everyday intentionally or unintentionally we plan the treatment options for our patients care . to draw these clinical decisions , we almost rely on the wealth of our own experience in clinical practice , discussion with health professionals or academicians , literature from the text books , journals and recent or current review articles . as academicians it is very important to assist our best credibilities to teach the students and also to make substantial clinical decisions to carry out the research projects . oral health professionals need to focus on the quality of the research journals and keep updated about the current critical reviews . thus by this way of learning , any health professional can be able to good from poor research provided he himself is updated about the literature and methods . these are the types of studies , where the data is collected from the subjects either in the form of a questionnaire , personal interviews , telephonic interviews or via online services like web or e - mail networks . the results of the survey done with the help of the questionnaires are always subjective and generally depends on the response gained from the respondents . the most valuable assert for conducting a medical research are the health professionals . gaining the research experience from the health professionals is much different than the experience gained by the general population . globally , several studies assessed the value of qualitative data collection for research in dentistry . in addition , this health professional survey aimed to analyze the response of al - farabi colleges academic staff 's interest and experience in research , their knowledge of different study designs and its application to find out the objectives behind any research study . the questionnaire was simplified and constructed based on the classification suggested by the international epidemiological design criteria . bachelor / master / doctorate ( phd ) minimum 2 years of experience in university . fresh graduateshealth professionals working in hospitals and public health sectorshealth professionals working part time in academics . health professionals working in hospitals and public health sectors health professionals working part time in academics . the questionnaire tool [ table 1 ] was developed using a published questionnaire from a previous study . the authors ( sar , ok ) revisited the questions to adopt the study objectives . academicians working at al - farabi colleges were randomly selected to participate in the pilot study . several changes were carried out to some questions to improve its clarity and to reflect the discrepancies in the nature of bds , msc and phd holders . the al - farabi colleges institutional research review committee requested few modifications to the questionnaire and provided ethical approval for the study . research tool ( questionnaire ) the validated questionnaire was comprised of two pages . it was divided into three parts each of which consisted of five questions in addition to demographic section [ table 1 ] . the three variables are ( 1 ) research experience , ( 2 ) study design , ( 3 ) objectives and common designs . each question three hundred questionnaires were sent to the teaching faculty members recruited at al - farabi colleges male / female campuses as bds , msc and ph.d . via personal contact and by electronic mail service . the e - mail consists of a 15-item questionnaire with an informed consent and brief outline towards the research protocol . the respondents were asked to fill the questionnaire with their consent and provide their inputs by ticking the options yes or no for the first two variables , tick the option for the last variable . two reminders were sent by e - mail to all the nonresponders 4 week subsequently after the initial mailing , if not responded then they were termed as nonrespondents for our study . the statistical analysis was performed using spss package version 20 , ibm . the cross tabulation to examine the association of the gender and qualification was done using the chi - square tests . the knowledge scores of the respondents by qualification and gender were obtained using anova and t - tests . bachelor / master / doctorate ( phd)minimum 2 years of experience in university . bachelor / master / doctorate ( phd ) minimum 2 years of experience in university . fresh graduateshealth professionals working in hospitals and public health sectorshealth professionals working part time in academics . 
  health professionals working in hospitals and public health sectors health professionals working part time in academics . the questionnaire tool [ table 1 ] was developed using a published questionnaire from a previous study . the authors ( sar , ok ) revisited the questions to adopt the study objectives . academicians working at al - farabi colleges were randomly selected to participate in the pilot study . several changes were carried out to some questions to improve its clarity and to reflect the discrepancies in the nature of bds , msc and phd holders . the al - farabi colleges institutional research review committee requested few modifications to the questionnaire and provided ethical approval for the study . research tool ( questionnaire ) the validated questionnaire was comprised of two pages . it was divided into three parts each of which consisted of five questions in addition to demographic section [ table 1 ] . the three variables are ( 1 ) research experience , ( 2 ) study design , ( 3 ) objectives and common designs . each question three hundred questionnaires were sent to the teaching faculty members recruited at al - farabi colleges male / female campuses as bds , msc and ph.d . via personal contact and by electronic mail service . the e - mail consists of a 15-item questionnaire with an informed consent and brief outline towards the research protocol . the respondents were asked to fill the questionnaire with their consent and provide their inputs by ticking the options yes or no for the first two variables , tick the option for the last variable . two reminders were sent by e - mail to all the nonresponders 4 week subsequently after the initial mailing , if not responded then they were termed as nonrespondents for our study . the statistical analysis was performed using spss package version 20 , ibm . the cross tabulation to examine the association of the gender and qualification was done using the chi - square tests . the knowledge scores of the respondents by qualification and gender were obtained using anova and t - tests . a total of 95 completed questionnaires were included in the analysis amounting the final response rate to 31.66% . furthermore , the respondents were 16 people from the bds group , 61 from the msc group and 18 from the ph.d . group . about the first variable - research experience , descriptive frequencies showed a similar response when all the three groups were compared . the bds group gave a positive response ( yes ) value of 93.50% , msc had a value of 91.80% and phds were at 88.90 . according to the data analysis in table 2a , the qualification showed that the positive response ranged from 76 to 100% . was much higher for the bds group ( 100% ) as compared to the msc ( 90.2% ) and ph.d . the entire msc and ph.d . groups ( 100% ) claimed to have conducted clinical and experimental studies ( q4 ) compared to their bds ( 68.8% ) counterparts . when both the genders were compared , females claimed to have a much higher experience ( 100% ) in conducting clinical studies as compared to males ( 90.9 ) and it showed a statistical significance of ( 0.071 ) . group thought that the research conducted these days could be manipulative , and this was statistically significant ( p < 0.005 ) . objectives and common designs second variable ( study design and research criteria ) : descriptive frequencies were found to be low for the bds ( 38.90% ) and msc ( 66.23% ) groups , but the ph.d . group showed a relatively higher frequency ( 72.22% ) . according to the data analysis in table 2b , the respondents showed a lack of knowledge , with the correct answers ranging from 57% to 67% . only two - third of the respondents were aware of the study design , there was no significant statistical difference between the academic degrees . a significantly higher percentage of ph.d . respondents ( 77.8% ) were aware that the case - control studies were associated with the presence or absence of a disease ( q4 ) as compared to the msc group ( 62.3% ) and the bds group ( 18.8% ) . when the data were analyzed according to the gender there was no statistical difference seen . third variable ( objectives and common designs ) : descriptive frequencies were lower for the bds group ( 23.75% ) , but the msc and ph.d . likewise [ table 2c ] , all the respondents showed poor knowledge of the objectives and the common designs , the difference being highly significant for all the questions when the data were analyzed according to the academic qualifications ( p < 0.005 ) . when the answers were analyzed according to the different genders , nearly a statistical significance ( 0.061 ) was seen with respect to the first question . table 3 shows a significant association of knowledge with gender and qualification ( bds , msc and phd ) . the total mean of knowledge ( 10.77  1.70 ) with significant association with gender and academic degree . knowledge scores of the respondents by qualification and gender the bds group showed the least knowledge scores when compared to the msc and ph.d . male respondents showed better knowledge scores ( 11.20 ) when compared to the females ( 10.20 ) with a significance value ( p < 0.005 ) . our study intended to gauge the opinion and response of the health professionals associated with academics to their research experience , design , and the objection and commonly used designs in the field of research . the data obtained from the respondents was less than satisfactory , as out of 300 questionnaires sent to the academicians via personal contacts and mail , only 95 questionnaires were complete and the participation was found to be only 31.66% in our study , we found that males responded earlier as compared to the females . according to our first variable table 2a , the response was found to be similar among all the health professionals irrespective of whether they belonged to the bds / msc or / ph.d . the second variable [ table 2b ] was the response rate , wherein the bds group gave a very poor response , and the msc group showed a better response when compared to the ph.d . groups . when the data for the third variable [ table 2c ] was collated , the bds group showed a poor response once again , but the response of the msc and the ph.d . we found that our study was similar to the studies done by adeyemi et al . and mcsherry et al . surveyed the opinion of resident doctors in nigeria on the use of qualitative research design and methods in dentistry . all 20 dental residents were familiar with qualitative research design , 50% residents categorized qualitative research design as social science , 25% residents said it was just a science and 25% residents were not sure of the qualitative research technique . adeyemi et al . admitted that the qualitative approach to research in dentistry may be useful to understand meanings which patients attach to actions , decisions , beliefs and values concerning their care . mcsherry et al . conducted a descriptive quantitative study about research awareness in evidence based practice . out of his convenience sample of 2126 registered health care practitioners ( rhcps ) , 843 rhcps responded to the questionnaires . seven hundred and thirty - three ( 91% ) rhcps agreed that evidence - based practice played a large role in improving patient care . this point was reinforced when 701 ( 86% ) of respondents strongly agreed that evidence - based practice was the way forward to change clinical practice . the author concluded that irrespective of position or grade , the rhcps had a positive attitude towards research but faced many obstacles . the key obstacles listed were a lack of time , support , knowledge and confidence . during our research , we received 35 partially filled questionnaires from health professionals thus showing a lack of interest to respond . the knowledge scores of the bds group when compared to the msc and the phd groups showed a high statistical significance . the knowledge scores for the msc group compared to the phd group showed no statistical significance [ table 3 ] . the msc graduates are well aware of the recent advances in research methodologies . in a few countries , a mini thesis is included in the msc 2 year program while in a few others a complete dissertation is included in the master of dental surgery ( mds ) 3-year program which is equivalent to a phd thesis . in this study , we expected the third variable to be more pronounced among the phd graduates , but it was similar to the msc graduates . the third variable showed statistical significance when the data were analyzed on the basis of qualification [ table 2c ] . this was evident for the qualification as the third variable had difference among the opinion for the questions . the same was evident in our study as we found a high statistical significance with bds group compared to the msc and the ph.d . groups . the health professionals must involve themselves into evidence - based learning and supported each other by their research experience and knowledge , then a coordinated approach would enable them to gain confidence in academics or clinical practice . in our study , we found men ( 18.3% ) responded earlier than women ( 13.3% ) . this was in agreement with the study done by mcfarlane et al . , where among 1592 of his respondents with physician demographic characteristics , 80% were male , and 20% were females . the knowledge scores [ table 3 ] for the males as compared to the females was slightly higher and was statistically significant . this might be due to the lesser no of female academicians in the university as compared to men . the probable cause may be due to the academicians associated with the universities having varied work schedules and being preoccupied with pending questionnaire studies to answer . a few professionals like the phds are hard to reach and are redirected to their receptionists or assistants . , where he addressed the receptionists as gatekeepers because most of the questionnaires would be retained by them and hence would remain unanswered . cummings et al . revealed in 2001 that the response rate among the health professionals would be 10% lower than the studies conducted with the general population . in our study , we too observed a lack of response from the health professionals . according to leece et al . , 2004 , he concluded , that in surveys conducted via internet or mail service , a greater nonresponse bias may be seen in comparison with other methods like personal contact via questionnaire , interviews or repeated telephonic surveys . according to mcmohan 2003 , he concluded that the response accuracy in his study was low , as he found a few incomplete answers compared to the answers in the same questionnaires sent by fax or postal services . this was in conjunction with our study , as we also obtained a less than satisfactory response , as we also chose the web services via the internet e - mail service to distribute our questionnaire . ( 2000 ) , suggested that the nonresponse bias can be overcome by advertising the authors with prepaid incentives , personalized letters and professional organization sponsorship could show an increased response rate as compared to sending repeated questionnaire via mail services . in this study , irrespective of the sample size , we were keen to collect the data from these learned individuals and to gauge their opinion . the questionnaire was very simple and contained very straight forward questions , thus reducing the bias with the questionnaire . thus , we could label our research as a feasibility study , as we conducted our study by using very simple and flexible methodology . on the other hand , a pilot study uses a more rigid methodology such as sample estimation , randomization , case and control group selection and statistical analysis . moreover , almost all pilot studies would report their results inaccurate and may demand to conduct further larger studies . the objective of our survey was to ascertain the opinion of health professionals and also their response and enthusiasm regarding this study . our study seemed to be a qualitative research , as it showed us the actual response rather than what was expected . thus , this kind of research is totally dependent on the participants to investigate any scientific or social cause . most authors can interpret multiple opinions with qualitative research , but most of their experiences regarding qualitative research are strong and encouraging . leedy and ormrod ( 2001 ) stated that qualitative research is less structured in the description , as it helps in the formation and builds up new theories via subjective responses from the participants . unlike qualitative research , quantitative research builds on deductive reasoning . although started in ancient times around 1250 ad , quantitative research was used for surveys and experimental studies with existing theories . quantitative research is always independent of the researcher , as it creates the results through objectivity uncovered in the collected data . we believe that this study is limited due to the low response rate , and it has been conducted at the single academic institute . we envisage this study could be utilized for a broader research study that would include several academic institutes in saudi arabia and gulf region to reflect the views of academic staff on this important notion . this survey was done to judge or elicit the response of health professionals associated with academics . the analyzed data presented a high statistical significance when the bds group was compared with the mds and ph.d . it is always believed that knowledge is the most powerful tool and knowledge from research must be applied to clinical practice , thus helping us to guide the students in a better way . the art of literature criticism is a skill that can be learned , and the practice of this art will contribute to the knowledge of the literature .
aim : the study aimed to survey the opinions and responses of health professionals in academics about their interest and experience in research , knowledge over study designs , and application of a common study design to find out the objectives behind any research study.materials and methods : a semi - structured questionnaire containing three variables with 15 questions were sent to 300 health professionals associated with academics in the category of bachelor / master / doctorate working at al - farabi colleges campuses located in riyadh , saudi arabia . 
 data were collected manually , descriptive frequencies were generated and the variables were statistically analyzed using chi - square test . 
 the knowledge scores between the qualification and gender were carried out using anova and t - test . 
 the final response rate was in conjuction to the statistician to exclude the uncompleted responses from the statistical analysis.results:the results showed a discrepancy in the participation ; of 95 health professionals , ( 40 ) were females and ( 55 ) were males . 
 bachelor ( 16 ) , masters ( 61 ) and doctorate holders ( 18 ) gave their opinion . 
 for the first variable ( research experience ) , all the surveyed categories showed the same response . 
 however , for the second variable ( study design and research criteria ) bachelor holders showed poor , but equal performance was reported to the master and doctorate holders . in the third variable ( objectives and common designs ) 
 , bachelor holders showed a poor response in contrast to the master and doctorate holders whose have mixed opinions . for knowledge scores , 
 no significance was present between the master and doctorate holders.conclusion:there is a lack of understanding of the research objectives and common designs frequently used in research studies particularly among the bachelor holders . additional postgraduate education on research methods is recommended to improve the knowledge and practices of research .