scholarly journals An Exploratory Study of Accomplished Librarian-Researchers

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 179-217
Author(s):  
Marie R. Kennedy ◽  
Kristine R. Brancolini ◽  
David P. Kennedy
Keyword(s):  
Professional Training ◽  
Success Factors ◽  
Research Output ◽  
Work Conditions ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Research Network ◽  
Research Networks ◽  
Research Environments ◽  
Institutional Expectations ◽  
Potential Factors

Abstract Objective – This work explores potential factors that may contribute to a librarian becoming a highly productive researcher. An understanding of the factors can provide evidence based guidance to those at the beginning of their research careers in designing their own trajectories and to library administrators who seek to create work conditions that contribute to librarian research productivity. The current study is the first to explore the factors from the perspective of the profession’s most accomplished librarian-researchers. Methods – This exploratory and descriptive study recruited 78 academic librarians identified as highly productive researchers; 46 librarians participated in a survey about their professional training and research environments, research networks, and beliefs about the research process. Respondents supplied a recent CV which was coded to produce a research output score for the past 10 years. In addition to fixed-response questions, there were five open-ended questions about possible success factors. All data were analyzed with descriptive statistics and tests of significance correlations. Results – Accomplished librarian-researchers have professional training backgrounds and research environments that vary widely. None is statistically associated with research output. Those with densely connected networks of research colleagues who both know each other and do research together is significantly related to research output. A large group of those identified in the research networks are “both friend and colleague” and offer each other reciprocal support. In open-ended questions, respondents mentioned factors that equally span the three categories of research success: individual attributes, peers and community, and institutional structures. Conclusion – The authors found that that there are many paths to becoming an accomplished librarian-researcher and numerous factors are conducive to achieving this distinction. A positive research environment includes high institutional expectations; a variety of institutional supports for research; and extrinsic rewards, such as salary increases, tenure, promotion, and opportunities for advancement. The authors further conclude that a librarian’s research network may be an important factor in becoming an accomplished librarian-researcher. This finding is supported by both the research network analysis and responses to open-ended questions in which collaboration was a frequent theme.

Training commercial energy users in behavior change: A case study

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sea Rotmann ◽  
Beth Karlin
Keyword(s):  
Behavior Change ◽  
Behavioral Interventions ◽  
Professional Training ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Behavioral Science ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Commercial Sector ◽  
Great Opportunity ◽  
Behavior Change Interventions ◽  
Commercial Energy

Within the commercial sector, energy managers and building operators have a large impact over their organizations’ energy use. However, they mostly focus on technology solutions and retrofits, rather than human or corporate behaviors, and how to change them. This gap in targeted commercial sector research and behavioral interventions provides a great opportunity which is currently not being addressed. This paper presents a field research pilot where an empirical behavior change research process was applied and taught to commercial energy users in Ontario, Canada. This course served to fill an identified market gap and to improve commercial energy managers’ literacy in behavioral science theory and techniques. A needs assessment identified a clear gap in behavioral training for energy managers, and high interest in the course further proved out the market opportunity for professional training on how to design, implement and evaluate behavior change interventions. Evaluation results identified positive feedback in terms of course reaction, self-reported learning and behavioral outcomes, and tangible results when course participants returned to work to apply their learnings. Evaluation results suggest that such training fills a vital gap in the current Strategic Energy Management (SEM) landscape, and could unlock significant savings in the commercial energy sector.

Knowledge translation activity of a domestic violence research network: a scoping survey

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacqui Cameron ◽  
Cathy Humphreys ◽  
Kelsey Hegarty
Keyword(s):  
Domestic Violence ◽  
Knowledge Translation ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Research Network ◽  
Translation Strategies ◽  
Inadequate Knowledge ◽  
Knowledge Translation Strategies ◽  
Research Findings

Introduction: Research networks undertake work collaboratively on complex areas of research. Few studies examine how these networks develop their knowledge translation activity. Focusing on a domestic violence research network (DVRN), the aim of this study was to answer the question: What is the shared understanding of knowledge translation and activity in a domestic violence research network?Methods: A sample of DVRN members undertook an anonymous online survey about their knowledge translation activity.Results: Completed by 49 of a potential 65 DVRN members (75% completion rate), findings suggested members use multiple knowledge translation definitions, and that different stages of the research process engage people with lived-experience and policymakers undertaking lower levels of engagement than practitioners. Innovative engagement mechanisms to communicate research findings were limited, and knowledge translation barriers included budget, time, capacity, limitation of models, organisational emphasis and support. Finally, there was inadequate knowledge translation evaluation.Conclusion: Overcoming knowledge translation barriers is essential to ensure meaningful collaboration particularly with survivors who are often the missing voice of knowledge translation. Future studies could determine what impact, if any, increasing engagement of survivors and policymakers during all stages of the research process has on knowledge translation.<br />Key messages<br /><ul><li>This study has identified the need for meaningful collaboration with survivors and policymakers during all stages of the research process.</li><br /><li>Innovative engagement mechanisms are essential to engage end-users.</li><br /><li>A focus on evaluation of knowledge translation strategies is warranted.</li></ul>

An Investigation into the Risk of Construction Projects Delays in the UAE

2014 ◽  
pp. 962-977
Author(s):  
Omayma Motaleb ◽  
Mohammed Kishk
Keyword(s):  
United Arab Emirates ◽  
Construction Projects ◽  
Success Factors ◽  
Project Managers ◽  
Project Delivery ◽  
Extensive Literature ◽  
Construction Companies ◽  
High Concern ◽  
Potential Factors ◽  
Major Criticism

The growing rate of delays in project delivery is considered a major criticism of the construction companies in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This paper aims to investigate the causes and effects behind the delays pertaining to delivery of construction projects in the UAE. The study is exploratory in nature, and incorporates a pilot questionnaire survey and interviews. An extensive literature review indicates potential factors that have possible effects on construction completion delay. The questionnaire forms were sent to 50 construction companies. Thirty-five (70%) completed responses were received. Analysis of the survey data has revealed that about 42 potential causes and effects of delay relate to various groups of stakeholders. The results show the top fifteen factors relate to clients, project managers and finance aspects. It was found that cost and time overruns are the most significant effects. These results are in partial agreement with previous studies. The paper argues that the key determinant in ensuring project control is on-time project delivery. The results of the study can provide moderate support for a suggested hypothesis, through a framework of project success factors. It should be of high concern to knowledge managers in various roles and decision-makers.

Open Science and Its Impact on Libraries, Publishers, and Authors

2020 ◽  
pp. 97-108
Author(s):  
Josiline Phiri Chigwada
Keyword(s):  
Information Sources ◽  
Research Output ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Open Science ◽  
The Body ◽  
Digital Era ◽  
Body Of Knowledge ◽  
Structured Document ◽  
Science Movement

The open science movement enables the accessibility and reusability of research output across the globe. Researchers and other stakeholders in the research process can now easily collaborate to add to the body of knowledge. This chapter documents how open science is impacting the role of libraries, publishers, and authors in the digital era. A structured document analysis and web analysis were done to find out how authors, publishers, and librarians are affected by open science. It was found that librarians are taking advantage of open science to provide various information sources to patrons, the publishers are now charging article processing fees to make the journal articles open access upon publishing, and authors are now able to access many information sources during the research process and enjoy greater visibility of their research output. The author recommends the adoption of open science especially in the developing countries and the enactment of policies that support open science at national, regional, and international levels.

No Longer Overlooked and Undervalued? The Evolving Dynamics of Endogenous Educational Research in Sub-Saharan Africa

2006 ◽  
Vol 76 (1) ◽  
pp. 80-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
RICHARD MACLURE
Keyword(s):  
International Development ◽  
Educational Research ◽  
Central Africa ◽  
Research Capacity ◽  
The United States ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Research Network ◽  
Research Networks ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Local Research

Multilateral donors like the World Bank and bilateral agencies such as the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the British Department for International Development exert a great deal of influence in international educational development — particularly in sub-Saharan Africa — both in the programs they fund and the types of research they engage in. In this article, Richard Maclure investigates educational research in Africa and juxtaposes research done by large, exogenous, Western, results-oriented organizations with research performed by smaller, endogenous, local researchers aided by local research networks. Maclure argues convincingly that research that falls into the exogenous "donor-control" paradigm far too often is irrelevant to the African educational policy context and does little to develop local research capacity. The cases of two African research networks — the Educational Research Network of West and Central Africa and the Association for the Development of Education in Africa—are presented as exemplars of organizations that promote an alternative type of research that is endogenous, relevant to policy and the process of policymaking, and controlled by Africans. Maclure concludes with a call for increased support for and development of these types of networks, and for the development of the long-term solution to educational research in Africa — the university.

scholarly journals Student-supervisor-university expectation alignment in the undergraduate engineering thesis

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 199
Author(s):  
Brad Stappenbelt ◽  
Abheek Basu
Keyword(s):  
Rating Scale ◽  
Research Output ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Pedagogical Practice ◽  
Research Experience ◽  
Doctoral Research ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering ◽  
Research Supervision ◽  
Undergraduate Thesis

Given the lack of student research experience, the undergraduate thesis is necessarily focussed primarily on development of research skills (i.e. it is process oriented). Since postgraduate supervision is research output focussed, the lessons learnt from this field are not always directly transferable. In contrast to the vast body of work in the field of doctoral research supervision, there exists a dearth of literature on undergraduate dissertation supervision. To address this shortcoming, the present study examined the alignment of university, supervisor and student expectations regarding responsibilities in the undergraduate engineering thesis. University expectations, having undergone rigorous review, outline the sound pedagogical practice that should be applied to undergraduate supervision. Expectations of academic staff supervisors and thesis students were obtained through the use of survey tools and post-survey discussions. The surveys used in the present study were adapted from the Role Perceptions Rating Scale (RPRS). Alignment between student and university expectations regarding undergraduate thesis responsibilities in the present study was generally poor. The discrepancy between supervisor and university expectations was even greater, with academic staff generally assuming the bulk of the responsibility for many core thesis tasks. Post-survey discussion indicated that the driver for this behaviour were supervisor expectations that that undergraduate thesis research would contribute to publications. Taking primary responsibility for core thesis tasks away from the student, although improving the likelihood of successful research output, diminishes the ability for an accurate assessment of adequate academic performance. The learning that is intended to result from the undergraduate thesis is devalued when research outcomes are prioritised over research process.

scholarly journals Developing a roadmap to improve trial delivery for underserved groups: results from a UK multi-stakeholder process

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miles D Witham ◽  
Eleanor Anderson ◽  
Camille Carroll ◽  
Paul M Dark ◽  
Kim Down ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Research ◽  
Good Practice ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Steering Committee ◽  
Research Network ◽  
Research Teams ◽  
Improve Design ◽  
Multi Stakeholder ◽  
Underserved Groups ◽  
Future Work

Abstract Background Participants in clinical research studies often do not reflect the populations for which healthcare interventions are needed or will be used. Enhancing representation of underserved groups in clinical research is important to ensure that research findings are widely applicable. We describe a multicomponent workstream project to improve representation of underserved groups in clinical trials.Methods The project comprised three main strands: 1) a targeted scoping review of literature to identify previous work characterising underserved groups and barriers to inclusion; 2) surveys of professional stakeholders and participant representative groups involved in research delivery to refine these initial findings and identify examples of innovation and good practice; 3) a series of workshops bringing together key stakeholders from funding, design, delivery and participant groups to reach consensus on definitions, barriers and a strategic roadmap for future work. The work was commissioned by the UK National Institute for Health Research Clinical Research Network. Output from these strands was integrated by a steering committee to generate a series of goals, workstream plans, and a strategic roadmap for future development work in this area.Results ‘Underserved groups’ was identified and agreed by the stakeholder group as the preferred term. Three-quarters of stakeholders felt that a clear definition of underserved groups did not currently exist; definition was challenging and context-specific but exemplar groups were identified as underserved. Barriers to successful inclusion of underserved groups could be clustered into: communication between research teams and participant groups; how trials are designed and delivered, differing agendas of research teams and participant groups; and lack of trust in the research process. Four key goals for future work were identified: building long-term relationships with underserved groups; developing training resources to improve design and delivery of trials for underserved groups; developing infrastructure and systems to support this work, and working with funders, regulators and other stakeholders to remove barriers to inclusion.Conclusions The work of the INCLUDE group over the next 12 months will build on these findings by generating resources customised for different underserved groups to improve the representativeness of trial populations.

scholarly journals DEVELOPING CREATIVE PERSONALITY IN FUTURE LECTURERS IN PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION (OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH) IN THE CONTEXT OF RESEARCH ACTIVITIES DURING PROFESSIONAL TRAINING

2019 ◽  
pp. 105-117
Author(s):  
Сергій Лаун
Keyword(s):  
Professional Education ◽  
Professional Training ◽  
Occupational Safety ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Occupational Safety And Health ◽  
Creative Imagination ◽  
Research Activities ◽  
Safety And Health ◽  
Creative Personality ◽  
High Level

The article deals with the issues of developing creative personality in future lecturers in professional education (occupational safety and health) in the context of research activities during professional training. The article proves that the development of creative personality expands the limits of students’ learning and research activities. Professional pedagogical training of future lecturers in professional education (occupational safety and health) for research and creative activities contributes to developing new knowledge and skills in the organization of research in accordance with professional qualities of lecturers. Based on the analysis of scientific sources, the concept of creativity in future lecturers in professional education (occupational safety and health) is regarded as a comprehensive activity and development of something new, which is the opposite to a stereotyped pattern activity, and shapes creative imagination characterized by the high level of creativity, pronounced personal qualities and сapacity for creative and research activities, which contribute to effective professional performance. The readiness for research activities in future lecturers in professional education (occupational safety and health) is defined as the result of professional training and a qualitative characteristic of their creative activities based on relevant abilities and skills required to conduct research activities and projects, which allow them to use the acquired skills when conducting scientific research due to the well-developed theoretical foundations of the essence and content of the research process. The article shows that research activities are a powerful mechanism for developing creativity in future lecturers in professional education (occupational safety and health) and one of the main objectives of higher education in accordance with the new requirements of society for professional training of specialists able to solve professional and research tasks independently, actively and creatively.

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