Lessons from the Sciences and the Social Sciences. ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Report No. 4, 1985
The literature on faculty research performance is reviewed, with a focus on research by individual faculty members. The literature on the sociology of science and data-based results from sociological studies are emphasized. Attention is directed to measures of performance, the explanations and specific correlates likely to influence high research performance, and the practical implications of empirical studies for faculty development and evaluation. Three common measures of individual research performance are publication counts, citation counts, and peer and colleague ratings. Productivity researchers attempt to explain the variation in faculty research performance by psychological-individual factors, including superior intellectual ability, a strong motivation and drive to perform, personality traits, and background characteristics. Access to resources and advantages and reinforcements have also been linked to productivity. Additional correlates of productivity have also been investigated: prestige of doctoral program and employing institutions, rank and tenure, early productivity. Numerous correlate studies in the past 40 years have resulted in a profile of productive researchers. In addition to ideas to promote faculty development and evaluation, suggestions for future research of faculty research productivity are offered. Ten pages of references and an index are provided. (SW)
Fields differ in their stage of paradigmatic development : in the understanding of the accepted theory ; in the preferred methodologies , and in the understanding of the important areas to study . According to Lodahl and Gordon ( 1972 ) ...
