Development Strategies in Medical Education

Introduction
Besides training human resources, research is one of the essential pillars of any country’s cultural, social, and economic progress. Research is an active and organized process to discover and examine phenomena, events, and hypotheses. By using existing phenomena to achieve scientific and technological solutions, research triggers societies’ development and progress and brings them self-sufficiency and independence [1]. Education and research have been preserved as the most important missions of universities regarding the practical education of students and the production of knowledge [2]. In this regard, students have remained one of the main pillars. They are the executive arm and driving engine of university research, while professors play a pivotal role in encouraging students to conduct research [3]. Students of different fields and levels of education may conduct research under the guidance of one or more supervisors during their student life. Some of these research projects are theses of postgraduate students, while others may be based on research projects, especially among undergraduate students [4]. These research projects expand students’ research capabilities, answer society’s questions and problems, and even deepen and expand the boundaries of knowledge [5]. Conducting student research provides a strong motivation for students to enter the field of research and makes them achieve more success in individual and group research [3]. 
The effective strategies for improving the quality of research in universities include training human resources, creating research culture and scientific infrastructures, providing research tools, and paying particular attention to raising the amount of research investment by increasing the share of the gross national product to conduct research [4]. Undoubtedly, any society’s industrial, economic, and social development and progress depends on continuous research in all fields, and increasing research opportunities at the undergraduate level has been one of the goals of improving education at this level in universities and higher education institutions. In today’s world, only societies can adapt to the changes in science that have institutionalized the culture of “research-oriented” and put scientific and applied research as the main focus of their students’ education. 
The current research used a phenomenological method to study the undergraduate students’ research experiences of expectations, performances, and achievements. Although undergraduate students’ research in universities is important, their participation in research activities is restricted. University officials must know students’ problems and emphasize promoting student research management. Finally, few studies have employed the phenomenological method to investigate the experiences of undergraduate students from conducting various types of research. Thus, the present study uses the phenomenological method to investigate the experiences of undergraduate students and raises this fundamental question: “What have been your experiences conducting research at the undergraduate level?”

Methods
This research employed a qualitative and phenomenological design that used the seven-step model of Claizi (1978). This model includes seven steps: 1) carefully reading all the descriptions and important findings of the participants, 2) extracting important phrases and sentences related to the phenomenon, 3) giving meaning to the extracted important sentences, 4) sorting out participants’ descriptions and shared concepts into specific categories, 5) converting all inferred opinions into comprehensive and complete descriptions, 6) converting the complete descriptions of the phenomenon into a real summary description, and 7) validation of these items [16]. The data collection method was a semi-structured interview. Based on this, with the purposeful sampling approach and standard method, 34 undergraduate students were interviewed until theoretical saturation was reached.

Results
This research analyzed the interviews following the Claizi model and using thematic analysis. After extracting and categorizing the topics, 22 basic subthemes and three main themes (expectations, performance, and achievement) were extracted.

Conclusion
Based on the results, the positive experiences of conducting the research will strengthen the student’s motivation to continue the work. They will lead to an increase in the commitment to carry out accurate and continuous research. Scientific communication in seminars, scientific gatherings, conferences, and national and international congresses is essential for the progress of students’ research activities. Positive experiences in doing research work will encourage the students to continue working and carrying out accurate and continuous research. For the progress of students’ research activities, scientific communication in the form of seminars, scientific gatherings, conferences, and national and international congresses, as well as providing suitable fields for research activities, is essential. If we want to have a high position in the world in the future, one of the most critical and practical ways is to invest in undergraduate students.

Ethical Considerations
Compliance with ethical guidelines
This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Shiraz University (Code: D.M.23/890/672).

Funding
This article was extracted from a research proposal approved by the Faculty of Educational Sciences and Psychology, Shiraz University. This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Authors' contributions
Data curation and supervision: Mehdi Mohamadi;  Writing: Majid Kowsari and Solmaz Khademi; Methodology: Reza Naseri Jahromi; Data interpretation: Sedigheh Shadi; Editing: Faezeh Roosta.

Conflicts of interest
The authors declared no conflict of interest. 

Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank all participants for cooperating in this study.
 

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