Barriers Experienced by Medical Students in Conducting Research at Undergraduate Level
Open accessAbstract
Introduction Undergraduate medical research is very important not only for scientific learning but also for career progress. However, there are barriers, especially in developing countries, that restrict undergraduate research. This study aims to evaluate the barriers experienced by medical students in conducting research at undergraduate level. Methods It was an observational, cross-sectional survey conducted with 687 clinical students of two public medical universities of Pakistan. A self-structured questionnaire consisting of seven items was administered to assess the barriers in conducting research at undergraduate level. Data was processed and analysed through SPSS v 22.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA). Results Lack of knowledge as a barrier was identified by 90.68% (n = 623) students. The second most common barrier identified by the students was lack of time (88.79%; n = 610), followed by lack of mentoring as the third most common barrier (85.74%; n = 572). Sub-group analysis showed that lack of knowledge, lack of mentoring, limited data base access, lack of time, and lack of finances were more crucial barriers for female gender (p < 0.05). Only lack of interest was a crucial barrier for male gender (p < 0.05). Conclusion A number of barriers need to be addressed in order to enhance students' participation in clinical research such as lack of interest, funding, and poor availability of research mentors and access to scientific databases to improve participation in clinical research. Substantial amendments in the medical undergraduate curriculum are needed.
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The literature rarely included detailed qualitative methodology to understand the details and contexts of student research obstacles.
“Second, the literature in this area rarely included detailed qualitative methodology, which is vital if we are to understand the details and contexts of student research obstacles.”
From Barriers faced by undergraduate dental students when conducting research: a qualitative study (2025) · cites this paper as [15]
The Materials and methods section describes this paper’s cross-sectional questionnaire survey, but it does not assess how often the wider literature uses detailed qualitative methods. The Discussion identifies student research barriers without making that methodological claim; searches for qualitative methods and the literature-wide gap found no supporting passage. Page numbers were unavailable in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.76)
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- Authors
- Kumar, J., Memon, A., Kumar, A., Kumari, R., Kumar, B., & Fareed, S.
- Affiliations
- Liaquat University of Medical & Health Sciences (PK)
- Jinnah Sindh Medical University (PK)
- People's University of Medical and Health Sciences for Women (PK)
- Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center (PK)
- Civil Hospital Karachi (PK)
- Corresponding author
- Fareed, Sundus
- Venue
- Cureus
- Published
- 2019-04-13
- Volume
- 11
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- e4452-e4452
- ISSN
- 2168-8184 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC6561510
- OpenAlex
- W2935914751
- Cited by
- 54
- References
- 15
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 3
- FWCI
- 4.60
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Cureus (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Health and Medical Research Impacts
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Innovations in Medical Education
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Health Sciences Research and Education
- Keywords
- undergraduate medical research, barriers to research, medical students, lack of knowledge, time constraints, research funding, gender differences, clinical research participation, medical curriculum
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