Search results

This chapter discusses the different types of researcher/participant relationship described in the case study chapters, alongside the extent to which the projects were (and could be) pre-defined in terms of structure and expected outcomes. The case studies ranged from secondary data analysis methods with no researcher/participant contact, those with structured one-off interviews, those with more ongoing, but still researcher-led, relationships between researcher and participant, to more ethnographic and participatory research where relationships were negotiated between researcher and participant and, in some cases, led by the participants. This chapter highlights that researcher/participant relationships lie parallel to the structure of the project and the extent to which the outcomes are pre-defined. Despite the range of types of relationship, however, all the case studies highlighted the value of trust in those relationships, for participants to feel happy to share the details of their personal lives beyond that which is usually visible in the formal education setting of school. Edwards' (2017a) concepts of relational agency, relational expertise and common knowledge are used to help explain why these relationships matter in research on out-of-school learning – to understand activities that we do not know about, which take places in spaces that we are unfamiliar with.

Responding to the continuing separation of participants and researchers in LIS participatory research, a new methodology is proposed: action partnership research design (APRD). It is asserted that APRD can mitigate or remove the hierarchical structures often inherent in the research process, thus allowing for equal contribution from all.

Building on the bonded design (BD) methodology and informed by a scoping literature review conducted by the same authors, APRD is a human-centered research approach with the goal of empowering and valuing community partnerships. APRD originates from research investigating the use of participatory design methods to foster collaboration between two potentially disparate groups, firstly with adult researchers/designers and elementary school children, and secondly with university faculty and IT professionals.

To achieve this goal, in addition to BD techniques, APRD draws inspiration from elements of indigenous and decolonization research methodologies, particularly those with an emphasis on destabilizing power hierarchies and involving research participants as full partners.

APRD, which emerged from findings from previous participatory design studies, especially those of BD, is based on the premise of partnership, recognizing that each member of a design team, whether researcher or participant/user, has unique expertise to contribute. By considering participants/users as full research partners, APRD aims to flatten the hierarchies exhibited in some LIS participatory research methodologies, where participants are treated more like research subjects than partners.

Proponents of robust research design and methodology (particularly, although not exclusively, in more positivist-leaning epistemology) have often suggested that the role of the researcher should be as invisible, or distanced, as possible in the research process. Many of the case studies presented in this book take a more qualitative, interpretative approach, reflecting the often complex, situated, local and dynamic contexts in which out-of-school learning occurs. This raises particular challenges relating to the researcher role, especially when the researcher's presence materially changes the context and phenomena that are being researched. Some of the case studies describe the tensions and affordances of the researcher as insider/outsider and demonstrate how this role can develop and change as a project progresses and the implications this has for research practice, research quality and research governance.

Resilience in healthcare is fundamental for what constitutes quality in healthcare. To understand healthcare resilience, resilience research needs a multilevel perspective, diverse research designs, and taking advantage of different data sources. However, approaching resilience researchers as a data source is a new approach within this field and needs careful consideration to ensure that research is trustworthy and ethically sound. The aim of this short “backstage” general review paper is to give a snapshot of how the Resilience in Healthcare (RiH) research program identified and dealt with potential methodological and ethical challenges in researching researcher colleagues.

The authors first provide an overview of the main challenges and benefits from the literature on researching researcher colleagues. Second, the authors demonstrate how this literature was used to guide strategies and principles adopted in the RiH research process.

The paper describes established principles and a checklist for data collection and analysis to overcome potential dilemmas and challenges to ensure trustworthiness and transparency in the process.

Mining the knowledge and experience of resilience researchers is fundamental for taking the research field to the next step, and furthermore an approach that is relevant across different research fields. This paper provides guidance on how other research projects can approach researcher colleagues in similar ways to gain new insight, build theory and advance their research field based on insider competence.

The purpose of this paper is to establish the research impact of the National Research Foundation (NRF)-rated researchers’ output at the North-West University (NWU), South Africa, from 2006 to 2017.

The study used bibliometrics and altmetrics methods to determine the production of research outputs and the impact of NWU’s NRF-rated researchers’ publications. Various tools including Google Scholar (GS), Web of Science (WoS), Scopus, ResearchGate (RG) and Mendeley were used to collect data. The citations in the three bibliographic databases were used as proxy for academic impact, while reads and readerships in RG and Mendeley were used to determine societal impact of the researchers. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to test the relationship between citations in the three bibliographic databases and reads and readerships in RG and Mendeley.

The main findings were that the majority of NWU’s NRF-rated researchers’ publications emanated from GS, followed by Scopus and then WoS. GS output also had more citations. There were 6,026 research outputs in RG which were read for 676,919 times and 5,850 in Mendeley with 142,621 readerships. Correlations between RG and all three bibliographic databases’ citations were scant. Strong relationships between the three bibliographic databases’ citations and Mendeley readerships were found.

Academic librarians who interact with researchers who would like to predict future academic impact of their documents can be advised to consider Mendeley readerships with some level of confidence compared to RG reads. These results point to the importance of constant self-evaluation by researchers to ensure that they have balanced profiles across the three main bibliographic databases that are also considered for ratings. These results point to the relevancy of GS to evaluate research beyond the academy.

The fact that researchers are contributing research that seeks to improve the general welfare of the population (beyond the academy) is a positive sign as society look up to researchers and research to solve their socio-economic problems. Social media play an important role as they serve as indicators that indicators point to wider research impacts and wider access by many different groups of people including the members of society at large. They point to research that is accessible to not only researchers and those who have access to their research but also the society at large.

Although the practice of rating researchers is common in different research ecosystems, the researchers could not find any evidence of studies conducted using a combination of bibliometrics and altmetrics to asses rated researchers’ output. This study covers and compares social impact based on data obtained from two academic social media sites and three main bibliographic databases (GS, Scopus and WoS).

Ten years have elapsed since the author was a doctoral student and conducted a study on the life stories of abusive men, about which the author writes in the present autoethnography. The research was submitted and earned the author her PhD; the findings were written in a book published in 2003, and the author also had articles published abroad. And yet, not one word of what the author relates here was reported to her supervisor, nor did it appear in any of the publications dealing with that study. This paper seeks to address these issues.

In this autoethnography the author describes some episodes that occurred while she was conducting this research and raises some questions regarding feminist research and the power relations between a female researcher and male participants – questions such as “Could it have been less abusive?”, “Why did I not write all this as part of my reflection on myself and my research process?”, “Why did it take me so long to be able to talk about it in a professional forum?”, “Does it happen to every researcher who studies men?”, “Can it happen again?” and “Does it lie somewhere in the seductive part of female interviewer‐male participant relationships?”.

In light of the episodes described, the paper will discuss the dilemmas of being a woman and a feminist researcher, vulnerable to some male research participants.

The question of a woman researcher's vulnerability is scarcely described in research methodology articles and books.

The purpose of this paper is to describe a novel strategy for building research capability in a young university with an emerging research culture. Investment in building research capacity is essential for universities to remain competitive, but one of the challenges for younger universities is developing the research capability of individuals in an emerging research culture.

To gain a better understanding of how leading researchers become research leaders and how universities can design strategies to attract, retain, develop and promote researchers, we carried out a study of 30 research leaders in Australia. We then designed and implemented a cohort-based career development programme for early career researchers.

From our research, and the programme we developed, we have found that developing early career researchers does not mean teaching them how to do research – it means teaching them how to build a track record, which can lead to a research career. A development programme for early career researchers is a short-term investment for longer-term returns, but these programmes do have immediate impact on research productivity for the individual researchers and for the organisation.

We consider the success of the Early Career Researchers Programme is due to the regular face to face workshops, the development of the research career plan and the supportive research environment provided by the me.

The investment in this programme clearly demonstrates the value of researcher development on research outputs and research careers. These methods could be applied to researcher development training programmes elsewhere.

This paper aims to discuss with an introductory narrative on the models and its role in the context of librarianship.

This paper explores the relationship between researcher development and library research support. The authors observed the interconnectedness of the two concepts and how this should be studied more with respect to librarianship. Five major higher education and researcher development–related models are examined to assess which would be more suited for library’s research support activities. Accordingly, Prof Linda Evans’ conceptual researcher development model, the Vitae Researcher Development Framework (RDF), the Research Skill Development Framework, Society of College, National and University Libraries Seven Pillars of Information Literacy model and Association of College and Research Libraries’ Standards for Libraries in Higher Education were reviewed. Review and examination of the frameworks, along with relevant literature on the topic, were examined.

The authors found that the Vitae RDF seemed most ideal, as it was comprehensive and detailed in presentation and could be used not just by the academic staff but also by librarians and researchers to their benefit.

Further studies and thorough review of recent educational and library-related frameworks and models are required from the lens of library research support.

Application of frameworks needs to be actively adopted by librarians.

There are few studies that have examined researcher development and research support in librarianship in conjunction. The present study has aimed to bridge this gap.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the research preferences and differences of education for sustainable development (ESD) researchers. A model with the continuums assimilation‐accommodation and adaptation‐agency was applied resulting in quantitative, qualitative, theoretic and participative research orientations.

Reunamo's general model of agentive perception was used to design the 32‐item questionnaire, Research for ESD so as to reveal the degree to which the researchers are accommodating their thoughts and actions to real phenomenon, and considering their research as having theoretical or practical agency. The questionnaire was administered to 83 ESD researchers, mainly from European countries.

The most valuable discovery was the desire of ESD researchers to contribute to societal development. The results describe the first continuum of research activity with the need for opening up to the requisites and possibilities of environmental change while applying the existing prerequisites of scientific rigour and validity. The second continuum highlights the research as a knowledge resource for just political or individual choices on the one hand, and the direct application of the models and actions for needed change on the other hand.

It would be difficult to create a reliable register of ESD researchers worldwide. Thus, the opportunity sample of ESD researchers available to the authors was used in the study.

The model, after adjustments, appears to be a promising tool in the study of research orientations. To study complex and controversial subjects such as sustainable development, the researchers need to be aware of their preferences and orientations.

The paper shows the possibilities of the agentive perception model in the case of ESD researchers.

Professionalism indicates a devotion to and demonstration of exceptional performance and achievement in any activity. The built environment comprises the physical items required for economic activity, long-term national development and social well-being. Studies show a need to improve many aspects of the built environment and the sector which creates it. Researchers should contribute to this improvement effort. It is suggested that researchers should demonstrate professionalism, but there is no agreement on how professionalism in research is determined. It is necessary to consider what constitutes professionalism in built environment research and how it can be developed.

An exploratory study is presented. It considers major works on the nature of the built environment and its sector, and factors influencing research on them; and draws on works on research ethics, integrity and good practice to propose a framework for professionalism in built environment research.

More work is needed to improve the built environment and its sector. Professionalism in built environment research will make the contribution of such research to this effort effective. This professionalism should be conceptualised, developed and continuously enhanced.

This first attempt to formulate a framework for professionalism in built environment research is based on a review of the major relevant literature. Subsequent works can test this framework empirically.

The professional built environment researcher will be committed to contributing to society.

This is the first work on professionalism in research on the built environment. The framework provides the basis for further studies on the subject.