In the field of psychosocial medicine, there is a lack of structured training programs in clinical research methodology for young investigators. This study investigates changes in research knowledge and subjective research competence during a one-day crash course in clinical research. In addition, the participants evaluated the quality of the course. The crash course, held at the 2007 meeting of the German Council of Psychosomatic Medicine, consisted of 10 lessons regarding clinical study design, biostatistics, and publication of study results. Changes in research knowledge and subjective research competence were measured with multiple-choice and open-ended questions using a one-group pre-post-test-design. All 11 participants (73 % male, mean age 37.0 +/- 9.5 years) completed the evaluations at the beginning and at the end of the course. The crash course was associated with a significant increase in research knowledge (effect size = 1.3; p <0.001), but no significant change was found with respect to subjective research competence (effect size = 0.2; p = 0.52). Overall, the quality of the course was rated as excellent; 10 of the 11 participants (91 %) would participate again in a similar crash course. The substantial increase in research knowledge suggests that structured courses in clinical research methodology should regularly be offered to young investigators, e. g. within the scope of research meetings or other national structures.
