Dental students research inventory: a questionnaire to assess research challenges and opportunities

The aim of this study was to develop and test a questionnaire to measure the research challenges and opportunities faced by dental students. The initial part of the study dealt with designing, developing, and pilot testing of the questionnaire (Dental Students Research Inventory, DSRI), and the later part consisted of field testing. The validity, internal consistency, and test-retest reliability of the DSRI were performed to provide a standardized measure and an interpretation scale. The results showed good reliability and repeatability of the questionnaire, with a greater reliability observed in postgraduate students as compared to undergraduates. In the survey of regional dental colleges in India, 25 percent of the postgraduate and 35 percent of the undergraduate students reported that there was an overall lack of opportunities in conducting research. The DSRI questionnaire can be a good measure for understanding the challenges and opportunities faced by dental students while conducting and reporting research.