Developing research cultures in teacher education institutions: the gestation-expansion-maturation theory

Abstract

An understanding of the development of research culture in universities is vital in the fulfillment of their mandate for knowledge generation. This study aims to develop a framework that would describe the journey of research culture development in teacher education institutions. A deductive approach to theory development where scholarly literature serves as the foundational bases to generate a theory was utilized. Secondary analysis was used to analyze the data collected from available research studies and literature. The generation of the theory was built on the readings and discussion about the process of building a research culture in higher education. Axioms were generated to be able to come up with propositions. The following propositions are posed: 1) Research culture is contextually defined; 2) The development of research culture undergoes phases of development from initiation to maturation. 3.) The levels of research culture development can be attributed to quality human resources, the institutions’ material resources, and its research activities. From the propositions, it was concluded that the development of a research culture undergoes the phases of gestation, expansion, and maturation which are achieved through the presence of people, resources, and research activities that appear or function differently at each stage.