Research Productivity of Arts and Science University Teachers in Myanmar

บทคัดย่อ

This paper explores the different conceptions of research held by the academics
in terms of their levels of research productivity, their levels of research training, whether
they considered themselves an active researcher and a member of a research team, and
their disciplinary differences. This analysis reviews research productivity of Arts and Science
university teachers in Myanmar. Assessment of the impact of research projects is of interest
for both educational and research-oriented segments of arts and science universities. Here,
we examined the scholarly products of university teachers’ research productivity. It was a
prospective cross-sectional questionnaire study. The questionnaire is usually designed to
create a relatively straightforward process for data collection, entry and analysis. All 425
university teachers were e-mailed a questionnaire. For this cross-sectional study, we look
at the research productivity of a certain population of Arts and Science university teachers
in Myanmar. The researchers evaluate people from different specializations, geographical
location and social backgrounds. Cross-sectional data or a cross section of a study population, in statistics is a type of data collected at the specific period of time. The analysis
might also have no regard to differences in time. In total, 417 university teachers (mean age
27 years; 74% females) responded. Among them, 29 university teachers were main authors
on scientific papers published in international research journals, 64 university teachers had
co-authored a paper submitted for international publications and 32 university teachers
had published in national research journals. One hundred and thirty-two reported that they would in the coming 5 years prefer
to participate in research conferences.
However, 263 reported that they lost their
fundamental interest in doing research. It is
possible that many researchers lost interest
in research activity, because of not getting
proper guidance. Traditionally, many Myanmar university teachers are granted tenure
without showing a research record; many
of them continue to be inactive for many
reasons although research outputs have
recently become a major criterion for promotion. According to the theory of planned
/ reasoned behavior (Ajzen. 2001), positive
attitude towards certain behaviors determine
the intention to perform these behaviours.
Although intention does not always translate
into action (Silver. 2009), positive attitudes
can be viewed as a prerequisite for teacher
educators’ intention to conduct research. It
was found that 51% of Myanmar university
teachers had authored papers and 33%
had given scientific presentations within
one-year follow-up, however, only 30% of
our university teachers had submitted a
paper for publication. The results indicate
that attitude is positive at a professional
level, but also that strategies to encourage
young teachers to perform research may
be needed