The influence of external and internal factors on students’ involvement in the scientific research process

Abstract

The formation of research skills among students is one of the main tasks of modern higher education. A future teacher must possess research skills, demonstrate critical and analytical thinking, facilitate the development of students' research competence, and be able to identify a problem in the learning process and solve it using scientific methods. To develop these skills, it is necessary to organize training that requires the use of a research approach, taking into account factors that will maximize the students’ involvement in an active scientific research process. In this article, the authors attempt to identify the most significant factors contributing to the development of students' research competence, such as mentorship, the presence of prior research experience, awareness of the importance of scientific activity, understanding its practical relevance for future professional work, as well as personal research interest. The survey results showed that, despite the existing interest in scientific research work, students often do not participate in it due to various subjective and objective circumstances. This gives reason to believe that when organizing scientific work at the university, namely in the process of forming students’ research competence, it is necessary to take into account the above-mentioned characteristics. To study this problem, a review of domestic and foreign psychological and pedagogical literature on the research topic was done, as well as empirical (survey) and statistical methods of analysis (Pearson’s χ2 test, Cramer’s V) were used. Based on the results obtained, the authors developed recommendations for engaging students in research activities through specially organized events, a system of financial incentives for students, and the implementation of practice-oriented learning.