Perceptions and attitudes towards research amongst medical students at shifa college of medicine

Objective: to understand medical students' perceptions and attitudes towards research to help facilitators design specific courses according to their needs. methods: the cross-sectional study was conducted at shifa college of medicine,islamabad,pakistan,from may to november 2013,and comprised undergraduate medical students. a pre-tested questionnaire was used for data collection. students' response was recorded on a likert scale from 'strongly disagree' 1 to 'strongly agree' 5. analysis was done using statistical spss17. results: of the 195 students enrolled,172(88%) responded. overall,78(45.3%) students said they were aware of research. research was considered useful for their professional careers and relevant to their daily life by 133(65.7%) students,while 72(41.9%) did not consider it worthwhile to pursue research as a career. besides,71(41.3%) students enjoyed research,while 120(70%) perceived research as stressful and 107(62.2) complex. conclusions: most students considered research valuable but at the same time they perceived it as stressful and complex. © 2016,pakistan medical association. all rights reserved.