engleski

Medical teachers' attitudes towards science and motivational orientation for research: a survey study

Background: Research is an important motivating factor for pursuing a career in academic medicine, but the relation between motivation and factors involved in scientific research are not clear. Purpose: To explore the motivational orientation for doing research and its relation with the attitudes towards science and publication practice among the faculty at a medical school. Methods: We used a Science Attitude Survey and Work Preference Inventory (4 Likert type scales of motivation, possible range 1-5) to survey two groups of teachers at the Zagreb University School of Medicine (n=327, 66% response rate): professors, elected to tenure-track positions (n=150), and instructor/research fellows working on or just completing their thesis (n=177). Results: Overall, teachers scored highest on the Enjoyment subscale of intrinsic motivational orientation (mean score&#177; ; ; standard deviation 4.3&#177; ; ; 0.42 for professors vs 4.1&#177; ; ; 0.42 for instructors/research fellows, P=0.001, t-test). Professors scored higher than instructors/ research fellows on the Challenge subscale of intrinsic motivational orientation (3.8&#177; ; ; 0.55 vs. 3.5&#177; ; ; 0.64, P<0.001, t-test), whereas instructors/ research fellows scored higher than professors on the Compensation subscale of extrinsic motivational orientation (3.5&#177; ; ; 0.74 vs. 3.1&#177; ; ; 0.71, P<0.001, t-test). Multiple linear regression analysis showed that the number of publications was positively associated with the scores on the Science Attitude Survey and Challenge intrinsic motivation, and negatively associated with scores on the scale of Compensation extrinsic motivation. Conclusions: Medical faculty differs in motivational orientation depending on their academic status, and their motivation is associated more with requirements for academic advancement than research. These findings have important implications for developing strategies for enhancing academic research production.

medical teacher; attitudes; research

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