Department of Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs
Project Team: Elizabeth Deane
Lesley Johnson
Gar Jones
Nicola Lengkeek
University of Western Sydney, Nepean
December 1996
96/21
Evaluations and Investigations Program
Higher Education Division
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Section One: Introduction
Section Two: The Research Environment
Section Three: The Study
Appendix 2: Research Management Plans
Appendix 3: National Competitive Grants Index
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We would like to acknowledge the contribution of all the women who participated in this study, either through interviews or by returning the questionnaire. Many thanks to Rugmini Venkatraman who so valiantly organised all the interviews and conducted many of them.
We would also like to thank the members of our Advisory Committee; in particular, Julie Wells, Janet Gaffey and Ingrid Moses. We acknowledge the early work of Deborah Chambers and Rosemary Leonard, from the Women's Research Centre, in making this project happen. Our thanks also to Dr Cate Poynton, Director of the Women's Research Centre, for her support.
We are exceedingly grateful for the editorial and proof editing undertaken by Justine Lloyd. Thanks are also due to Debra Bailey for her development of project databases, Anne-Marie Lane for the difficult task of transcribing the bulk of our interviews, Andrew Martin for his quantitative data analysis and Julie Fleming for tidying up the final report.
Finally, a warm note of thanks to Mechelle Cheers for her advice, insight and support.
Elizabeth Deane, Lesley Johnson, Gar Jones and Nicola Lengkeek
August 1996
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The Women, Research and Research Productivity in the Post-1987 Universities: Opportunities and Constraints project has concerned itself with the effect of transforming Colleges of Advanced Education (CAEs) and Institutes of Technology into what are now known as the post-1987 universities in the Unified National System (UNS) and how female academics in these institutions have managed in this climate of change.
It has also sought to explore the nature and impact of the research cultures of these institutions, the shape of which has derived from unique institutional histories, as well as exploring the pressure of present financial necessity to attract competitive external research funding (Hill 1993). Such inquiry is predicated on the belief that one of the major obstacles facing newer universities is the establishment of a research culture and how to facilitate its development.
Within this project, a representative group of 120 women academics from three post-1987 universities have been studied with respect to their research productivity. What emerged, forcefully, was the variety of ways and means by which the women were able to commit to the development of their own and their institution's research profile. This study has encompassed analysis of both traditional and non-traditional quantitative measures of individual and group productivity, as well as the institutional factors which have helped or hindered this productivity. Most importantly it has explored each individual's journey through her research career. The research team has sought to provide the women who cooperated so fully with this study extensive space to voice their thoughts and views, their fears and joys, relating to research. This aspect of the study has permitted a unique insight into the obstacles that women academics must confront and overcome in order to pursue an academic career. It has also highlighted the changing nature of academic work expectations, particularly as women academics strive to achieve a balance between personal and/or domestic responsibilities and their teaching, administrative and research roles.
The struggle for balance, what we have termed the 'holistic academic', where quality of teaching and the pursuit of research can coexist with family and personal commitments, was, however, often a frustrating quest. When this was coupled with over critical self-judgement, with respect to both research performance and research potential, exhaustion and low morale were not far away. Throughout this study there appeared to be widespread ignorance of what might constitute both high achievement and normative activity in various disciplines. The role of institutions in offering career guidance and collaborative goal setting for individual academics seemed non-existent, the academy's management of its human resources 'catch-as-catch-can'.
In this environment career management would seem particularly important. The role of women within the academy is still constrained by the fact that they are a minority, the majority of whom are untenured, undertaking contract employment and clustered at lower levels of appointment. This is not a propitious mix of employment factors. As many women in this study noted, the academy is not blessed with an acceptance of a diversity of ways of operating nor always a diversity of research paradigms within disciplines. Moreover, within many disciplines, the successful research career is often seen in terms of a linear progression: the honours program, the PhD, the postdoctoral experience, the lectureship, the senior lectureship, all set within a neat timeframe. The majority of women in this study did not fit such a model. Even when women entered the upper echelons of senior lecturer, associate professor and above, their minority status often led them to be appointed on a multitude of committees. Their research credentials might be appropriate, but they were often alienated from their research through heavy administrative roles.
Within this study, 34 per cent of questionnaire respondents were on contract. Of these, 90 per cent of associate lecturers, 30 per cent of lecturers and 10 per cent of senior lecturers were on contract. Contract employment was highest at the lowest levels of academic appointment, where teaching loads are often highest, and the need to gain research credentials to maintain employment are greatest.
For post-1987 women academics, these system wide constraints were often amplified. Of the women academics studied, 27 per cent had a PhD, 2 per cent had Masters by research, 39 per cent had a Masters by coursework as their highest academic qualification, while the remainder had bachelors and postgraduate diplomas. This research qualification deficit has imposed a developmental load on the three institutions studied, a factor often unrecognised in a system which rewarded institutions for research outcomes closely allied to the expertise of academic staff. Although the research management plans of the targeted institutions did not overtly address this issue, associated budgetary allocations were made to provide financial support for higher degrees and newer researchers. Such a commitment would seem to require recognition in institutional research profiles, as well as within the Unified National System.
In this study, the commitment of the women to teaching was notable. Many women, however, felt that a commitment to quality teaching was often in direct conflict with institutional expectations for research activity. While quality of teaching was a promotion criteria at all institutions studied, many women felt that good researchers would be promoted ahead of excellent teachers. Even when written criteria for appointment and promotion were clear in their support for quality teaching, the 'realities' of implementation would seem to argue for greater transparency in the processes employed by institutions. Institutional expectations and fair play, with both promotion and appointments, need a higher profile within institutional policy and discourse.
Attempts to evaluate the system wide success of women in gaining access to external research funds were frustrated by a lack of gender data collected by the majority of grant-giving agencies. This lack of information was mirrored in a lack of consistently collected data within the individuals' institutions. The research team believe that the debate regarding research productivity needs to be informed by consistent and reliable data collection and analysis.
What did emerge, however, from examination of the institutions within this study, was the role of competitive internal funding in providing women exposure to the research grants process, particularly for newer disciplines and for projects involving non-traditional research outputs.
The voices you will encounter in this report are distinctive; they tell of struggle and achievement, often with striking humour. They offer insight into ways the academy could usefully begin correcting what the Women in Science, Engineering and Technology (1995) report noted were institutional and structural impediments to women's full participation in the research process.
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It has become clear throughout this study that the factors which influence women's involvement in and commitment to research are complex and, to a significant extent, unique to each individual. While institutional policy and practice play a significant part in defining the research environment, the ultimate success of any particular policy initiative rests with the individual researcher and how well the needs of the parties enmesh.
The recommendations which arise from this study are primarily focused on imperatives for institutional change and extend from policy initiatives directed at developing a supportive institutional research environment through to educative strategies aimed at increasing awareness at all levels, within and without the institution, of factors which influence the research process.
Recommendation 1: Academic Contracts
The development of a research career requires some form of employment security. Too many women academics are on short term contracts (33 per cent of the women examined in this study were on contracts of a mean duration of 2.5 years (range 0.5 to 5.0 years). In some instances it was found that women on contracts (in particular fractional contracts) were not informed of their prospects for continued employment until the very end of the contract period.
Recommendation 2: Academic Induction
Many women in this study highlighted the lack of orientation/induction programs within their institutions. Even women who have come from other public sector organisations felt that the culture of universities was unique: non-inclusive, somewhat insular, often without a transparent management structure.
Staff were often thrown in the 'deep end' without any proper orientation or guidance. This was considered both frustrating and time consuming. It also meant that expectations were ill-defined and sometimes difficult to assess. Newer staff should be supported by a program of networking and critical reflection that operates over the first twelve months of their appointment. The University of Technology, Sydney's course, The Development of Research Potential, funded by the Department of Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs, may be a model worth pursuing in this regard.
Recommendation 3: Academic Promotions
The promotion policies of the three universities examined in this study were poorly understood, not only by women academics but by department heads, deans and members of the professoriate. Much mythology is generated around the issue of promotion and the role of research in promotion. It is recommended that all departments regularly distribute information regarding institutional promotional policy, as well as developing and promoting annual workshops involving:
all staff;
staff development/the research office unit; and
key promotion panel members in order to highlight current policy and to discuss what might constitute a realistic pattern of achievement.
It is also recommended that successful applicants for promotion be publicised with specific indications of how each applicant met the specified criteria.
Recommendation 4: Staff Development
Very little management and nurturing of academic staff by unit heads was encountered in this study. Staff development programs which address issues of management best practice need to be coupled to programs which develop interpersonal skills. It is seen as an imperative for academic unit managers to undertake a watching brief on issues of individual career planning and realistic goal setting.
Creative and effective management of individuals within academic units would seem a priority issue. Together, women academics and their institutions need to take seriously issues of career planning and promotion.
It is recommended that research offices in collaboration with staff development units, assume a role in advising women about research and career options.
Institutional obsession with Research with a big R may not always be helpful to women academics, when what is required is a targeted program of grant seeking that gives individuals and groups a plan for sourcing funding from a variety of schemes, both internal and external, coupled with a medium term publications program.
The research office, with access to performance data across the academy, is also in an ideal position to advise women academics on the realities of research productivity thereby aiding the process of realistic goal setting. Many women academics in this study were largely unaware of the performance norms of their disciplines and their institution. For many this resulted in lack of confidence in competing for grants and even getting involved in research.
Recommendation 5: Teaching, Administration and the Non-academic Interface
Within this study the use of techniques such as varying semester workloads for individual academics, on the basis of planned research activities, was rarely encountered. A significant number of women found engagement in the research process an extremely satisfying activity but often put it last on their list of commitments when time was of a premium. Some academic managers saw this as a cop-out. It is apparent that a substantial amount of administrative work being undertaken by academics could be more effectively dealt with by general support staff, thereby freeing the academic to pursue research.
Creative and effective management of individuals and groups requires the development of effective partnerships between academic and non-academic staff; such partnerships are essential if the academy is to prosper as a well-managed sector building on the achievements and skills of all its staff. As the Hoare Committee (1995) noted, the under-utilisation of non-academic staff is endemic within the system.
Recommendation 6: Infrastructure Support
Effective infrastructure support can operate in a variety of ways. For many women scientists in the three post-1987 universities studied, the lack of basic equipment was a profound impediment (they were often forced to travel to other institutions to access equipment which resulted in a compounding time delay to their research work. For others, allocation of basic support for publication (i.e. typing), was often lacking; the latter was considered a key item of infrastructure support by many women in this study. In some instances,
it appeared that academic unit managers were actively discouraging the research development of their staff, either through poor provision of appropriate infrastructure support or, as indicated previously, through poor planning and distribution of teaching and administrative responsibilities.
Recommendation 7: Data Collection
As a first move towards such accountability, all those agencies which comprise the National Competitive Grants Index, and hence impact on the research resources of higher education institutions, should be required to systematically collect data on gender, discipline, level of appointment, age and institutional affiliation, for all investigators and for all applications, successful and unsuccessful. In the absence of such concrete data, stakeholders in the research and development process rely on anecdotal evidence or small scale studies conducted in single institutions.
Likewise universities themselves need to adopt a systematic approach, encompassing all of the aforementioned as well as gender analysis, with respect to research inputs and outcomes. Increasingly, in a performance-based environment, universities will be required to take up the challenge of analysing their research effort.
As a minimum, universities should regularly analyse their Research Quantum return, particularly research disseminations, for gender breakdown.
Recommendation 8: Women's Register
The reality that women are a substantial minority within the university sector has profound implications for how women are seen or not seen. Women academics need, in various alliances, to promote their research activities and achievements. Visibility is a key issue (the promotion of success stories along a multiplicity of research paths) needs to be undertaken by both women academics and their institutions.
Such a register may also facilitate interactions between women academics within multicampus or networked institutions such as those used in this study.
Recommendation 9: The Holistic Academic
The fractured nature of academic life, with its conflicting demands of quality teaching, up-to-date scholarship, the pursuit of original research and the cultivation of substantial partnerships with external communities, creates extreme tension in the working life of an academic. Many of the women in this study expressed a desire for a balanced lifestyle that significantly involved 'not cheating on my family'.
The academy needs to consider some manner of public and formal recognition that many of its women academics are significant care-givers with major family responsibilities. Much of this responsibility is invisible, falling between the cracks of what is often an unstructured working life. Because it is not built into the model of the 'successful academic' many of the career judgements that women make in terms of their individual performance seem unnecessarily harsh (the model of academic excellence is, in many ways, a masculine one).
Likewise, the promotion model seems unnecessarily monothematic, inflexible with regard to different modes of research and research outcomes, lacking recognition of the burden and interruption that being a significant carer can bring to an academic career.
No institution in this study has explored ways of counterbalancing contributions to research against life constraints. Many women in this study expressed the tension in their lives as a result of trying to be all things to all people (good teachers, good researchers, good wives and good mothers). One possible way to achieve this balance is to develop alternate measures of competence and commitment to research. For instance, consideration of the flow-on from research to the teaching and learning role of the academic, as measured through student appraisal, or a movement away from the importance attached to quantitative measures of research productivity to analysis of the quality of the work and the time involved in its execution, could develop more sensitive measures of women academics' performance.
It is recommended that institutions develop concrete strategies which support a family-friendly workplace.
Appropriate childcare is an important issue for many academic women. While some institutions in this study have established long-day care facilities for preschool children, in the main demand for places outstrips the need; students and staff compete for places; care is not available on all campuses of the institution and limited care is available both in the long vacation of January and February (when most women have the chance to undertake research) and in the school holidays when women must accommodate the needs of school-aged children.
When childcare is available, the restricted hours may prove problematic for women academics who teach early morning or night classes. Consideration in the allocation of teaching responsibilities and timetable structure by academic managers would do much to alleviate this particular problem. Likewise scheduling of meetings for late afternoon or early morning can mean a carer is denied access to developing the networks which can play a crucial role in fostering her career.
Carer responsibilities not only impact on activities within the institution. In this study many women indicated their reluctance or even inability to attend conferences while their children were young. For some no alternate carer was available or costs of alternate care were too high; for others it was seen to impose too much on the family unit. Once again the opportunities for networking and becoming known in the discipline area are reduced. In all the institutions studied, conference scholarships were available to support conference attendance (encompassing travel, accommodation and registration) yet no institution has considered alternate funding for child care to enable such attendance.
Recommendation 10: Performance Indicators
At present there is an undue emphasis on the numerical aspects of measuring research performance and productivity. No attempt is made to evaluate the quality of the contribution although the use of citations has been canvassed. Many women interviewed in this study reflected on the impact of their involvement in research on the quality of their teaching.
By current criteria the research productivity of these women is low. However, the impact of their scholarship on their students and, hence the future practice of their discipline, warrants closer scrutiny. In effect, given the dual academic responsibilities of teaching and research, performance indicators which recognise and draw together these two activities would benefit institutions as they attempt to deliver a quality service to all their stakeholders.
It is recommended that the Department of Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs employ a weighted mechanism for external research grants, declared under the Research Quantum, that balances total dollar value and total number of grants (two-thirds dollar, one-third number would be the recommended weighting).
Many women researchers are clustered in areas where research achievement in external grants is not measured in large dollar amounts.
It is recommended that the Creative Works category [J], within the publications categories of the Research Quantum should be revised to incorporate performance outputs.
Within this study, the high productivity of women academics engaged in the production of creative works, particularly performance outputs, was notable. Over 25 per cent of women in this study were engaged in research dissemination via such non traditional outputs. Such outputs do not receive full recognition under the dissemination categories of the Research Quantum.
Recommendation 11: Research Management Plans
All Research Management plans should include specific objectives and strategies concerned with improving the involvement of women staff in the research activities of the universities and concerned with addressing issues of concern in new or non-traditional areas of research.
It is recommended that management plans and policies recognise underlying gender issues which may impact upon research participation and performance, and develop and articulate strategies to address these issues. In addition these issues need to be recognised, coordinated and articulated through the Equal Employment Opportunity, Affirmative Action and staff development plans of the institutions.
The Research Management Plans of the three institutions were often confusing and failed to clearly define and integrate objectives, strategies and targets. Moreover, core issues relating to the motivation and support of individual researchers were barely addressed as were issues relating to non-traditional research outputs.
Piper (1993) provides a useful list of definitions which universities could adapt and apply to their Research Management Plans. Piper's broad definitions are:
- goals: descriptions of what it is planned to achieve offering broad statements identifying the main research aspiration;
- objectives: operational statements detailing the implementation of goals;
- strategies: description of action to be undertaken in order to achieve objectives and targets; and
- performance indicators/targets: measures of what is to be achieved and in what timeframe; they relate specifically to objectives.