A Cross-sectional Study on Learning Preferences for Research Methodology among Medical Students

Background: The modalities of learning could be Visual, Auditory, Reading/ writing, and Kinesthetic (VARK). VARK concept has been used to know the learning preferences among First Year Medical Students. But learning preferences for "Research Methodology" have rarely been reported. Objective: This study was conducted to know the learning preferences for "Research Methodology" using VARK concept. Methods: A questionnaire-based study was conducted among medical undergraduate students who had completed their student research project during their 4th semester. The questionnaire was constructed using VARK concept to know: 1. Learning preference of research methodology, 2. Characteristics of learning preference of participants are classified under "Visual(V), Auditory(A), Read/write(R), and Kinaesthetic(K). The students were approached in the classrooms, and the data was collected and was analysed using SPSS version 11.5. Results were expressed as proportions in appropriate tables and graphs. Results: Totally 157 students were participated in the study. Most (1164/1570 [74.1%]) of them expressed Unimodal learning preference as compared to Multimodal learning (84/1570 [5.4%]). Majority preferred Auditory (641/1560 [40.8%]) followed by Visual (542/1570 [34.5%]) for learning "Research Methodology". This study showed that gender of the students did not influence learning preference. However, the total number of preference for "Kinaesthetic" in those who had additional research experience through ICMR-STS and workshop on research methodology are more compared to those who didn't. Conclusion: Unimodal with Auditory followed by Visual mode was preferred for learning "Research Methodology".