Master’s and Doctoral Occupational Therapy Students’ Perceptions of Research Integration in Their Programs

Abstract

This is a pilot study with the intent of identifying occupational therapy doctorate (OTD) and master's (MOT) students' perceptions of research in their coursework. A cross-sectional study was conducted through a survey of OTD and MOT students. The Student Perception of Research Integration Questionnaire (SPRIQ) was emailed to graduate occupational therapy programs in the United States. An unpaired single tailed t-test was used to compare the mean scores between the MOT and OTD student responses for each scale and subscale. Two hundred and twenty-six students filled out the questionnaire. Both the OTD and MOT students had a favorable perception of the integration of research into the curriculum with a mean score of 3.63 (MOT) and 3.85 (OTD) out of five. An independent t-test found there was a statistically significant difference between the mean scores for two of the subscales for research integration (current research subscale p = .000 and motivation subscale p = .02) and for the beliefs scale (p = .002). Students enrolled in both MOT and OTD programs have a favorable perception of research being integrated into their curriculums. The OTD students have a more favorable perception of the integration of research in their curriculums, with a 0.30 mean difference between all items on the scale.