OBSTACLES TO RESEARCH ACTIVITIES: A SURVEY OF FACULTY MEMBER’S VIEW AT URMIA UNIVERSITY OF MEDICAL SCIENCES IN 2010

This study uncovers the obstacles to research activities by studying the views of
faculty members at Urmia University of Medical Sciences in 2010.
Materials & Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study is based on a researcher-designed selfcompleted anonymous questionnaire. 117 randomly selected faculty members reported their views on
research activities and obstacles including: individual, organizational, intra-organizational, and natural
aspects. We used Likert Scale and SPSS descriptive tests to analyze collected data.
Result:There were 39 (3/33%) female and 78 (7/66%) were male subjects. 63 subjects from the school
of medicine, 28 from nursing and midwifery, and 26 from paramedics and healthcare services. In the
past three years 82.9% of the university’s faculty members have participated in at least one research
project and published or are about to publish their study in a domestic or an international journal.
92.3% of them have joined one or more domestic or international Congress. According to them, the
main obstacles to research at the University include: Low budgets of research projects, lack of the
balance between teaching and researching hours, infectivity of results in decision making, planning
and management at national level, lack of professionalism, lack of the research result application, lack
of the research prioritization based on needs assessment, long process of research proposal approval.
Conclusion: Research activities, from the standpoint of faculty members, seem to be influenced by
various obstacles. Reviewing Laws and regulation, designing solution providing systems, applying
coherent plans for empowerment and motivating researchers to favor research activities can be
effective in addressing these obstacles