| Summary: | This study described Human Resource Education and Development Faculty; their
research productivity, satisfaction with instructional duties and other related job factors, and
opinion of emphasis on research/teaching at their employing institutions; analyzed differences
between faculty members actual time spent and preferred time spent through the use of t-tests;
and determined if selected factors drive research productivity measured as a career research
productivity score, a recent research productivity score, and time spent in research through the
use of mediated hierarchical regression. The study utilized two NCES data sets derived from the
1992-93 and 1998-99 National Study of Postsecondary Faculty surveys.
HRED faculty members possessed instructional duties and were engaged in research, with
presentations/exhibitions reported as the most common type of research produced. More
respondents held the rank of instructor than any other, and of those tenured, the average number
of years tenured ranged from 8 to 10 years. The two predominant types of highest degrees held
were doctorate and masters.
The findings of this study suggest research support was present in the form of teaching
assistants, funding, and resources specifically provided for research. Also, HRED faculty
preferred to spend less time in teaching than they were spending and more time in research than
they were spending. Faculty were somewhat satisfied with instructional duties and with other
factors related to their job. Faculty disagreed somewhat with items stating research was the
primary promotional criteria at their institution and that research was rewarded more than
teaching at their institution.
The proposed model evaluated in this study was based on cognitive motivation theory and
was supported by the analyses. A fully mediated model resulted for the dependent variables
career and recent research productivity scores, and a partially mediated model resulted for the
dependent variable time spent in research. The findings demonstrated the importance of an
individuals perception of their personal interests/abilities in research when predicting research
productivity.
|
|---|
