Background: Many residents often encounter several problems to accomplish their research projects, a requirement to complete medical residency training in Thailand. This study aimed to explore perceived obstacles and attitude of Thai residents toward conducting research.
Material and Method: The questionnaires were distributed among 640 residents at King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital
from November to December 2014. Structured-questionnaires explored the participants’ characteristics, research experience,
purpose of conducting research, motivations and perceived barriers to research. Five-pointed Likert scale was used to
determine residents’ attitude toward research. Descriptive statistical analysis was used.
Results: 246 respondents were achieved from 640 residents surveyed, yielding a response rate of 39.7%. The mean age was
28.21+1.60 years and 66.7% was female. Most of them were studying in internal medicine, pediatrics and anesthesiology.
Residency year ranged from 1st-4th year and the ratio was 21.5: 20.8: 18: 1. The purposes to conduct the research were to meet the program requirement (72.4%), to develop research skills (23.6%), and to accrue credentials for future fellowship
application (2.4%). While 52.4% pursued research in order to bolster research experience, 12.6% would like to publish and
4.5% would like to present in the international conference, as high as 39.8% had not motivation. Perceived barriers were
limited statistical knowledge, inadequate time and, difficulty formulating research topic. In addition, 50.6% were assigned
research topics from advisors. Most of the residents agreed that conducting research enhanced inquiry-based learning and
enabled them to better understand research methodology. Nevertheless, they thought that researching was complicated, timeconsuming, and tedious.
Conclusion: Most residents were motivated to conduct research projects but perceived obstacles and negative attitude might
erode their motivation for research

Keywords: Residents, Research, Obstacles, Barriers, Attitude