 vs. 3, P=0.030). There was no difference in gender, grade, school, percentage with fixed mentors, beginning time for research, average weekly time spent on research, or attitude towards obstacles between the two groups.