Development of the Scientific Research Competency Scale for nurses

Background The planning, implementation, finalisation and reporting of high-quality research depends on the knowledge, skills and competencies of the many individuals who make carrying out the research possible. Aims This study aims to develop a valid and reliable scale in order to identify the scientific research competencies of nursing professionals at undergraduate and graduate level. Methods This methodological study was carried out on 937 nursing personnel, 422 (45%) of whom were academic members and 515 (55%) were undergraduate students. The Anxiety Scale Towards Research and the Attitude Scale Towards Scientific Research were used for the criterion validity. Results The Scientific Research Competency Scale comprises 57 items in four sub-dimensions named as ‘technical skills’, ‘attitude and behaviours’, ‘estimation capacity’ and ‘foreign language skill’. The Cronbach alpha, Guttmann split-half and Spearman Brown reliability coefficients for the scientific research competency scale were, respectively, 0.98, 0.96 and 0.96. The sensitivity and specificity value, by which the research competency of individuals could be determined with minimum error, was indicated to be at 190 breakpoints of the scientific research competency scale. Conclusions As a result, the scientific research competency scale developed is a valid and reliable tool that can be used to determine the scientific research competencies of nursing professionals.

Emotional, Attitude and Classroom Action Research Competency Conduction of Undergraduate Students Through STEM Education

The purposes of this research were: 1) to develop lesson plans for STEM education for undergraduate students with the efficiency of the processing performances and the performance results (E1/E2) at the determining criteria as 75/75, 2) to compare emotional, attitude towards research, and classroom action research competency of undergraduate students before and after implementing STEM education. The sample was one class of the teaching profession program in Chemistry. The experimental group was selected by simple random sampling. The research instrument was lesson plans for STEM education management and practical skill development, a test of research knowledge, a research skill assessment form, an observation form, and a questionnaire. The statistics used were the percentage, mean, standard deviation, and Multivariate Paired Hotelling’s T-Square. The research results showed that 1) the efficiency of the STEM lesson plans for undergraduate students’ processing performances was 87.12 percent, and the performance results were 74.17 percent (87.12/74.17), meeting the set criteria of 75/75, 2) students had emotional, attitude towards research and classroom action research competency conduction after implementing the lesson plans of STEM education was significantly higher than before at the .05 level of statistics.

FarGen – participants in the genetic research infrastructure of the Faroe Islands

Background: The demographic history of the Faroe Islands makes this isolated population – founded in the 9th century – interesting for genetic research. The goal of the FarGen project was to recruit individuals to the FarGen infrastructure to promote research into the genetic features of the Faroese people, and to develop a reference panel of population-specific variants. We aimed to recruit 1500 individuals. Participation was voluntary; participants had to donate a blood sample for whole-genome sequencing, and had to answer a questionnaire regarding sociodemographics, health, motivation and attitude towards participation in genetic research. Methods: A total of 1541 participants voluntarily joined the project, donated a blood sample and returned the questionnaire. Results: Answers from the questionnaire show that participants are, in general, European, have children, have a relatively high level of education, rate their health to be good, are willing to participate in future health-related research, and were motivated to sign up primarily to participate in research to help others and local research competency building. Conclusions: Overall, the initial cohort of the FarGen infrastructure comprises 3% of the Faroese population, and represents the general population well based on the collected sociodemographic data. However, there is an excess of women, and some geographic sub-regions and age groups are slightly underrepresented. We find the recruitment method with voluntary sign-up appropriate, and knowledge acquired through the first phase will aid the next phase of the project, with the aim of expanding the FarGen cohort with additional individuals, bio-specimens and body measurements in order to perform multifactorial analyses.

Challenges for India in agriculture and the pivotal role of R&D in meeting these

Agriculture globally must meet the challenge of feeding a growing population while minimizing its environmental impacts. For India, there is an additional challenge of making farming profitable for small landholders. I assess the possibility of achieving low-input, high-output agriculture for India; low-input both in terms of natural resources and monetary inputs. Input, output analysis shows that bringing about low-input, high-output agriculture would require curbing the over-exploitation of groundwater resources, soil analysis-based use of fertilizers, conservation agriculture, crop diversification, and doubling of the crop and livestock productivity. Crops need to be protected from pests and pathogens, and abiotic stresses; this will require significantly increased investments in public-funded R&D. Research competency will have to be improved for an effective blending of conventional breeding with the New Plant Breeding Technologies – Marker Assisted Breeding, Genetic Engineering, and Gene Editing. Open-source R&D, collaborations within India and beyond the country with CG institutes and advanced laboratories will improve competency, allow bundling of desirable traits in locally adapted varieties/hybrids, keep the cost of seed low for the small landholders in South Asia and Africa, and overall help in achieving the United Nations SDG 2 of ‘Zero Hunger’.

Contextual Framework for Developing Research Competence: Piloting a Validated Classroom Model

The goal of most researchers is to establish competence in one’s profession; however, the degree to which this is measured in a research course is undetermined. The assessment of research competency usually involves the distinct measures of statistical ability, writing ability, and other skills that are quantifiable. Soft skills in research, on the other hand, are less distinguishable. It was the intent of this study to review eight years of data collection in undergraduate and graduate research classes to determine if a set of specific assignments was successful in developing the soft skills of research competence. Through a qualitative assessment, evaluation of visual materials, and assessment of a research instructional video, it was found that, to some extent, isolated and specific whole-part-whole, in-class and in-field assignments for the individual student or students within small groups, might allow students to develop the hard and soft skills necessary to become competent as researchers or their chosen profession.