Survey of research problems from the viewpoints of managers, scientific staffs and research experts in Isfahan University of Medical Sciences

Abstract

Introduction: Research is a key factor in developing a country. Its importance is secondary to the ability of solving problems and demands of a society. Evaluation of research problems and obstacles has its importance in any scientific fields. It explains defects of that field and can improve it. According to the importance of above-mentioned subjects, we designed a survey to evaluate problems of research policies and services from the viewpoints of managers, scientific staffs and experts of Isfahan University of Medical Science.

Methods: We performed a cross-sectional study in 2001 with a 38-item questionnaire. Our samples included all managers and research experts of Isfahan University of Medical Science (IUMS) and random samples of scientific staffs of different faculties of IUMS. The data of the survey were analyzed by SPSS version 10 with t-test, Mann Whitney, Kruskall Wallis and ANOVA tests and Cronbach alpha coefficient.

Results: The most important research problems from the viewpoints of managers were as follows: 1) Low relation between researchers. 2) Insufficient time of scientific staffs for performing research due to educational duties and 3) Lack of aims and programs of research policies. The most important research problems from the viewpoints of scientific staffs were the same. These problems from the viewpoints of research experts were: 4) Lack of aims and programs of research policies. 5) Insufficiency of the research budget and 6) Lack of a team work culture.

Conclusion: According to the results, it seems that the most useful actions are amending informational services, defining research positions against educational systems and explaining the aims and plans in research policies.

Keywords: Research problems, managers, viewpoints, scientific staffs, research experts, medical university.