Date of Award
January 2025
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Educational Foundations & Research
First Advisor
Robert H. Stupnisky
Abstract
University faculty play a pivotal role in producing research that leads to positive social change through the creation of new knowledge, enhancement of higher education quality, and improved university rankings. Faculty produce more when they feel competent, autonomously motivated, and acknowledged. Past studies have measured faculty research competencies using self-report scales that may contain biases, potentially leading to significant discrepancies in research outcomes. My program of research – a three-article dissertation – aimed to develop and validate the test-based measures of faculty research competence that can more reliably predict faculty research success. The three studies provide an enhanced understanding of what faculty research competence is, the gaps in literature, the levels of competence among faculty, and how competence predicts faculty research success. The identification of various methods for measuring faculty research success requires a more comprehensive collection and summary. The first article identified the factors affecting faculty research success following a systematic literature review. Using the Boolean search, 265 studies were selected for abstract screening. Finally, 36 studies were selected for full-text review, which covered 237,980 faculty members from STEM and non-STEM areas in 29 countries. The results indicated that faculty research success is measured through several forms of academic publications, including the number of articles published in journals, conference proceedings, books, book chapters, citations, and the h-index. Faculty research success was influenced by demographic, job, institutional, and psychosocial factors. The first synthesis informed the design of the second systematic literature review, which aimed to identify the core components of faculty research competence. The core competencies of faculty research were unclear; thus, the current study systematically reviewed the literature to identify these. Using Boolean searches, 553 articles were selected for first-level screening. These yielded 46 peer-reviewed journal articles for full-text analysis, six of which focused on faculty populations. Six core components of faculty research proficiency were identified: finding and reviewing literature, planning a study, collecting and analyzing data, writing research, disseminating research findings, and managing research projects. This study also identified 18 sub-competencies which helped to develop a test to measure faculty research competence more reliably. Following the findings of studies one and two, the third article aimed to develop and validate a test for measuring Faculty Research Competencies Test (FRCT) and examining how FRCT predicts the motivation and success of social sciences faculty in North American higher education institutions (NAHEIs). We developed FRCT, considering AERA, NCME, and APA guidelines, and found the items were acceptable to measure faculty research competence. This study collected online data from 154 social science faculty working at NAHEIs and found faculty members tended to rate their self-reported competence significantly higher than their test-based competence. This study also found significant group differences in faculty research competence considering faculty gender, race, age, origin, highest degree, rank, tenure status, Carnegie classification of institutions, and type of contract. Path analysis revealed that FRCT significantly predicted autonomous motivation, and autonomous motivation, in turn, predicted faculty research success. The findings provide a more valid measure for identifying faculty research areas that require skill improvement to achieve success in research. These three studies of the current program of research identified the factors contributing to faculty research success, core competencies of faculty research competence, and introduced a test-based measure of FRCT-SS. These findings will help future researchers identify how faculty research success will be measured and what support is needed to achieve success as researchers. Moreover, this study will open a new window for measuring faculty research competence and success more reliably, which may be applicable in other disciplines (STEM, Health and Medical sciences), regions (Europe, Asia), and populations too. The potential findings should help the top management of universities (e.g., vice-president of research and development), heads of the disciplines, funding agencies, and faculty (themselves) to understand the knowledge gaps in different domains of research competence that will open a new window of training and learning.
Recommended Citation
Salahuddin, Muhammad, "Which University Faculty Are Successful Researchers? Developing And Testing Measures Of Research Competence To Predict Faculty Research Motivation And Success" (2025). Theses and Dissertations. 7537.
https://commons.und.edu/theses/7537