Introduction:

Through undergraduate research activities students develop research competences useful for their future professional performance. Interest in these activities stems from the students’ motivation.

Objective:

Describe the interest in scientific research among students from a dental school.

Methods:

A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted. The study universe was 395 students, of whom a sample of 187 was randomly selected from the list of students enrolled at the institution. The items surveyed were interest in research, sex, academic year, previous school, participation in research projects, membership in a students' scientific society and experience in the publication of scientific papers. Scores were compared using the non-parametric Mann-Whitney U test and the Kruskal-Wallis test. A 0.05 significance level was accepted.

Results:

Of the total respondents, 68.4% reported interest in scientific research. Differences were not found between the scores obtained by men (48.11 ± 9.2) and women (48.07 ± 5.85) (p = 0.251). Students who belong to scientific societies had higher scores (55.41 ± 4.94) than those who do not (48.25 ± 7.22) (p = 0.001). Fifth-year students had higher scores (50.88 ± 5.36) in interest in scientific research (p = 0.450).

Conclusions:

Most students from the dental school showed great interest in scientific research. No differences were found between men and women or according to the type of previous school. Students who participated in research projects and were members of a scientific society expressed the greatest interest in research.

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