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ERIC Number: EJ1152576
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2015
Pages: 19
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: EISSN-2379-9021
EISSN: N/A
Emerging Research Leaders' Preparation and Practices
Rohwer, Debbie
Texas Music Education Research, p3-21 2015
There is a need for a study to provide in-depth information about emerging researcher leaders in terms of how they prepared for their career and how they utilize time and resources in their current positions in order to have continued research success. The purpose of the current study was to describe emerging research leaders' graduate school preparation and current research practices. The participants in the current study were 13 purposefully sampled assistant and associate professors who had been cited extensively in research articles (Google Scholar Citations exceeding 100) and had served on the "Journal of Research in Music Education," "Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education," or "Contributions to Music Education" editorial review boards. The 20 open-ended interview prompts addressed graduate preparation and current research practices. In addition to the interview questions that provided results for the study, participants were also asked five demographic questions. Participants in the study tended to have taken multiple research methodology/analysis courses in addition to content area courses that used research reading source material. In terms of class content, past researchers have documented interdisciplinary work as valuable (Eisenhart & DeHaan, 2005; Pallas, 2001), however participants in the current study described contrasting perspectives about interdisciplinary research depending on when in a career it might be undertaken, with later in the career possibly being preferable to earlier. As found by past researchers (Campbell, 2002; Duerksen, 1992; Duke, 2010; Flowers, 2012; Geringer, 2000; Humphreys, 2006; Jellison, 2004; LeBlanc, 1992; Madsen, 1988; Radocy, 1998; Yarbrough, 1996) mentors were perceived to be important to students' research identity development. The participants described research-nurturing experiences as being pivotal, including working with a group of motivated, intelligent people and having research modeled and experienced regularly during their studies. The participants in the current study did not document grants as a common research practice, so in weighing doctoral experiences, grant writing may be lower on the list of important activities. As in past research (LeBlanc & McCrary, 1990), participants in the current study documented similar intrinsic motivations of curiosity, enjoyment, and love of learning; as an extrinsic factor some participants addressed meeting the demands of getting tenure. While curricular changes are sometimes difficult to implement, faculty could approach many of the issues addressed in the current study in discussions with students during preexisting seminars or independent study classes or even informally over lunches.
Texas Music Educators Association. 7900 Centre Park Drive, Austin, TX 78754. Tel: 512-452-0710; Fax: 512-451-9213; Web site: http://www.tmea.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A