Identifying research obstacles; a cross sectional comparative study of perceptions of postgraduate medical and dental residents in three public sector medical colleges

OBJECTIVE To explore the attitude of postgraduate medical and dental residents about research work and to identify barriers in the way of research activities. Methodology The cross-sectional study was conducted from May to July, 2018, at three public-sector medical and dental institutions in Quetta, the capital of Pakistan province of Balochistan, and comprised postgraduate residents. Data was collected using a pre-validated 16 item Likert scale questionnaire. Data was analysed using SPSS 23. RESULTS Of the 72 subjects, 44(61.1%) were males. The overall mean age was 23.3±4.6 years (range: 28-30 years. The residents demonstrated willingness to conduct clinical research with a mean score of 4.36±0.65. There was no association of attitudes and barriers with socio-demographic and personal characteristics (p>0.05). Deficient lab facilities (p-<0.001), and inaccessibility to electronic and hospital data (p=0.003) were the major factors identified as research barriers. CONCLUSIONS Barriers to research need to be addressed in designing research curricula to encourage and facilitate meaningful research.