Professional socialization to a research role: interest in research among graduate students in nursing

This study was conducted to determine whether graduate coursework in research methods and statistics resulted in socializing graduate students in nursing into a research role. Two cohorts, each of about 60 female graduate students in nursing, completed self-administration questionnaires at three different times during their 6 month coursework in research methods and statistics. Subjects indicated significantly more interest in research methods than in statistics (p less than .01), although they rated statistics as valuable to nursing. At the beginning of graduate work, subjects with more work experience in nursing were significantly more interested (p less than .05) in conducting research. Graduate coursework in research methods and statistics produced no significant change in students' interest in doing research in their future nursing careers.