Impact on Lecturers of Working with a Research Mentor to Assist Them to Undertake Educational Evaluative Research and Publish TheirRresearch

Author(s):

Diane Marks-Maran(presenting / submitting)Ann Ooms

Conference:

ECER 2012

Network:

22. Research in Higher Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

22 SES 08 C, Academic Work and Professional Development

Parallel Paper Session

Time:

2012-09-20

09:00-10:30

Room:

FFL - Aula 27

Chair:

Mari Karm

Contribution

Since 2006 The Faculty of Health and Social Care Sciences at Kingston Univdersity/St George's University of London has engaged an outside consultant to act as a research mentor (RM) to lecturers to assist them in undertaking educational evaluative research into innovations in teaching, learning and student support, and in writing up the research into articles for publication. Although success of this mentoring can be measured purely in terms of outputs (projects completed and articles published), there is a perceived need to evaluate this mentorship in terms of the impact that such mentoring has had on the development of lecturers and on sustainability of educational research and publishing in the Faculty. A research project has been undertaken into lecturers’ perceptions of working with the RM in terms of their own learning and development and future capacity to engage in research and publishing activities.

The aim of the study was to measure the impact on lecturers of having access to a research mentor (RM) to help them to engage in educational evaluative research and to publish their research in professional/academic journals

The research questions were:

1. What are the perceptions of academic staff who have worked with the outside consultant (research mentor) with regard to the development of their research skills?

2. What outputs have resulted in using the research mentor?

The stages of the research and publication process formed the theoretical framework for the study, i.e.:

· Development of the idea for the project

· Development of the evaluation /research questions

· Development of the evaluation / research plan

· Development of the literature review

· Development of the evaluation/research design

· Development of the data collection tools

· Data collection (e.g., interviewing, running focus groups)

· Data analysis

· Writing report for internal use

· Writing article for publication

· Revising article for publication

· Application for funding

Method

Survey method was employed to undertake this study. The survey questionnaire addressed all stages of the research and publication process. Data were collected about the extent to which participants perceive that working with the RM has improved their educational evaluative research knowledge, and skills in carrying out educational evaluative research, and publishing their research, attitudes to evaluative research and their professional standing as a result of working with the RM. Data were collected from two sources. Firstly, all lecturers within the Faculty who have worked with the RM during the period 2006 – 2011 were invited to complete a questionnaire about their perceptions of working with the RM. The questionnaire contained both Likert-style and open-ended questions. Data analysis of the Likert-style questions was undertaken using SPSS and analysis of the responses to the open-ended questions were analysed using the Framework Method of qualitative analysis (Ritchie & Spencer 1994). All participants in the study have engaged in innovations in teaching, learning and student support and have undertaken evaluative research into these innovations with assistance from the RM. Secondly, data was collected from records of successful publications by lecturers directly resulting from working with the RM.

Expected Outcomes

Data analysis of the survey is in progress and the findings from the survey of lecturers will be presented at the conference. Early analysis of the survey questionnaire however, indicated that the RM has had a positive impact on a number of the stages in the research and publication process, especially development of the research plan, literature review, research design and data collection tools as well as qualitative data analysis, writing for publication and revision of papers for publication. As of January 2012, the Faculty has had 12 papers published or accepted for publication in professional and academic journals as a direct result of the work with the RM.

References

Burns, E. (2009) Research mentoring of academic staff in a new degree environment. Educational Leadership Policy and Practice, 24(2), 19-31 Butler, M.J. (1989) Mentoring and Scholarly Productivity in a Nursing Faculty. [Doctoral Dissertation, West Virginia University], Dissertation Abstracts International, 51/03, 691 Byrne, M.W. & Keefe, M.R.(2002) Building research competence in nursing through mentoring. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 34(4), 391-396 Chesterman, C.(2001) Women and Mentoring in Higher Education. Sydney, Australian Technology Network Donnelly, R. & McSweeney, F. (2011) From humble beginnings: evolving mentoring within professional development of academic staff. Professional Development in Education, 37 (2), 259-274 Gardiner, M., Tiggermann, M., Kearns, H. & Marshall, K. (2007) Show me the money: An empirical analysis of mentoring outcomes for women in academia. Higher Education Research and Development, 26(4), 425-442 Gafney, L. (2005) The role of the research mentor/teacher. Journal of College Science Teaching, 34(4), 52-56 Gibson, S.K. (2004) Being mentored: the experiences of women faculty. Journal of Career Development, 30(3), 173-188 Johnston, S. & McCormack, C. (1997) Developing research potential through a structured mentoring programme: issues arising. Higher Education, 33, 251-264 Messervy, P.(1989) Mentoring: an aid to career development for women. Wellington, NZ, Equal Employment Opportunities Development Unit Okurame, D. (2008) Mentoring in the Nigerian academia: experiences and challenges. International Journal of Evidence-Based Coaching and Mentoring, 6(2), 45-56 Quinlan, K.M. (1999) Enhancing mentoring and networking of junior academic women: what, why and how? Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management,21(1), 31-42 Records, K. & Emerson, R.J. (2003) Mentoring for research skill development. Journal of Nursing Education, 42(2), 553-557 Williams, R. & Blackburn, R.T. (1988) Mdentoring and junior faculty productivity: Research output. Journal of Nursing Education, 27(5), 204-209

Author Information

Diane Marks-Maran (presenting / submitting)

Kingston University/St George'e University of London, United Kingdom

Ann Ooms