Table 1 Baseline characteristics of medical students who completed the online survey in Sudanese universities (n = 761)

Age (Years)

21.97 ± 1.64

22.21 ± 1.72

21.89 ± 1.60

0.117

Gender

0.003

 Female

434 (57.0 %)

95 (47.7 %)

339 (60.3 %)

 Male

327 (43.0 %)

104 (52.3 %)

223 (39.7 %)

Marital status

0.019

 Married

22 (2.9 %)

11 (5.5 %)

11 (2.0 %)

 Single

739 (97.1 %)

188 (94.5 %)

551 (98.0 %)

Year in university

0.004

 Second

177 (23.3 %)

33 (16.6 %)

144 (25.6 %)

 Third

241 (31.7 %)

81 (40.7 %)

160 (28.5 %)

 Fourth

166 (21.8 %)

34 (17.1 %)

132 (23.5 %)

 Fifth

127 (16.7 %)

36 (18.1 %)

91 (16.2 %)

 Sixth

50 (6.6 %)

15 (7.5 %)

35 (6.2 %)

Received or attended any physical or online course in biostatistics (yes)

300 (39.4 %)

124 (62.3 %)

176 (31.3 %)

< 0.001

Received or attended any physical or online course in Research methodology (Yes)

382 (50.2 %)

143 (71.9 %)

239 (42.5 %)

< 0.001

Family member (parent, sibling, spouse,.etc)working in health care (Yes)

427 (56.1 %)

122 (61.3 %)

305 (54.3 %)

0.1

Frequency of reading scientific literature:

< 0.001

 Never

193 (25.4 %)

34 (17.1 %)

159 (28.3 %)

 Daily

49 (6.4 %)

20 (10.1 %)

29 (5.2 %)

 Weekly

130 (17.1 %)

48 (24.1 %)

82 (14.6 %)

 Monthly or less frequent

389 (51.1 %)

97 (48.7 %)

292 (52.0 %)

Free internet access at your university or home (Yes)

315 (41.4 %)

84 (42.2 %)

231 (41.1 %)

0.9

Internet access (Yes)

720 (94.6 %)

190 (95.5 %)

530 (94.3 %)

0.7

Which of the following do you have:

 Private computer or laptop

454 (59.7 %)

121 (60.8 %)

333 (59.3 %)

0.8

 Tablet

145 (19.1 %)

36 (18.1 %)

109 (19.4 %)

0.8

 Smart phone

694 (91.2 %)

177 (88.9 %)

517 (92.0 %)

0.2