Carnegie Research Research Articles

Do universities support solutions-oriented collaborative research? Constraints to wicked problems scholarship in higher education

Questions abound over how universities should teach and prepare the next generation of researchers to confront current and future wicked problems. With so much focus on curriculum and training, it is crucial that we step back and reflect on higher education’s capabilities to foster solution-oriented, collaborative research. What do the institutional incentive structures in higher education support, in terms of practices and outputs related to scholarship? And are those structures felt evenly across the academy? Those doing research in these spaces—in terms of title, autonomy, power, privilege, and status—vary widely by their institutional locations as well as in terms of their ties to broader disciplinary norms. To assess whether these dynamic, contested institutional landscapes afford so-called wicked problem scholarship, this paper draws from survey and interview data collected from 44 researchers working at the nexus of food, energy, and water systems at Carnegie Research 1 universities in the United States. Findings point to an uneven institutional landscape, which is shown to shape in different ways the type of solutions-oriented, collaborative scholarship fostered across the five positions examined. The paper concludes by reflecting on the paper’s findings, particularly in terms of what the data tell us about higher education as a place that fosters wicked problems scholarship, while also highlighting the study’s limitations.

From the Ground Up: Building a Culture of Research in an Academic Library

Background: This article discusses the motivations, benefits, and actions taken to create and support a culture of research among library employees at a Carnegie Research 1 University Library system. Despite substantial pressures to publish and engage in library science research, many academic librarians lack the training or support to build their own research agendas. This is particularly worrisome as tenure requirements and professional trends require librarians to be knowledgeable and productive in their research dissemination. Experience: At Clemson University Libraries, librarians responded to this problem by adapting evidence-based solutions from scientific and medical disciplines to fit their own research empowerment needs. The process of building a productive culture of research at Clemson Libraries was a multi-year endeavor that took considerable initiative, planning, and flexibility. Discussion: Each of the initiatives required adaptation to the knowledge levels and existing culture in the Libraries. Organizers had to be willing to make changes and attempt new approaches as the organization evolved and comfort with the research process grew. Some initiatives, like Writing Circle, were disbanded, while others, like Journal Club and Research Roundtable, continue to develop with high levels of engagement. Takeaways: The success of this progressive approach to fostering a thriving culture of research at Clemson Libraries is evident through the rates of participation, dissemination, and satisfaction of library employees in addition to the expansion of the Libraries’ engagement with research in outside departments and disciplines. Librarians who seek to enhance their own institution’s research culture should consider implementing some or all of these initiatives to jumpstart their efforts, including writing circles, journal clubs, and research roundtables.

Review of Schooling of Learners With Disabilities and the Manifestation of the Hidden Curriculum of Time

Postsecondary outcomes remain difficult to attain despite their significance to learners with disabilities. This qualitative study investigated the impact of a hidden curriculum of time on the education of five undergraduate students with disabilities at a Carnegie Research One institution in the midwestern U.S. Participants in their quest for an education experienced a hidden curriculum of time in the form of physical impairments, educational costs of ill-health, and disability discrimination. The academic barriers participants encountered in reaching their educational goals suggest that addressing the hidden curriculum of time is essential for authentic inclusion and achievement of postsecondary education outcomes.

Survey on onboarding practices in Carnegie research institutions

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to describe survey findings on onboarding initiatives at the Carnegie Doctoral Research Institutions of Higher Education libraries. The findings would be helpful to libraries that are at the beginning of their own onboarding initiatives or that wish to compare ongoing efforts.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted a survey of Carnegie Doctoral Research Institutions of Higher Education libraries using Qualtrics, an online survey software. Link to the survey with a short explanation was e-mailed to the 319 identified contacts and 111 responses were received at the end of the survey.FindingsSurvey responses revealed that the most prevalent types of onboarding initiatives are an orientation to campus policies and procedures and meeting with human resources. Half of the respondents introduce new employees to the social/cultural norms of the library informally, with responsibility for onboarding falling on the supervisor. Surprisingly, diversity and inclusion have not been identified as formal components of the onboarding by those who engage in it.Originality/valueSpecific research into the onboarding initiatives of Carnegie Doctoral Research Institutions of Higher Education libraries does not exist.

Age discrimination and academic labor markets

In a sample of Canadian Ph.D.’s, Warman and Worswick (2010) report that forty-two percent obtained their degree at thirty-four years of age or older. One implication is that those starting their academic career vary in age. As a result, academic labor markets provide a somewhat unique way to investigate the outcomes of workers of different age with similar work experience. This study uses a national sample of over 9,000 faculty to look at the relationship between age at the time a person earns their degree and income. Older individuals are less likely to attend graduate programs in Carnegie Research I institutions, and they are less likely to find employment at a Research I institution. Males are less likely to obtain employment at Carnegie research or doctoral granting institutions even if they attended a graduate program in a Research I institutions. Regression analysis reveals a negative relationship between age at time of degree and earnings. The age penalty is largest for those with the title of professor working at Carnegie research/doctoral institutions. The size of the age penalty for females is less dependent on this distinction. Lastly, the age penalty is evident at the start careers as older faculty are found to learn less in the first three years of obtaining their degree.

A bibliometric analysis of the top 50 NIH-Funded colleges of pharmacy using two databases.

Scholarly productivity is an essential component of college of pharmacy activities and may depend on university rank, faculty type, faculty rank and department. Bibliometric measures provide a means to analyze scholarly productivity from colleges of pharmacy while accounting for these various factors. To analyze bibliometric data from two databases based on Carnegie Research Classification and NIH-funding rank; provide descriptions of bibliometric data based on department type and faculty classification; and examine the distribution of publications in the top 50 NIH-funded Colleges of Pharmacy. Faculty rosters were gathered for the top 50 NIH-funded colleges of pharmacy, and names were searched in Scopus and Web of Science to establish bibliometric records. Bibliometric indices were compared based on Carnegie Basic Classification and between the NIH funding ranks 1-25 versus 26-50 using WOS bibliometric data. Descriptive statistics were presented, and Pareto distributions were developed for total publications across all schools included. Schools in the top 25 for NIH funding and schools with a Carnegie R1 classification had significantly higher bibliometric measures compared to schools ranked 26-50 and schools classified as R2, respectively. For faculty members with a bibliometric record (i.e., at least one publication), 20% provide approximately 60% of the publications. Additionally, approximately 90% of publications are provided by 50% of faculty records. Faculty records from basic science departments, as compared to clinical pharmacy departments, represent the highest contributing groups in the Pareto analysis. Bibliometric indices are higher at colleges of pharmacy with greater NIH funding or an R1 Carnegie classification. A minority of faculty provides most publications in colleges of pharmacy, which is composed of members from basic science departments. The descriptive data provided here is useful for understanding readily available bibliometric data based on department type and faculty classification and rank.

In Search of the Virgin and Child in Egypt: Coptic Art in Specialized Encyclopedias

This article examines a variety of specialized encyclopedias from several disciplines that can be used to introduce students to the topic of Coptic art. The reference works included here can be found in a variety of academic libraries, from Carnegie research institutions to learning resource centers in community libraries, and will help students develop the foundational knowledge necessary to approach more specific topics within Coptic art. Although students may be comfortable, with varying degrees of effectiveness, searching the online catalog or navigating library databases to find books and journal articles, they are, for the most part, unaware of the wealth of useful information found on the metaphorical reference shelves. It is here that librarians can serve a valuable role identifying specific reference titles that introduce students to scholarly texts on a myriad of topics.

The use of departmental journal lists in promotion and tenure decisions at American research universities

The purpose of this multi-institution study was to develop an understanding of where and how ranking lists are being used for the purpose of informing promotion and tenure decisions. Individuals were selected for this survey who, were at the time, serving in administrative positions at 115 R1 Carnegie research institutions. The survey questionnaire consisted of demographic, closed-response, and rating-scale questions designed to understand the respondents' experiences and attitudes concerning their academic department's promotion and tenure process. Results of this survey will inform librarians on practices associated with promotion and tenure involving open access publishing and the use of standardized journal lists.

Children’s Rights to Education – Where is the Weight for Children’s Views?

This paper analyses the views and preferences of children and young people who experience barriers when attempting to engage with schools and schooling. It specifically considers processes of formal and informal exclusion and the manner in which “stigmatised” children are treated within a system where attendance to children’s rights is, at best, sketchy and at worst – downright discriminatory. The paper poses a number of critical questions concerning the extent to which the views of children are given due weight in decision-making processes in schools, whether the background a child comes from affects the way school staff listen to them and whether school rules act as a barrier or enabler for children’s rights. In turn, these questions are related to what educational processes might look like that place due weight on the views of children, what cultures create barriers to listening in practice, and what we can learn from children’s overall experiences. The paper presents findings from a participatory empirical peer research project (funded by a Carnegie Research Incentive Grant and the University of Edinburgh Challenge Investment Fund), conducted with and by young people in schools in Scotland and the north of England. This paper is innovative as it is the product of collaborative working between academics at the University of Edinburgh, staff at Investing in Children and the young researchers who co-authored this article for publication.

A Tale of Two Outliers: Evidence-Based Management in Non-ARL Research Libraries and Pre-NARA Presidential Libraries

ABSTRACTAdministrators in libraries of all types face the challenge of managing and planning in times of static or declining funding and rapidly changing technology. What tools do they use to gather and employ data for decision-making and evidence-based management? Are the same tools and techniques useful for all types of libraries? Although there are established measurements and metrics for academic libraries, there are few, if any, for others such as hybrid presidential libraries which are not part of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) system. This column identifies the metrics used by the pre-NARA presidential libraries and compares them to metrics used by a subgroup of Carnegie Research 1 and Research 2 libraries, those that do not participate in Association of Research Libraries (ARL) statistics program. It identifies similarities and differences.

Analysis of research scholarship for academic staff at US ABET accredited mining engineering schools by publications, citations and h-index

Publications, citations and h-index are three quantitative measures of scholarly productivity commonly used to evaluate university academic staff members. The quantity and quality of an individual's publication record is often an integral part of promotion and tenure decisions as well as post-tenure notoriety and awards. In this study, the Scopus database was queried to provide information on the scholarly productivity of 83 mining engineering academic staff members at accredited mining engineering schools in the United States. The data retrieved in this study include the number of publications, number of citations and h-index, for each individual academic staff member. Data for individual academic staff members was then classified by academic level/rank, institution and primary research sub-discipline to produce meaningful comparative results. The data show that the average number of publications per academic increases from 4 to 22 to 49 for assistant professors, associate professors and professors, respectively. Citations (9–83–290) and h-index (1–3–6) follow similar trends. Further analysis indicates that mineral processing and mine electrical systems are the most highly cited sub-disciplines. When aggregated by academic institution, the data show that the productivity of academic staff is linked to Carnegie Research classification. Finally, the data show a clear Pareto tendency with the highest 20% of academic staff members contributing 80% of the overall citations.

Learning Outcomes in an online vs traditional course

Relative enrollment in online classes has tripled over the last ten years, but the efficacy of learning online remains unclear. While two recent Meta analyses report higher exam grades for online vs. traditional classes, this body of research has been marked by two recurrent limitations: (1) a possible problem of selection bias wherein students self select the mode of course delivery and (2) a relative lack of proctoring of exams in online sections. Both of these confounders contribute to observed differences in performance. The present study addresses these limitations. Data refer to 64 students enrolled in criminology classes at a Carnegie research extensive university. Due to an administrative error in the course schedule, which failed to list one section as online, students were unable to self select into the online section, creating a rare opportunity for quasi randomization of students into sections. Both sections were taught by the same instructor. The dependent variable is the score on the standardized final examination. All exams were proctored by the instructor. The central independent variable is method of delivery of content: online vs. the traditional classroom. Controlling for other constructs, there was no significant difference between exam scores. Also, student evaluations did not differ between sections. Controlling for selection effects and the proctoring of exams, the academic performance of online students was the same as that of traditional students. Future work is needed for other courses, other fields, and other types of academic institutions.

Laboratory Assignments and Their Impact on Final Examination Grades: An Online Research Methods/Statistics Course

Over the last decade, enrollment in online courses has tripled. However, the delivery of online sections of courses that typically require laboratory work on campus can present a challenge. The present study has two goals: (1) describe the laboratory assignments for an online version of an undergraduate research methods course, and (2) assess the extent to which learning in the laboratory assignments is related to grades on the final examination. Participants were 108 students completing an online course in research methods/statistics in a Carnegie Research Extensive University. Students chose a sample of 40 offenders from an online public database, the Offender Tracking Information System (OTIS), entered the data into an Excel file, and used the Excel® Data Analysis Toolkit to produce both descriptive statistics and to test a series of hypotheses including the predictors of violent offending. The dependent variable is the scores on the final examination, and the independent variable was the grades received on six laboratory assignments. Control variables included grades on a preliminary 1-hr examination and sex. In a bivariate regression, laboratory and grades explained 13% of the variance in final examination grades. However, in a multiple regression analysis, controlling for other variables, the grade on the laboratory assignments was unrelated to final examination grades. The model explained 47% of the variance in final examination grades. Standard laboratory assignments were successfully delivered in an online environment, but grades on laboratory assignments were not an independent predictor of final examination grades. Further work is needed for other fields and educational contexts.

Examining the Ethical Utility of Social Work Program Rankings in the US: Are We Measuring One Thing and Selling Another?

Social work program rankings are frequently used in the US to communicate program identity, and no ranking structure has become as commonly accepted as the one compiled by US News & World Report. However, the metrics used to assemble these rankings, and what the rankings have been used to communicate, have come under question over recent years. This project details an analysis that was conducted on the relationship between US News rankings for social work programs in the United States (n = 200) and Carnegie research designations for the universities with which those programs are affiliated. Findings suggest that as institutional size increases, so do rankings. This study assesses the strength of that relationship and questions the ethical utility of this ranking system, particularly when used as a tool to recruit students (a common practice in the United States). Additional metrics are suggested to help potential students make more informed decisions in reference to program selection.

Coinheritance of sickle cell anemia and α‐thalassemia delays disease onset and could improve survival in cameroonian's patients (Sub‐Saharan Africa)

Coinheritance of sickle cell anemia and α‐thalassemia delays disease onset and could improve survival in cameroonian's patients (Sub‐Saharan Africa)

Sage Research Methods Online (SRMO)

Sage Research Methods Online (SRMO) is an online search tool that provides information and instruction on research methods in the health and social sciences. It is aimed at university students, researchers, and faculty and is designed to answer methods questions that arise during the various steps of the research process, including the literature search, review, research design, data collection, analysis, and write up. The resource gathers together 6 dictionaries, 5 encyclopedias, 148 journal articles, 26 videos, and 632 books (including the 164 Little Green Books and 48 Little Blue Books, the only way to access these popular quantitative and qualitative research methods series in electronic form). The 120,000 pages of material in SRMO are indexed with a custom taxonomy of more than 1,400 terms. The user begins typing a term into the basic search box, and the system presents suggestions. Advanced search features such as multiple field selections and Boolean combinations are available. The user can also browse through the material by title or author. Material can then be limited by format. SRMO also presents a visual search tool called “Methods Map,” which shows relationships between taxonomy terms, methods, philosophies, and important people in a field. A personal account can be created where “Methods Lists,” collections of favorite materials, can be kept and shared. Many helpful features are available when the actual content is accessed. The system generates a citation of the source in 4 styles (American Psychological Association, Chicago Manual of Style, Harvard, and Modern Language Association) or exports a citation to 6 popular citation management programs (BibTex, EndNote, ProCite, Reference Manager, RefWorks, and Zotero). Other options include the ability to generate a portable document format (PDF) version of the content, share it via social networking sites, print it, email it, add it to “Methods Lists,” and go to a preformulated Google Scholar search of the authors' scholarly articles. The savvy user is advised to watch the instructional video before using SRMO, because search and browse are the only two obvious functions. Watching the ten-minute video in advance of diving into the product will orient the user to all the features, explain the complex functions, and ultimately save time and frustration. The navigation features are powerful and have won awards (2011 Magnum Opus Gold Award for Best Navigation for Electronic Publication or Web Site and 2011 Apex Award for One-of-a-Kind Electronic and Web Publications), but any tools beyond basic search and browse are unclear to the uninitiated, and terms like “My Lists” and “Methods Maps” benefit from an explanation. While there are many thousands of books and journal articles about research methods, SRMO is the only tool of its kind that gathers such material in one well-organized, searchable place. This product is highly recommended for institutions doing and teaching research, depending on how much of the gathered material the institution already owns. Convenience of electronic access would also need to be considered in the purchasing decision. Sage provided a guest login to the reviewer for the product but, despite multiple requests, would only state the following regarding pricing: “Subscription and purchase pricing is available from Sage upon request. Pricing varies depending on Carnegie Classification, research intensity and level of degree granted.”

Realized Publicness at Public and Private Research Universities

Although research‐extensive universities in the United States produce similar outcomes—research, teaching, and service—they vary substantially in terms of the publicness of their environments. In this article, the authors adopt a public values framework to examine how regulative, normative/associative, and cultural cognitive components affect realized public outcomes by faculty. Using survey data from a random sample of faculty scientists in six fields of science and engineering at Carnegie Research I universities, findings show that organizational and individual public values components are associated predictably with different realized individual public outcomes. For example, individual support from federal resources and affiliation with a federal lab (associative) are related to increased research outcomes, while tuition and fee levels (regulative) explain teaching outcomes, and perceived level of influence in the workplace (cultural cognitive) explains teaching and service outcomes.

Higher Education and Emerging Technologies

This study examines the utilization and preference of popular Internet and communication technologies among students at Sam Houston State University (SHSU), a Carnegie Research Doctoral University in East Texas. The researchers wished to study the local relevance of various technology trends reported in librarianship literature and then to use the survey data to inform decisions regarding library service development. A survey was conducted to investigate student ownership of electronic devices and student usage of technologies such as text messaging, Twitter, RSS, podcasts, social networks, Second Life, and others. Survey results indicated that, while students do not wish to experience an overwhelming library presence on all social networking and Internet media, most do wish to have basic library services easily accessible through a few of the most popular social networking and Internet technologies. The investigators identified some unique trends in usage among their local population and have adjusted certain library services and plans in accordance with their findings. Other libraries are encouraged to study their own users and develop new services based on those users’ needs rather than popular trends or surveys which may be based on radically different user groups.

Laundry and Lab Time: Do Family-Friendly Policies Affect Academic Work Outcomes?

Some scholars and policy makers argue that the dearth of women in academic science positions is related to the demands of family life. While the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) aims to help women and men balance work and family life, universities throughout the United States have adopted family-friendly policies as a means of enabling faculty to balance family life and career. Because universities are somewhat flat organizations, academic departments play a critical role in enabling work-life balance through both formal and informal policies about leave. While family-leave policies are designed to provide job protection for parents and also ensure that faculty can remain successful and productive scholars, it is unclear whether or not formal family-leave policies and informal department cultures have played a positive role on outcomes such as, productivity (e.g. publications), teaching responsibilities, and advancement to leadership positions. This research uses survey responses from 1598 faculty at 150 Carnegie Research Intensive I universities and data from university Status of Women reports and Faculty Handbooks to investigate the relationships between university policies, university level support for work-life balance, and outcomes among men and women faculty in six fields of science.

Realized Publicness at Public and Private Research Universities

Although research extensive universities in the United States produce similar outcomes – research, teaching, and service – they vary substantially in terms of the publicness of their environments. In this paper, we adopt the public values framework (Moulton 2009) to examine how regulative, normative/associative, and cultural cognitive components affect realized public outcomes by faculty. Using survey data from a random sample of faculty scientists in six fields of science and engineering at Carnegie Research I universities, we find that organizational and individual public values components are predictably associated with different realized individual public outcomes. For example, individual support from federal resources and affiliation with a federal lab (associative) are related to increased research outcomes, while tuition and fee levels (regulative) explain teaching outcomes, and perceived level of influence in the workplace (cultural cognitive) explains teaching and service outcomes. Overall, university-level public values have a stronger influence on individual public outcomes than individual-level public values. We conclude with a discussion of the findings.