Impact of Undergraduate Research “Special Study Module (SSM)” on Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Students and Alumni

Introduction: Mastering the art of conducting a research along with the competitive era of publishing papers showed the importance of undergraduate research. The purpose of this research was to study the impact of undergraduate research “Special Study Module (SSM)” on Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) medical students and alumni. Methodology: This was a cross-sectional study whereby 64 fifth year UKM medical students of academic-session 2014/2015 and 49 alumni of year 2010 were participated on their SSM research activities. The questionnaire administered online which enquired on participants’ level of interest, confidence and SSM research experiences. Frequency and percentage distribution were used for descriptive analysis. Result: Out of 119 participants, 113 responded giving a response rate of 95%. More than 90% respondents in both group felt that SSM experience was enriching and 80%–90% felt SSM experience was pleasant. In both groups 47%–50% respondents believed, SSM experience contributed their high level of interest on research. The most influencing factors on their level of interest were supervisor guidance as reported by 73%–80% respondents. It was said that SSM supervisor was academically stimulating, impressive as role model and supportive. The most confidence skill was the ability to function within a group and least confidence skill was manuscript writing. Conclusion: Undergraduate SSM research showed positive impact on participants’ research activities. More in-depth analysis should be considered especially on manuscript writing as the students were least confident in this skill.