Academia Research

Ragged Edges in the Fractured Future: A Co-authored Organizational Autoethnography

by Andrew Herrmann

Co-authored with J.J. Barnhill & M.C. Poole.

Draft only. Do not copy. Under review at the Journal of Organizational Ethnography.

Purpose: This article represents three ethnographers researching an organizational event within academia: the Second... more Purpose: This article represents three ethnographers researching an organizational event within academia: the Second International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry. It explores the divergent viewpoints of our ethnographic experiences as well as reflecting upon our relationships with each other as we attempted to understand each others' viewpoints.

Design/Methodology/Approach: This ethnographic project involved participant observation, full participation, and narrative interviews. However, as the project continued, it evolved to reflexively examining our own viewpoints and relationships challenges.

Findings: This paper contributes to understanding ethnographic research of organizational events in several ways. First, it is an exemplar of how three ethnographers examining the same organizational event view it through differing lenses. Secondly, it shows how we worked together through the research, struggling to understand each others' varied political and personal lenses through dialogue.

Limitations: The research examined only one organizational event, therefore the findings are specific to this site and the same results may not necessarily be found in other organizations.

Originality/Value: This paper is unique in that three ethnographers from different generations and different political worlviews can came together for the purposes of research, examine an organizational event and learn to cooperate with and appreciate each others' viewpoints.

Национальное знание и международное признание: постсоветская академия в борьбе за cимволические рынки

by Elena Gapova/Елена Гапова/Алена Гапава

Ab Imperio: Исследования по новой имперской истории и национализму в постсоветском пространстве. 2011, № 4

Regional collaboration and industrial linkage by academics in Malaysian institutions of higher learning: myth or reality?

by Airil Haimi Mohd Adnan

(2009) - research paper, featured presentation.
Co-authored with Nurulhayati Ilias.

Regional Conference on the Humanities: Managing ASEAN's Future (RCH 2009) / May 18th and 19th, 2009, Petronas University of Technology (UTP), Main Campus, Perak, MALAYSIA.

So Noxious a Premonition

by Mohamed Eno

Excerpted from my forthcoming volume Guilt of Otherness: A Brief Personal Memoir in Poetry

Strong and weak leadership exist everywhere, in every profession, and academia is not an exception. This verse is... more Strong and weak leadership exist everywhere, in every profession, and academia is not an exception. This verse is dedicated to all men and women academics who at some point in their professional life felt oppressed, frustrated or marginalized for one reason or another by the powers that be in their respective institutions.

Image Licensing: A Quick Guide for Academics

by Rebecca Hains

The Static Culture

by Damir Ibrisimovic

Asademia afraid of --- knowledge! Asademia afraid of --- knowledge!

Cepiku D. (2010), “Influenza, Interdisciplinarietà e Internazionalizzazione. Un'analisi empirica del divario tra prassi e ricerca accademica sul management pubblico in Italia”, in Azienda Pubblica, 23/4.

by Denita Cepiku

Intellectual curiosity, disciplinary traditions and performance frameworks: understanding academic networks

by Jenny Lewis

Join the REx Collective

by Jenn Fishman

REx editors include Jenn Fishman, Joan Mullin, and Mike Palmquist.

The Research Exchange Index or REx  is designed to recognize local, national, and international writing... more The Research Exchange Index or REx  is designed to recognize local, national, and international writing researchers by periodically collecting and publishing information about the research studies they've conducted. All writing researchers are invited to contribute by uploading information about their work. In addition, writing researchers, teachers, and students are invited to help build and shape REx by joining the editorial collective as an acquisitions editor or an editorial reviewer. To learn more, download the attached paper or contact the REx editors: RExchangeContact@gmail.com.

Does Science Provide Us with the Methodological Key to Wisdom?

by Nicholas Maxwell

Science provides us with the methodological key to wisdom.  This idea goes back to the 18th century French... more Science provides us with the methodological key to wisdom.  This idea goes back to the 18th century French Enlightenment.  Unfortunately, in developing the idea, the philosophes of the Enlightenment made three fundamental blunders: they failed to characterize the progress-achieving methods of science properly, they failed to generalize these methods properly, and they failed to develop social inquiry as social methodology having, as its basic task, to get progress-achieving methods, generalized from science, into social life so that humanity might make progress towards an enlightened world.  Instead, the philosophes developed social inquiry as social science.  This botched version of the Enlightenment idea was further developed throughout the 19th century, and built into academia in the early 20th century with the creation of university departments of social science.  As a result, academia today seeks knowledge but does not devote reason to the task of helping humanity make progress towards a better, wiser world.  Our current and impending global crises are the outcome.  We urgently need to bring about a revolution in universities throughout the world so that the blunders of the Enlightenment are corrected, and universities take up their proper task of helping humanity make progress towards a wiser world.

Designing for interaction in research environments: A case study

by Thom Baguley

Lansdale, M., Parkin, J. K., Austin, S. & Baguley, T. (2011). Designing for interaction in research environments: A case study. Journal of Environmental Psychology. 31, 407-420.

Graduate researchers are an essential part of higher education (HE) in terms of its contribution to knowledge and the... more Graduate researchers are an essential part of higher education (HE) in terms of its contribution to knowledge and the wider economy, but how the work environment influences behaviour and productivity in this work domain is poorly understood. Nevertheless, building programmes continue with a detectable trend towards more open office designs. Beyond issues of cost-efficiency, this reflects a popular belief in the significance of face-to-face interaction to research productivity. Using a combination of subjective and quantitative methods, this case study investigates the validity of this claim and how a redesigned environment impacts upon work practices and collaboration within a community of researchers. Although the new environment was judged favourably by occupants and managers, analysis suggests a less positive behavioural response. Contrary to expectation, we conclude that providing open plan environments is not sufficient to produce more collaborative practices in HE. We argue that this would require changes in the organisational structure, the reward structure for individual and team-driven tasks, and the firm policing of the management of change.

Academia, Journal Publishing and the Bio-Medical Industry

by Ajai Singh

MensS ana Monographs 2007 Edit

1. Always see, and demand, conflict of interest revelations of authors, especially of those who write Clinical... more 1. Always see, and demand, conflict of interest revelations of authors, especially of those who write Clinical Practice Guidelines, report drug trials, write drug reviews. As also of CME presenters of such drugs. Many spokespersons of pharma help palm off marketing manoeuvres as evidence based medicine.
2. Always verify whether the trial reports of a drug touted are as per revised ICMJE guidelines, in which researchers have access to full trial data and control over publication of results. That they were involved all through in the write-up, right from first draft to the final text.This is important to prevent manipulation of data, publishing doctored results and ghost writing which is pretty rampant and serves as another marketing manoeuvre masquerading as evidence based medicine.
3. Never be impressed by glossy one-page write-ups by pharma reps, but ask for the original paper where it is published, and see whether point 1 and 2 are addressed.
4. Enjoy the fare at pharma sponsored CME, if you cannot resist, but keep your critical antennae up. If some drug is being hailed as the new miracle drug, just note that few months back some other drug was being similarly hailed. Important breakthroughs are welcome, but are few and far in-between.

Take Home

All Pharma/industry is not bad.
All Academia is not bad either.
There are, however, numerous areas of concern in their connect.
All can be resolved if patient welfare and scientific evidence, especially replicable studies, become the litmus test. And they look to their long-term interests.
That's the Win-Win for all players concerned.

Power, publishing and prestige: Academic freedom in the corporatized university

by Andrew Herrmann

Paper presented at the Central States Communication Association Convention, St. Louis, MO. (Top paper Communication Ethics and Freedom of Expression Interest Group)

Educational scholars often use survey-based and statistical analysis to investigate how individuals are socialized... more Educational scholars often use survey-based and statistical analysis to investigate how individuals are socialized into academe. This discursive and narrative project focused on intricate, detailed and lived aspects of academic socialization. Using narrative interviewing, this project reveals new faculty negotiating strategically ambiguous situations, self-disciplining to become “good” academics, and the consequences of the pursuit of prestige by universities on new faculty agendas.

Critical Hospitality Management Research

by Peter Lugosi

This is published as Lugosi, P., Lynch, P. and Morrison, A., 2009. Critical Hospitality Management Research. The Service Industries Journal, 29 (10), pp. 1465-1478. Please consult the final published version if citing.

This paper discusses the development of critical hospitality management research (CHMR) and explores key issues that... more This paper discusses the development of critical hospitality management research (CHMR) and explores key issues that such approaches raise. The paper is split into two parts. The first reviews contemporary writings that reflect the changing nature of hospitality management research and accounts for the emergence of a critical tradition. The second part identifies eight areas which are central concerns for the future development of CHMR: criticality, ethics and advocacy, scale, claims of legitimacy and research quality, representation, audience, affiliation, institutions and institutional contexts, and the relationship between management research and pedagogy. Associated questions and challenges are surfaced and conclusions drawn.

Perspectives in Law: International Development Law and Policy Course Syllabus

by Edsel Tupaz

Taught at New England Law | Boston, 2009

Managing an Undergraduate Research Lab

by Lily Cushenbery

Cushenbery, L. (2011). Managing an undergraduate research lab. The Industrial-Organizational Psychologist, 48, 118-121.

Running an undergraduate research lab is similar to running a small organization. As I-O psychologists, we happen to... more Running an undergraduate research lab is similar to running a small organization. As I-O psychologists, we happen to know some things about running organizations, and we have found it useful to apply these skills to build a research lab with effective and motivated members. In this column, I review some guidelines for how to run a lab to benefit both researchers and undergraduate students, including suggestions for structure, recruitment, selection, and socialization of undergraduate research assistants.

“I Know I’m Unlovable”: Desperation, Dislocation, Despair, and Discourse on the Academic Job Hunt

by Andrew Herrmann

Herrmann, A. F. (2012). “I know I’m unlovable”: Desperation, dislocation, despair, and discourse on the academic job hunt. Qualitative Inquiry, 18, 239-247.

“Failure, says academic culture, is anything other than achieving the ultimate goal of a tenure-track professorship.... more “Failure, says academic culture, is anything other than achieving the ultimate goal of a tenure-track professorship. More specifically, the epitome of success is a tenure-track job at a major research university. You're still successful, albeit to a lesser degree, if that job is at a liberal-arts college, and even less so if it's at a community college. But a nonacademic career, well, that's just unacceptable” (Kajitani & Bryant, 2005, ¶ 3).

Through a Foucaudian lens it examines the academic success narrative, and the discourses of success and failure in academe. This multi-layered personal narrative delves into the bi-polarity of emotions on the academic job market, and the consequences of using technologies of the self upon the job-seeking subject. Finally, it is a reminder that as much as we want control over the process, we have little, and must live within ambiguity.

Introduction to Research

by Tanveer Hussain

Boosting Scientific Research: Evidence from a Public Program

by César Alonso-Borrego

(joint with Antonio Romero-Medina and Matteo Triossi)

This paper is concerned with governmental research policies aimed at improving the quality of national research... more This paper is concerned with governmental research policies aimed at improving the quality of national research centers. In particular, we analyze the design of a unique Spanish public program aimed at recruiting high quality researchers in public research centers: the Ramón y Cajal Program. We claim that the program design changed over time in response to agents' needs. Given that research personnel are scarce, even endogamic centers prefer the new mechanism after a finite number of calls. We analyze application data for the first five calls, finding empirical support to our findings.

Academic employment and gender: a Turkish challenge to vertical sex segregation?

by Mustafa Ozbilgin

Healy, G.; Özbilgin M. and Aliefendioglu, H. (2005) Academic employment and gender: a Turkish challenge to vertical sex segregation? European Journal of Industrial Relations, 11, 2: 247-264.