Advice from the professors in a university Social Sciences department on the teaching-research nexus

Abstract

This article reports on a small-scale interview study of all the professors in one social sciences department in a university in England. The study asks for advice on how academic teaching staff can best develop their research activity whilst effectively fulfilling their teaching position. The findings identify five strands of advice for developing research: teach as part of your research activity; use your research when planning lectures; be a flexible researcher and adapt your research interests to available opportunities; proactively promote yourself and your research; and engage in research as a collective activity. Such advice comments on the possible relationships between teaching and research. The data are also considered in terms of a Bourdieu analytic framework, where the importance of building research capital and creating a research habitus is emphasised in order to succeed in what is an increasingly competitive research environment.

Building Research Capacity in New Universities During Times of Academic Drift: Lecturers Professional Profiles

“…Following the notion of a professional profile, several studies considered the activities of lecturers, which are sometimes described as the tasks (Douglas, 2012;Koster et al, 2005;Visser-Wijnveen et al, 2010), and in other settings as the roles of lecturers (Briggs, 2005;Tigelaar et al, 2004). The difference between tasks and roles seems to be that roles are more holistic and can include several tasks.…”

Research, teaching and performance evaluation in academia: the salience of quality

“…Bogt and Scapens (2012) report a lack of literature concerning performance measurement systems in universities. However, there is ample evidence that research is valued more highly than teaching (Gomez-Mejia and Balkin 1992;Katz 1973;Konrad and Pfeffer 1990;Newman 2008) and that many universities are placing increasing weight on research performance indicators for promotion, tenure, compensation and performance evaluation purposes (Arnold 2008;Bogt and Scapens 2012;Douglas 2013;Gendron 2008;Hopwood 2008;Long et al 2009;Parker 2012;Sangster 2011).…”

“…Performance evaluation in academia has traditionally been somewhat biased towards research indicators and it seems that this orientation is becoming even more profound (Bogt and Scapens 2012;Gendron 2008;Parker 2008). A growing number of reports document that universities striving for government funding, research grants and high rankings have adopted strategies including recruitment and reward systems that favour academics with top publications or the potential to secure such publications (Bogt and Scapens 2012;Douglas 2013;Gendron 2008;Hopwood 2008;Long et al 2009;Parker 2012;Sangster 2011).…”

Mokymas per tyrimus ir tyrimai per mokymą: mokslinių ir subjektyvių teorijų palyginimas

“…Vienas iš pastebimų privalumų, kai tyrimai atliekami mokymo metu, yra tai, kad pats tyrimas pasistūmėja į priekį, nes jam svarbūs klausimai gali būti atsakyti bent jau preliminariai. Pavyzdžiui, kaip Douglas (2013) interviu tyrimo atveju, "kai mokymo metu taip pat buvo renkami duomenys tyrimui, taip patį mokymą paverčiant viena iš tiriamųjų veiklų" (p. 381) specialistams atsirado galimybė išspręsti mokymo ir tyrimų santykių problemą. Pasak Macfarlane ir Hughes (2009), tokiu būdu palengvėja sąveika tarp mokymo ir tyrimų.…”

“…One benefit of doing research through teaching is that the research itself is enhanced since relevant research questions can be answered at least tentatively; in Douglas' (2013) interview study, for instance, "using teaching to feed the research and therefore the teaching is part of the research activity" (p. 381) was one way for professors to deal with the problem to overcome the teaching-research nexus. In terms of Macfarlane and Hughes (2009), it fosters synergy between teaching and research.…”