Assessment of Cognition, Attitude, and Ability in the Application of Statistics and Epidemiology in the Postgraduate Dental Students at Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Iran

Using scientific texts and new contents requires proper skills and experience in reading, evaluation, data analysis, and interpretation of valid findings. The present study aimed to assess the cognition of the postgraduate dental students, at Mashhad University of Medical Sciences (Iran) in the evaluation, data analysis, and interpretation of the findings of evidence-based studies.
This cross-sectional study was conducted on the postgraduate dental assistants at Mashhad University of Medical Sciences. Research instrument was a questionnaire consisting of four main sections, including the personal data of the participants, attitude toward statistics, ability to apply the results of studies, and cognition. Data analysis was performed in SPSS using independent t-test at the significance level of 0.05.
Out of 96 dental assistants, 62 cases were enrolled in the research. Among the participants, 42 cases (66.7%) were female, and 14 assistants (22.6%) had prior experience of participating in research, statistics, and epidemiology workshops. Mean score of attitude was 20.4±2.9 (out of 30), and the mean score of ability was 8.40±3.1 (out of 20). The frequency of correct answers to the items in the cognition section of the questionnaire was 36.4%, and no correlations were observed between the student's cognition, gender, and participation in statistics and research methodology workshops.
According to the results, cognition and ability of the students in identifying statistical methods and interpreting statistical analysis were poor. Therefore, it is recommended that the educational curriculum and teaching methods be revised in order to enhance the knowledge and ability of the students in this regard.