A national intercalated medical student research program – student perceptions, satisfaction, and factors associated with pursuing a PhD

Figures & data

Table 1. Background characteristics of the first (E1) and second (E2) evaluation of the Norwegian medical student research program (MSRP) cohort.

	Evaluation Period 1– 2002-6	Evaluation Period 2–2007-14	Total
	N (%)	N (%)	N (%)
All participants	183	240	423
Gender
Female	79 (43)	114 (48)	193 (46)
Male	104 (57)	126 (53)	230 (54)
Age mean, years (SD)	24.7 (2.8^a)	25.4 (3.0^a)	25.1 (2.9^a)
Age categories, years
20–23	63 (35)	67 (28)	130 (31)
24–26	77 (43)	104 (43)	181 (43)
27–29	32 (18)	46 (19)	78 (19)
30 and above	9 (5)	23 (10)	32 (8)
Area of research
Laboratory medicine	109 (60)	115 (48)	224 (53)
Epidemiology	22 (12)	48 (20)	70 (17)
Clinical science	41 (22)	60 (25)	101 (24)
Combination	5 (3)	3 (1)	8 (2)
Other	6 (3)	11 (5)	17 (4)
Missing	0 (0)	3 (1)	3 (1)
University
1	18	33	51
2	46	51	97
3	58	82	140
4	61	74	135
No. of Medical School Semesters before MSRP
1–2	45 (25)	3 (1)	48 (11)
3–4	102 (56)	134 (56)	236 (56)
5–6	27 (15)	81 (34)	108 (26)
More than 6	8 (4)	20 (8)	28 (7)
Missing	1 (1)	2 (1)	3 (1)
No. of MSRP semesters before study participation
Less than 2	40 (22)	44 (19)	84 (20)
2–3	43 (24)	59 (25)	102 (24)
4–5	52 (29)	63 (26)	115 (27)
6 or more	47 (26)	71 (30)	118 (28)
Missing	1 (1)	3 (1)	4 (1)
Ambitions to pursue a PhD
No	4 (2)	7 (3)	11 (3)
Unsure	33 (18)	40 (17)	73 (17)
Yes	145 (79)	179 (75)	324 (77)
Missing	1 (1)	14 (6)	15 (4)
Publications
No	92 (51)	146 (61)	238 (56)
To be submitted/Under review^b	55 (30)	22 (9)	77 (18)
Yes	35 (19)	72 (30)	107 (25)
Missing	1 (1)	0 (0)	1 (0)
Considered resigning from the MSRP (n = 240)
No	-	193 (80)	-
Yes	-	45 (19)	-
Missing	-	2 (1)	-
Reason for considered quitting (n = 45)
Personal reasons	-	15 (33)	-
Lost interest in the project	-	14 (31)	-
Problematic relationship with supervisor	-	11 (24)	-
Did not ‘find my place’ in the research group	-	4 (9)	-
Missing		1 (2)	-

^aStandard deviation (s.d.)

^bThe proposed answer differed between Evaluation Period 1: ‘I am about to publish a paper’ and Evaluation Period 2: ”Under review”

Table 2. Students’ satisfaction with the Norwegian medical student research program (MSRP).

	Dissatisfied, n (%)	Neither dissatisfied nor satisfied, n (%)	Satisfied, n (%)	Total	Kruskal-Wallis test, p-value
All participants	40 (10)	44 (11)	325 (79)	409^a
Gender					0.02
Female	19 (10)	29 (16)	136 (74)	184
Male	21 (9)	15 (7)	189 (84)	225
Area of research^b					0.88
Laboratory medicine	21 (10)	21 (10)	177 (81)	219
Epidemiology	4 (6)	11 (17)	51 (77)	66
Clinical	13 (13)	10 (10)	76 (77)	99
Combination	1 (13)	0	7 (88)	8
Other	1 (6)	2 (12)	14 (82)	17
Evaluation Period					0.055
1: 2002–2006	13 (7)	17 (9)	153 (84)	183
2: 2007–2014	27 (12)	27 (12)	172 (76)	226
Students’ Home University					0.18
University 1	1 (2)	8 (16)	41 (82)	50
University 2	6 (6)	7 (7)	82 (86)	95
University 3	14 (10)	19 (14)	104 (76)	137
University 4	19 (15)	10 (8)	98 (77)	127

^aMissing information for 14 participants

^bFour possible answers; ‘public health/epidemiology’, ‘clinical/patient oriented’, ‘laboratory’, and ‘other, please specify’. The responses in the ‘other’ category were categorized as ‘combination’ if it included a combination of laboratory and either clinical or epidemiological research, and the ‘other’ category otherwise.

Table 3. Students’ satisfaction with their supervision in the Norwegian medical student research program (MSRP).

	Evaluation Period 1–2002-6	Evaluation Period 2–2007-14	Total	Kruskal-Wallis test/ Pearson’s Chi square test, p-value^a,b
	N (%)	N (%)	N (%)
Degree of satisfaction with the supervision				0.14^a
To a small degree	4 (2)	19 (8)	23 (5)
To some degree	40 (22)	51 (21)	91 (22)
To a high degree	139 (76)	167 (70)	306 (72)
Missing	0	3 (1)	3 (1)
Regularity of supervision				0.013^a
No supervision	1 (1)	5 (2)	6 (1)
Sporadic	57 (31)	88 (37)	145 (34)
Regular, but more seldom than every two weeks	26 (14)	36 (15)	62 (15)
About every two weeks	34 (19)	54 (23)	88 (21)
At least once every week	65 (36)	54 (23)	119 (28)
Missing	0	3 (1)	3 (1)
No. of hours of supervision over the last academic year				0.06^a
Less than 20	56 (31)	91 (38)	147 (35)
20–40	72 (39)	87 (36)	159 (38)
41–80	36 (20)	46 (19)	82 (19)
More than 80	19 (10)	13 (5)	32 (8)
Missing	0	3 (1)	3 (1)
Perceived need for more supervision				0.014^b
No	125 (68)	128 (53)	253 (60)
Do not know	23 (13)	41 (17)	64 (15)
Yes	35 (19)	67 (28)	102 (24)
Missing	0	4 (2)	4 (1)

^aCategorical ordinal data were analysed using the Kruskal-Wallis test.

^bCategorical non-ordinal data were analysed using the Pearson’s Chi square test.

Table 4. Students’ ambitions to pursue a PhD degree in the Norwegian medical student research program (MSRP).

	N	Odds ratio (95% CI)^a
Gender
Male	224	1 (ref.)
Female	182	0.7 (0.4 to 1.1)
Age, categories
20–24	199	1 (ref.)
25–29	177	0.7 (0.4 to 1.2)
≥30	30	0.3 (0.1 to 0.7)
Type of research^b
Laboratory	217	1 (ref.)
Epidemiology	66	1.1 (0.6 to 2.2)
Clinical	98	1.0 (0.5 to 1.8)
Combination^c	-	-
Other	17	1.7 (0.4 to 7.9)
Evaluation Period
E1: 2002–2006	180	1 (ref.)
E2: 2007–2014	226	1.0 (0.6 to 1.7)
Satisfaction with the MSRP
Dissatisfied	40	0.9 (0.4 to 2.2)
Neither dissatisfied nor satisfied	43	1 (ref.)
Satisfied	323	8.2 (4.1 to 16.5)
Supervisors’ expectations, as perceived by students
Low	13	0.3 (0.1 to 1.1)
Medium	120	1 (ref.)
High	273	2.1 (1.3 to 3.6)
Need more supervision
No	245	1 (ref.)
Yes	98	0.4 (0.2 to 0.8)
Do not know	63	0.5 (0.3 to 1.0)
Publication
No	229	1 (ref.)
To be submitted/ under review	75	1.0 (0.6 to 2.0)
Yes	101	1.8 (1.0 to 3.5)
Satisfaction with own effort
Dissatisfied	40	1 (ref.)
Neither dissatisfied nor satisfied	63	0.5 (0.2 to 1.1)
Satisfied	303	2.7 (1.3 to 5.7)

^aAdjusted for age and gender

^bFour possible answers; ‘public health/epidemiology’, ‘clinical/patient oriented’, ‘laboratory’, and ‘other, please specify’. The responses in the ‘other’ category were categorized as ‘combination’ if it included a combination of laboratory and either clinical or epidemiological research, and the ‘other’ category otherwise.

^cAll 8 students engaged in combination research wanted to pursue a PhD