O uso da internet por docentes da área de Saúde Pública no Brasil / Internet use by professors of the public health area in Brazil

AUTOR(ES)
DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

2004

RESUMO

Objective. The main objective of this study is to investigate the influence of the Internet on the academic-scientific activities of Brazilian professors of the public health area. Method. Transversal study centered on the user view about influences of the internet on the academic teaching and research. The study’s core was constituted by 237 professors from public health post-graduation programmes of higher education institutions in Brazil, in master’s and doctoral levels, registered in the CAPES System (Brazilian Ministry of Education’s foundation for the qualification of higher education professors) in the year 2001. Data were collected by means of a self-applicable questionnaire that professors answered and sent through the web (by electronic mail), Internet access via a UNIX server. Those who did not answer the electronic instrument received printed questionnaires. Results. The return rate of the questionnaires was 63.7%. The great majority of the population (94.9%) answered that they use the Internet, the electronic mail (96.9%) and the web (91.1%) were the most used resources. The strongest influence of the Internet on scientific communication in the public health area concerns communication among professors, with the aim of developing research, enabling greater collaboration with colleagues both from Brazilian and foreign institutions. Searches for bibliographic references and for full texts were considered academic activities that benefited a lot from Internet use. As for release of research results, printed formats still prevail, mainly articles published in national circulation journals. The professors who stated that they do not use the Internet argued that the reason for this is lack of motivation, expressed through subjective questions, such as resistance to use new technologies, lack of time to use the Internet and facility of obtaining what they need from their colleagues. Conclusions. Data show that the Internet influenced the academic’s work and has been affecting the cycle of scientific communication, mainly due to the high speed with which information can be recovered. Communication among researchers seems to be the stage that changed the most since the advent of the Internet in the Brazilian academic-scientific world.

ASSUNTO(S)

correio eletrônico internet researches world wide web eletronic networks information technology universidades universities comunidade acadêmica professors programas de pós-graduação redes eletrônicas electronic mail tecnologia da informação public health internet world wide web academic community docentes pesquisadores post-graduation programmes saúde pública

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