Quality of the academic research of a postgraduate degree in surgery from a public university in Ecuador

Introduction: The lack of solidity of educational research (ER) in a high percentage and the loss of integrity in the methodology have been reported. The objective of the present study was to determine the quality of the ERs of postgraduate surgery at a public university in Ecuador. We hypothesize that the acceptable theses are equal to 70%. Methods: The present study reviewed the thesis of surgery at the University of Cuenca from January 2010 to November 2019. The probabilistic sample selection was 48 cases. A 51-question EI quality test was used. The values of each variable were homologated as a percentage. A single sample T-test was performed, and bivariate correlations were determined using the Spearman coefficient. Significant values were R> 0.5 and P <0.01. The hypothesis test was performed with Chi square. Results: Of 48 randomized theses, the lowest average was in the “Hypothesis” sections (41.6% [35.3-47.8]), and the highest was in the “Results” sections (93.5% [91.4-95.7]). The relevance was 97.9% (93.7-102.1). 35 theses (72.9%) were rated as “Acceptable”. The Hypothesis and References sections were rated as “Not acceptable” in 70.8% and 79.2%, respectively. The “results” section obtained the rating of “Excellent” in 93.8%. The hypothesis was accepted, and the group had an acceptable quality equal to 70%”, Chi2 = 0.2208, P = 0.64. Conclusion: The quality of educational research is equal to the 70% raised in the hypothesis, which highlights a minimum sufficiency rating for the educational research studied in this work.