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bioRxiv · 10.1101/2024.01.31.578132

Preference for Scientist Occupation Among Medical and Science Students in South Korea

Bae, E. B.
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Abstract

Although becoming a scientist is generally a long and arduous process, fostering scientists is considered important for national development. To determine medical and science undergraduate students preference of scientist, a designed preference survey was administered to 191 medical and 106 science majors, online. The chi-square test, regression, and mediation models were used. The models present significant associations between group and training programs, and between masters program and scientist preference. Surprisingly, only 24% of the science students were interested in the PhD program compared to the 79.6% of the medical students. Less than 7% in both groups expressed interest in full-time scientist occupation. The study design and findings are newly reported. A negative public consensus of scientist occupation is identified, and master training program shows strong association with choice of scientist occupation. Due to the unstable scientists status, a long-term follow-up is recommended afterward program completion for more effectively fostering scientists.

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Bae, E. B.. 2024-02-01. Preference for Scientist Occupation Among Medical and Science Students in South Korea. https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.01.31.578132

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