Systematic Review as a Strategy for Learning Scientific Research: An Experience with Law Students

Abstract

The objective of the research was to determine if there is a relationship between the knowledge and practice of systematic reviews and the learning of scientific research by the students of the professional law career of the Private University of the North, Peru (Universidad Privada del Norte, Peru). The population comprised 172 students of the eighth, ninth and tenth cycle of the law degree during 2019 – 2020. The convenience sampling method was used to select 65 students for the study. The participants were trained and developed for the course activity, the systematic review in each of the academic semesters 2019-2, 2020-1 and 2020-2. Using a quantitative approach and non-experimental research design, the cross-sectional values and correlation between variables were measured. a questionnaire was designed to measure the impact of knowledge and practice in systematic reviews that students and how it contributed to learning of scientific research. The questionnaire contained 17 questions related to the measurement of the systematic reviews variable and 6 questions to measure the learning variable of scientific research. The questionnaire was validated by the Cronbach alpha technique. Good practices were observed on the development of the IMRyD sections in the development of the writing of the investigations by the students. It was found that 98% of the students considered the development of investigative skills as perfect compared to only 2% who considered it deficient. The study concluded that there was a significant relationship between the preparation of systematic reviews and the learning of scientific research, and that development processes of systematic reviews significantly influence the scientific research process.