Researchers of Tomorrow: The research behaviour of Generation Y doctoral students

Abstract

Some findings are reported from the three-year Researchers of Tomorrow study of research behaviour among doctoral students in 'Generation Y'. Commissioned by the British Library and UK Joint Information Systems Committee, it is the most intensive study of its kind to date. Generation Y doctoral students are sophisticated information-seekers and users of complex information sources, highly competent in but not dazzled by technology and acutely aware of authority and authenticity issues in research. The study indicates heavy dependence on secondary, published resources as the basis for original research, which may have implications for research quality and the 'research apprenticeship' experience. eJournals dominate across all subject disciplines; authentication of access to and licensing limitations on subscription-based resources are a source of frustration. There is widespread lack of understanding about open access. Generation Y doctoral students are not keen users of new technology applications in their research and prefer those that do not challenge existing research work practices. The majority work alone, not in research teams, sharing research outputs only with peers. Despite potential benefits of greater openness and sharing they are constrained by lack of confidence in their research work and the need for them to demonstrate originality in research findings.

The use of technology in postgraduate supervision pedagogy in two Australian universities

“…This style of supervision is beginning to incorporate more ICTs (Carpenter, 2012;Le, 2012). Moreover, it involves the student and supervisor working together to achieve their goals, often within a community of researchers (Parker, 2009).…”

Social media and research: an assessment of the coverage of South African universities in ResearchGate, Web of Science and the Webometrics Ranking of World Universities

“…According to the report by Carpenter, Wetheridge and Tanner (2012), entitled Researchers of tomorrow: the research behaviour of Generation Y doctoral students, students tend to use technology applications and social media in their research if they augment, and can easily be absorbed into, existing work practices. The report further reveals that levels of use of social media and other applications helpful in retrieving and managing research information are steadily rising among Generation Y doctoral students, but those applications most useful for collaboration and scholarly communications remain among the least used.…”

My data are your data

“…One problem, he cautions, is that the number of studies providing all the ingredients needed to reproduce a study's findings "is still relatively small. " Thus, the consistent and full sharing of data and methods still isn't the norm 3,4 .…”