title: Nursing students' attitudes toward research and development within nursing: Does writing a bachelor thesis make a difference?
abstract: The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of writing a bachelor's thesis on nursing students' attitudes towards research and development in nursing. The study sample consisted of 91 nursing students who were required to complete a bachelor's thesis and 89 nursing students who were not required to complete a bachelor's thesis. Data were collected via self-report questionnaire that was distributed in May and June 2012. The questionnaire comprised 3 parts: (1) demographic items; (2) questions about "scientific activities," and (3) the nursing students' attitudes towards and awareness of research and development within nursing scale (version 2). The mean age of the students was 23 (1.3) years. The students who wrote a bachelor's thesis achieved a median score of 110.0, whereas the students in the other group had a median score of 105.0 on the scale. All the items were assigned a 3 or higher. A statistically significant difference was found between the 2 groups in their attitudes towards and awareness of research (U = 3265.5; P = .025). The results of this study suggest that writing a thesis in nursing education has a positive influence on nursing students' attitudes towards and awareness of research and development in nursing.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Nursing, Ege University Faculty of Nursing, Bornova-Izmir, Turkey.
authors.forename: Aynur
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Uysal Toraman
authors.affiliation: Sakarya Akyazı İşmont Halil Bildirici Mesleki ve Teknik Anadolu Lisesi, Akyazı, Sakarya, Turkey.
authors.forename: Güler
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hamaratçılar
authors.affiliation: Kazım Dirik Mah. 387 SOK. NO. 5/8, Aliağa/İzmir, Turkey.
authors.forename: Begüm
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Tülü
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Nursing, Ege University Faculty of Nursing, Bornova-Izmir, Turkey.
authors.forename: Özüm
authors.initials: Ö
authors.lastname: Erkin
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001364:Awareness; D004508:Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015402:Nursing Education Research; D013338:Students, Nursing / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014421:Turkey; D014956:Writing; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: attitude; bachelor thesis; nursing students; research