Journal of Research Practice - JRP (Athabasca University Press)
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Current Reflections on Collaborative and Engaged Research
Full text linkThe purpose of this article is to discuss the key elements of a meaningful research collaboration strategy between community-service organizations and academia. We discuss the challenges in developing an effective partnership, and we highlight current strategies for sustainable research partnerships between academia and community. To address the issue of effective partnership we include a case study to illustrate the connections among community-service organization contexts, by focusing on the research and capacity building infrastructure and specific forms of research education. Although the community-university relationship tends to push the work toward a consultant-driven model, this article emphasizes the need for a guiding framework to foster a more meaningful agenda for collaborative research in future
Reflecting on Collaborative Research Into the Sustainability of Mediterranean Agriculture: A Case Study Using a Systematization of Experiences Approach
Full text linkThis article describes how a research institute went about reviewing the relationship between its members and external research partners in engaging in collaborative research. A systematization of experiences (SE) process was implemented to enable such review and draw implications for the institute’s strategy regarding research into the sustainability of Mediterranean agriculture. The SE exercise included four workshops attended by selected researchers, one questionnaire survey targeting the institute’s research community, and three focus group discussions with external research partners. The rate of participation by researchers decreased during the process; however, those that followed through to the end of the SE exercise found it to be useful in clarifying both individual and institutional perspectives. Further, SE was seen as a vehicle for increasing the level of understanding between researchers and their willingness to engage in collaborative actions. However, the rapid pace of today’s academic world and the dominant mode of evaluating scientific performance were identified as hindering the conditions needed to allow the necessary space and time for reflection and collaborative efforts. Therefore, the results highlight the current tension between the production of scientific knowledge according to existing patterns and the development of socially meaningful research
Landscape Loopholes: Moments for Change
Full text linkSocial-ecological systems are breaking down at local, regional, and global scales, and sustainability seems an increasingly distant aspiration. Social harmony and economic systems are connected to ecological systems and climate, in multiple complex ways, at many scales. Adapting research practice to match integration opportunities within social-ecological systems could contribute foresight capabilities emerging from landscape change studies, which can be coupled with emerging policy transformation opportunities. The shaping of landscapes by human imagination and physical action creates meaningful contexts for building sustainability. However, the policy landscape is often dominated by circularity and “lock-in” to unsustainable pathways that are hard to escape. Moments for change emerge through timely convergence of circumstances, within a landscape context, that provide a window of opportunity—a “landscape loophole”—through which the transformation to more sustainable social-ecological relationships might be achieved. Creating future options redundancy (FOR) plans, a variety of possible pathways and alternative landscape futures within the characteristics and capacity of a region, could facilitate policy shifts and adaptive capacity, and reduce risk through reflexive future options. The convergence of circumstances providing loophole opportunities to escape existing lock-in might be understood, and even predicted, by closely coupling landscape sciences and policy research
Influence of Personal Epistemology on Research Design: Implications for Research Education
Full text linkThis study was aimed at determining whether a specific research methodology was dominant within a cohort of master’s level engineering management students and, if so, whether this preference was directed by their personal epistemology, rather than the dictates of their research questions. Secondary data were used to determine the dominant research approaches. Interviews with a selected sample of students were undertaken to obtain a more detailed understanding of how personal epistemology impacts on the students’ methodological approaches to research. It was found that empirical-analytical approaches account for 72% of all studies within the student cohort, indicating a strong preference for such approaches. Furthermore, it was revealed in the interviews that the students tended to overlook methodological considerations, focussing only on research design. There was a general lack of self-reflection and awareness of personal epistemology, despite the latter being an important influence over the type and topic of the research, its purpose, research design, analytical techniques, and even the interpretation of results. The rather superficial approach could result in research designs biased by personal epistemologies and ill-suited to the research problems. This suggests possible changes to the teaching of research methodology in order to improve the research practice of students
A Book for Students of Science and Practicing Scientists: Review of Peter M. Pruzan's 'Research Methodology: The Aims, Practices and Ethics of Science'
Full text linkThis article is a review of a book on research methodology. The book covers a broader range of issues than is usually covered in the training of scientists. It deals with the aims and limitations of science and how one may distinguish between science and other forms of intellectual activity. The book offers elaborate coverage of the process of science, the uncertainties involved in it, and the issues of ethics and integrity. Thus, it delves into areas essential for the practice of science. It equips the reader with the conceptual repertoire and the critical outlook necessary to perform and write about science in a responsible manner. The book is highly recommended for both science students and practicing scientists
Self-Reporting in Plagiarism Research: How Honest is This Approach?
Full text linkPlagiarism is a growing phenomenon in higher education institutions. The primary method used to measure student engagement in plagiarism is self-reporting. Self-reporting is problematic for a number of reasons, and with respect to investigating plagiarism rates, it does more harm than good. Inaccuracy in student self-reported plagiarism rates, limited student understanding of plagiarism, the inability to compare findings across studies, and requesting students self-report within a specified timeframe lead to reliability and validity concerns in these studies. This article addresses these issues and provides suggestions for researchers when investigating plagiarism rates
Doing Peer Review: Reflections From an International Group of Postdoctoral Fellows
Full text linkThere is very little written regarding developing the skills of doing peer reviews. In this piece we use our own experience as postdoctoral fellows to offer our reflections on how to get the most out of doing peer reviews as a trainee researcher. We touch upon the variety and complexity of peer reviews, the debates concerning the nature and validity of peer reviews, the issue of conflict of interest, the menace of predatory journals, but also the potential gain from doing peer reviews. In sharing our reflections, we hope that future graduate students and postdoctoral fellows may be better prepared to do peer reviews and benefit from the experience