Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 7, 2026

Improving Student Outcomes with an Adaptable Molecular Cloning Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience
Published on: November 15, 2024
Medical clerks' attitudes towards the basic sciences: a longitudinal and a cross-sectional comparison between
Eugène J F M Custers1, Olle Th J Ten Cate
1School of Medical Sciences, University Medical Center Utrecht, The Netherlands. ecusters@umcutrecht.nl
Background:
This study is the longitudinal sequel to a survey published by Custers and Ten Cate in December 2002 in which advanced medical students' attitudes towards the basic sciences were investigated. Students were enrolled in either a conventional or an innovative curriculum.
Aims And Methods:
The aim of the present study was to assess longitudinal development of students' attitudes by recording beginning and advanced clerks responses to nine disagree-agree statements concerning the basic sciences.
Results:
In general, most students in either curriculum acknowledge the importance of biomedical knowledge. Students in the conventional curriculum appear to assign a slightly more important role to the basic sciences than students in the innovative curriculum, and this difference is maintained over the clinical years. Surprisingly, advanced clerks in either curriculum are more likely than beginning clerks to support the view that many basic science facts should be learned before application in a clinical context.
Conclusions:
These findings suggest that students during their clerkships might experience regret having not paid more attention to factual basic science knowledge in their preclinical years. Finally, students in the innovative curriculum hold more favourable opinions about the way the basic sciences are taught in their curriculum.
Related Concept Videos
Cross-Sectional Research
Longitudinal Studies
Observational Studies
There are three types of observational studies – Prospective, retrospective, and cross-sectional.
Prospective Study
Prospective studies, also known as longitudinal or cohort studies, are carried out by collecting future data from groups sharing similar characteristics. One example of...
Types of Biopharmaceutical Studies: Controlled and Non-Controlled Approaches
Non-controlled studies, commonly employed for initial exploration, lack a control group, rendering them susceptible to biases and external influences. In contrast, controlled...
Longitudinal Research
Obedience