What are the factors affecting the participation of postgraduate students in research processes? From motivational variables to demographic variables

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the factors affecting the motivation of graduate students of information science in scientific and research activities and science production. This research is applied in terms of purpose and descriptive in terms of type and method.Design/methodology/approachThe study's statistical population includes all postgraduate information science students studying in public universities. The random sampling method was simple. The data collection tool was a questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and one-sample t-test, independent t-test, and ANOVA were used to analyze the collected data by SPSS software.FindingsFindings showed that all the main variables (internal motivations, external motivations, self-empowerment, and intellectual and specialized interactions) affect the participation of postgraduate students in research and scientific activities. Among the identified components, the creation of opportunities, research facilities, innovation, and formal relations between students and professors, has the most significant impact on students' motivation to participate in scientific and research activities and science production. There was no significant difference between education and age. From the results obtained from the present study, it can be said that the above variables, which were divided into four categories, with the intensity of the participation of graduate students of universities that in the present study examined the field of librarianship and information, with power and Or weakness are influential. This means that the students at the beginning of the research path, in other words, will be future researchers, should be constantly monitored as a source in the production of science.Originality/valueThis research is one of the few types of research that examines the influential variables in increasing the motivation to participate in the study, considering the population of postgraduate students of universities and scientific institutions as drivers of science production.