The opinion and response of health professionals associated with academics about the research design and methods: A study

AIM: The study aimed to survey the opinions and responses of health professionals in academics about their interest and experience in research, knowledge over study designs, and application of a common study design to find out the objectives behind any research study. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A semi-structured questionnaire containing three variables with 15 questions were sent to 300 health professionals associated with academics in the category of Bachelor/Master/Doctorate working at Al-Farabi Colleges campuses located in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Data were collected manually, descriptive frequencies were generated and the variables were statistically analyzed using Chi-square test. The knowledge scores between the qualification and gender were carried out using ANOVA and t-test. The final response rate was in conjuction to the statistician to exclude the uncompleted responses from the statistical analysis. RESULTS: The results showed a discrepancy in the participation; of 95 health professionals, (40) were females and (55) were males. Bachelor (16), Masters (61) and Doctorate holders (18) gave their opinion. For the first variable (research experience), all the surveyed categories showed the same response. However, for the second variable (study design and research criteria) bachelor holders showed poor, but equal performance was reported to the master and doctorate holders. In the third variable (objectives and common designs), bachelor holders showed a poor response in contrast to the master and doctorate holders whose have mixed opinions. For knowledge scores, no significance was present between the master and doctorate holders. CONCLUSION: There is a lack of understanding of the research objectives and common designs frequently used in research studies particularly among the bachelor holders. Additional postgraduate education on research methods is recommended to improve the knowledge and practices of research.