Studying the Relationship between the Teaching Status of Research Methods, Biostatistics Courses and, Academic Research Skills, from the Postgraduate Students' Point of View

Abstract

Background: This study aimed to study the relationship between the teaching status of Research Methods as well as Biostatistics and academic research skills, from the postgraduate students' point of view.

Methods: This cross-sectional study, conducted in 2022, examined 633 postgraduate students in Iran University of Medical Sciences in 2016-2022. The data included demographic and educational-research information, such as the teaching Biostatistics and course credit, its score, the duration of writing the thesis, and its score. Data analysis was done using univariate and multiple logistic regression throughout the odds ratio (OR) in SPSS with a significance level of 0.05.

Results: 47.7% of the graduates passed Biostatistics and 79.8% published paper from the thesis. The proposal writing in Master’s and MPH graduates, in people without a statistical consultant prolonged significantly (OR:1.67, P=0.017), as well as in PhD graduates, who have passed Research Methods, (OR=2.94, P=0.039), and in clinical graduates, in those who did not receive a methodologist advise (OR=2.7, P=0.024). In Master’s and MPH students, who had passed the Biostatistics or Research Method experienced a longer duration in thesis writing (OR=1.77 and 1.38, respectively).

Conclusion: Passing the Biostatistics and Research Methods, and the presence of a statistical consultant or methodologist in the thesis of the graduates, shortened the time of writing the proposal or the thesis, and also caused them to get a better score in the thesis.