We assessed the attitudes of residents and program directors (PD) toward research training in Canadian anesthesiology residency programs. Questionnaires were sent to all 476 anesthesiology residents in Canada and a modified questionnaire was sent to the PD of each of the 16 anesthesiology programs between November 2003 and April 2004. There was a 60% response rate to the resident questionnaire and 95% from the PDs. Eighty-one percent of programs have mandatory research activity, although only 41% of residents think research should be mandatory. A majority of residents were recently involved in a research project. There was a discrepancy between PDs' and residents' views about the availability of some resources to facilitate research. Residents regard the time needed to learn clinical anesthesia, schedule conflicts, inadequate faculty support, and a lack of protected research time as the top barriers to undertaking a research project. PDs do not consider schedule conflicts or a lack of time as important barriers for resident research. Seventy-five percent of residents would prefer to do another academic activity, such as learning transesophageal echocardiography or taking postgraduate programs in education, rather than completing a research project during their residency.