Research Self-Efficacy of Cambodian Undergraduate Students at Province-Based Universities

Self-efficacy is crucial for producing challenging research results, which in turn may lead to innovations and development that can accelerate a country's economy. Undergraduate research self-efficacy in Cambodia has been of particular interest because graduates form the future pipeline of research professionals, which is important for Cambodia since its economy is still at a developing stage. While several studies have been conducted on undergraduate research self-efficacy in Cambodia, most of the participants were from capital city-based universities. The research self-efficacy of province-based university students, whose numbers have increased in recent years, remains to be investigated. In this study, we address this gap by adapting the Research Self-Efficacy Survey by Phillips and Russell (1994) and administered it to 1,009 undergraduate students from different faculties at three public province-based universities in Cambodia in order to assess their research self-efficacy. Using independent t‑tests and ANOVA, the mean research self‑efficacy score was 2.13 (± .66) on a 5 point-scale and varies significantly with small effect size based upon gender, academic year, and working experience.  There is a need to focus on interventions aimed at improving the research self-efficacy of the undergraduate students, which in turn will increase their ability to do research. These include measures such as curriculum reform, improving the quality of teaching, teacher training, creating new educational materials, and upgrading research facilities. These will allow more research activities that can give the students opportunities to do research and eventually increase their research self-efficacy which is likely to benefit Cambodian society in the provinces. Although the issues presented here may appear to be isolated to Cambodia, other developing nations should also consider these issues as they develop higher educational institutions in their provinces away from their capital city.