Faculty-perceived research skills and research productivity: A case study at a public University in Afghanistan

Nasim Tahsildar; Rahmatullah Hasani

doi:10.17485/IJST/v14i3.2065

Article

Faculty-perceived research skills and research productivity: A case study at a public University in Afghanistan

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Indian Journal of Science and Technology

DOI: 10.17485/IJST/v14i3.2065

Year: 2021, Volume: 14, Issue: 3, Pages: 229-238

Original Article

Faculty-perceived research skills and research productivity: A case study at a public University in Afghanistan

Nasim Tahsildar^1*, Rahmatullah Hasani²

¹A PhD candidate at School of Education, Northeast Normal University (NENU), No.5268, Renmin Street, Changchun, Jilin Province, P. R. China. Tel.: +6015543010323
²Rahmatullah Hasani, a lecturer at Herat University (HU), No.3001, Danesh Street, Herat City, Herat Province, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan

*Corresponding Author
Tel: +6015543010323
Email: [email protected]
[email protected]

Received Date:16 November 2020, Accepted Date:05 January 2021, Published Date:28 January 2021

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

Objectives: To investigate the faculty perceptions of their research skills, research productivity and related hindering factors at a public University in Afghanistan so as to help the Higher Education policy-makers make the required changes in their current decisions in terms of the quality of academic research in the country. Method: The study applied a mixed method approach within two phases: a quantitative phase, which tested the faculty perceptions of their research skills using a questionnaire and a qualitative phase, which examined the faculty insights on their research productivity as well as its determining factors. The study sample included 164 full time faculty members employed by the University. It started in July 2020 and ended at the beginning of December 2020. Findings: A new inventory was developed by the researcher to measure the faculty research skills. Findings based on this inventory indicated that faculty perceived to have mid level research skills with a low-level research productivity as evidenced by their research production. Three different types of hindering factors categorized as personal, institutional and management factors also appeared to be associated with the faculty research productivity. The study ends with specific suggestions to Afghan education policy-makers and faculty members so as to make the necessary changes and improvements in their policies with regard to research skills, research productivity and the determining factors. This study is the earliest study to investigate the faculty research skills and research productivity in Afghanistan university context.

Keywords: The faculty; research skills; research productivity; hindering factors

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Copyright

© 2021 Tahsildar & Hasani.This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Published By Indian Society for Education and Environment (iSee)