Table 3.

Junior researchers’ perception of barriers in research knowledge

(n = 46)	Importance score mean ± SD	Performance score mean ± SD	Gap* (difference) mean ± SD	Training need %
Research design & implementation	6.2 ± 0.9	4.5 ± 1.4	1.7 ± 1.4	66
Study Design: Qualitative	5.9 ± 1.4	3.4 ± 1.8	2.6 ± 2.0	80
Qualitative Research tools	5.8 ± 1.3	3.7 ± 1.7	2.1 ± 1.8	77
Writing research proposals	6.4 ± 1.0	4.5 ± 1.6	1.9 ± 1.5	66
Data management	6.5 ± 0.8	4.8 ± 1.7	1.8 ± 1.8	61
Study Design: Quantitative	6.2 ± 1.2	4.5 ± 1.6	1.7 ± 1.6	70
Routine/secondary data use	6.2 ± 1.2	4.5 ± 1.7	1.7 ± 1.8	68
Ethical guidelines & oversight	6.3 ± 1.2	4.9 ± 1.5	1.4 ± 1.9	64
Questionnaire development	6.1 ± 1.3	4.7 ± 1.7	1.3 ± 1.6	54
Conducting literature reviews	6.5 ± 0.8	5.2 ± 1.4	1.3 ± 1.6	61
Analysis & writing	6.3 ± 0.9	3.8 ± 1.4	2.5 ± 1.6	80
Writing qualitative reports	6.1 ± 1.2	3.1 ± 1.8	2.9 ± 2.0	82
Qualitative data analysis	6.1 ± 1.2	3.2 ± 1.8	2.9 ± 1.9	84
Writing policy papers	5.9 ± 1.4	3.3 ± 1.7	2.7 ± 2.0	89
Writing academic journal articles	6.5 ± 0.9	3.9 ± 1.9	2.6 ± 2.0	79
Writing quantitative reports	6.3 ± 1.0	4.1 ± 1.9	2.2 ± 1.9	75
Statistical analysis	6.5 ± 0.8	4.4 ± 1.7	2.1 ± 1.6	77
Conference presentation skills	6.4 ± 0.8	4.4 ± 1.7	1.9 ± 1.8	73

* The gap refers to the difference between the importance assigned to each skill and perceived self-performance scores.