• Newell D
• Cunliffe C

• Research
• Surveys and Questionnaires

Design: A survey questionnaire was completed by all 4 years of the chiropractic course without prior knowledge before or after lectures.

Setting: This study was conducted in McTimoney Chiropractic College in the UK.

Participants: The whole population of 164 students were asked to fill in the questionnaire.

Results: One hundred and nineteen students (44 men and 75 women) representing 76% of the college population completed the questionnaire. Of these students, 92% were over the age of 26 years, 77% had had a previous higher education qualification with 44% having some experience with research. Concerning how students felt about chiropractic research in general, 54% thought that it was difficult even though 64% thought research to be interesting. However, 75% considered chiropractic research necessary. Some differences in attitude between years were detected in some areas of the questionnaire. Notably, undergraduate 1st year students’ view of the role of research in the undergraduate teaching programme was significantly less positive (P<0.01) as compared to final year students. In addition, questions concerning personal ability to carry out research revealed significantly greater confidence in the later years. Finally, questions focusing on the emphasis that faculty members put on research during their teaching, revealed that later years perceived significantly less emphasis on research, compared with early years. There were minor gender differences in question scores. However, large, significant differences were found when comparing those undergraduates with and without previous research experience.

Conclusions: The main purpose of this study was to attempt to reveal the attitudes of students at different points during their chiropractic education. There are a number of statistically significant differences from early to later years. This may reflect an increasing exposure to research modules as encountered in later years of the undergraduate course. In addition, the longer-term aim is to track any changes in perception as attempts to develop core research activities come to fruition.

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