Research Rational Assignment AHE 501 C.

Schroyer

A1. Explain the background and context of the proposed research:

Teaching is at the heart of the community college enterprise and its faculty efforts (Murray, 1999,
2004; Wallin, 2003). Ben Franklin observed, “Teaching is the occupation that is the most reflected
upon, cherished, praised, rejoiced, and canonized, and at our deathbeds, possibly the most
remembered aside from our dear ones, yet the least rewarded, in terms of earthly goods, of all the
worthwhile and necessary pursuits.” Franklin went on to say, “A gifted teacher is as rare as a gifted
doctor, and makes far less money.” Although community college faculty are prepared as scholars and
technical experts many do not have formal teacher training or instructional experience when they
begin their community college teaching career. The misalignment between the lack of required
teaching credentials/experience and the requirement to be an effective teacher can negatively impact
students, faculty, and institutional programs. Consequently, many community colleges have begun
to leverage faculty development programs as a way to improve faculty teaching and student success.
Faculty development provides opportunities for faculty to learn about learning, about teaching, about
students, and about themselves. However, participation in faculty development activities is not
required at most community colleges and consistent participation in faculty development programs
is minimal at best.

Faculty motivation is a primary driver in human behavior. The great importance of faculty
motivation arises from the connection between motivation and performance across contexts
(Latham, 2007; Wlodkowski, 1999). Successfully leveraging professional development programs to
improve instructional competency requires increased and consistent faculty participation.
Consequently, administrators need to understand the motivational factors that drive faculty
participation in order to create better policies and programs that appeal to faculty. Despite its
importance, there is a general lack of research on community college faculty motivation (Wallin,
2003). The purpose of this research question is to explore faculty’s motivation to participate in
faculty development—specifically, by looking at faculty preferred formats, incentives, and distracters
that thwart participate in faculty development.

A2. Articulate an appropriate and sufficiently focused research question:

What motivates community college faculty to participate in sustained professional development so

they become more effective teachers?

A3. Explain why the research question is appropriate to address one or more needs
within the field or professional context:

Many community college faculty have no formal teacher training and rarely use systematic teaching
research in the classroom; instead they tend to teach by nonsystematic trial and error or to teach as
they were taught (Sperling, 2003; Van Ast, 1999). Unfortunately, this approach is often ineffective
and if affects a large population of students attending post secondary institutions in the United
States.
Research Rational Assignment AHE 501 C. Schroyer

Community colleges serve close to half of the undergraduate students in the United States, which
included more than 6.5 million credit students in the fall of 2005. The comprehensive mission of
community colleges makes them attractive to a broad range of people who seek particular programs
or opportunities of special interest (“Community College Trends and Statistics”). Community colleges
are the gateway to postsecondary education for many minority, low income, and first-generation
postsecondary education students. Since 1985, more than half of all community college students
have been women. In addition, the majority of Black and Hispanic undergraduate students in this
country study at these colleges. Community colleges also provide access to education for many
nontraditional students, such as adults who are working while enrolled. The average age of a
community college student is 29, and two thirds of community college students attend part-time
(“Community College Trends and Statistics”). At the same time, community colleges are not only
providing access for adult students, but also serving an increasing number of traditional age and high
school students who take specific courses to get ahead in their studies. In fact, half of the students
who receive a baccalaureate degree attend community college in the course of their undergraduate
studies (“Community College Trends and Statistics”).

Community college students are diverse and so too are the educational skills and knowledge faculty
need to be effective in the community college classroom. Although most community colleges
recognize the need for faculty professional development the majority struggle with implementing
effective and sustainable FD programs that show improved student outcomes. Knowing what
motivates faculty to engage in professional development activities provides critical information for
administrators because it can help inform policy decisions and professional development program
design that provides the teaching skills, knowledge, and professionalism needed to meet the
demands of a highly diverse student population.

A4. Explain what makes this a human subjects research study, as opposed to an
evaluation or assessment:

According to the information studied, the proposal is an example of a human subjects research study
because it involves research obtained/conducted from living individuals and it involves systemic
investigation that is designed to contribute to generalized knowledge.

B1. Identify the type of research methodology (e.g., ethnography, case study,
correlational) the proposed study will employ;

A mixed method research study emphasizing QUANT-qual methodologies would be the best
methodology for answering this research question.

B2. Explain why this methodology is appropriate to address the research question;

I believe a mixed methods approach is best suited to this particular research question because it
seeks to answer a concrete question that is heavily influenced by the unique experiences, life style
choices, and personal beliefs of each individual. A mixed method research methodology employs the
benefits of both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies. This particular methodology is
ideal for my proposed research question in that it does not have a large body of literature for review
and it is focused on a very broad topic aimed at identifying and understanding the variables that
Research Rational Assignment AHE 501 C. Schroyer

influence faculty participation in faculty development activities. I will utilize a QUANT-qual

structure that includes both correlational and case study methodologies to better understand the
relationship between the variables.

The correlational methodology will be used to identify whether (and how) two or more variables are
related. A survey will be used to because it will provide a larger sample participant population for
the study. Ideally the quantitative survey will be followed up with targeted case studies to better
understand the results. Case study methodology was chosen because of its ability to identify and
investigate complex social units consisting of multiple variables in order to promote a more
comprehensive understanding of the research question and the corresponding results. Because the
case study methodology is anchored in real-life situations, it will provide a richer and holistic account
that cannot be obtained from raw numerical data. It will also offer insights that could potentially
illuminate meanings and influence subsequent research design as the unknown insights have the
potential to guide the formation of new, tentative hypotheses that help structure future research;
hence, advancing the field's knowledge base.

Ultimately, I would like to continue the research by studying faculty motivation at multiple
community college campuses within the state. I believe the results of a collective case study would
be more effective than results from a single community college because most community colleges do
not have well developed or consistent faculty professional development programs. In addition, most
do not require faculty to participate in short or long-term professional development activities.
Consequently the number of faculty with the desired experience will likely be limited thus
necessitating the need for a broader approach that does not limit participants to one particular event,
experience, or campus.

B3. Speculate about the findings this study might yield, and how these findings might
be useful. (Obviously, you can’t predict what the exact findings will be in advance, but
you can speculate about the general directions the findings might take.)

Much of the previous work on faculty motivation has focused on external, organizational factors (e.g.,
pay, teaching load) because these are actionable by institutions and departments (Buchheit et al.,
2001). However, several other research studies have concluded faculty are more often motivated by
internal and value-related factors. It is important to note that very few studies have addressed
community college faculty motivation and human behavior is a complex. Internal motivation is often
influenced by individual differences and external factors, particularly in the work context. Thus it is
difficult to isolate the influence of one without the other. This particular research question is
designed to identify and understand the different variables that motivate faculty to participate in
sustained professional development activities. The case study methodology was chosen because it is
anchored in real-life situations and it does not restrict participants to specific ideas or existing
theories. Instead it offers an opportunity for participants to provide a rich and holistic account of a
phenomenon that offers insights and illuminates meanings that have the potential to expand existing
theories and expand its readers' experiences. Thus I suspect other factors such as self-
determination, social, support, and self-efficacy may be identified as significant motivators. If these
variables do affect faculty motivation they may provide implications and insight that could help
structure and guide future research to better identify motivational factors and highlight the
importance of faculty perception to workplace characteristics. This is turn could help administrators
design policies and programs that better support faculty motivators.
Research Rational Assignment AHE 501 C. Schroyer

C1. Discuss how your proposed research addresses 4 methodological or conceptual

issues identified in readings from Week 5 and/or Week 8

The challenges listed in section A along with the lack of existing research regarding the proposed
research question support the use of a mixed methods research approach to better understand the
complex experiences, behaviors, thought processes, and corresponding motivational factors that
determine why and how often community college faculty participate in faculty professional
development. The mixed methodological approach utilizes the strengths and weaknesses of
quantitative methodologies (large sample size, trends, generalizable) with those of qualitative
methodologies (small sample size, details, in-depth) to provide more robust and meaningful data that
can be used to better guide administrative policies that support and encourage faculty to participate
in faculty development to better serve the institutional mission and goals of providing high quality
education for all students. Specifically, the mixed methods approach is preferred for the following
reasons.

A quantitative survey would provide an opportunity to maximize faculty participation. As previously

mentioned, faculty participation in professional development opportunities is minimal at most
campuses so finding faculty who regularly participate in professional development activities could be
challenging. However, the use of a quantitative survey as the primary data collection instrument
increases the likelihood that the sample size will be large enough to ensure the results are valid and
reliable so the results can be generalized to community college faculty throughout the state.

Secondly, although the quantitative results can net general explanations for the relationships among
variables, the more detailed understanding of what the statistical tests or effect sizes actually mean
can be lacking and/or incomplete. The qualitative research collected through individual and
collective case study methodologies will provide even more refined information to help better
understand specific factors that encourage and/or thwart participation in professional development
activities. These interviews will provide insight into selected immediate, personal, and institutional
factors that influence participation. Ideally the qualitative data will shed light on potential barriers
that have not been recognized as significant barriers regarding faculty professional development
opportunities, and thereby will provide greater detail that can be used by administrators and
institutions to better plan and implement policies that best support faculty professional
development.

Thirdly, it would effectively use triangulation to better understand the motivational factors that
support or thwart participation in faculty professional development activities. The tentative study
design would utilize a multilevel model in which quantitative data collected at the state and
individual institutional levels would be analyzed in parallel with the collection and analysis of the
qualitative data collected at individual campuses. This allows the weakness of one approach to be
offset by the strengths of the other. The results of the separate level analyses would then be
compared, contrasted, and blended leading to an overall interpretation of results.

Fourthly, a mixed methods approach encourages the use of multiple perspectives, or paradigms,
rather than the typical association of certain paradigms with quantitative research and others for
qualitative research. Simply stated, it is a more inclusive research methodology that reflects basic
educational goals that aim to be inclusive and empathetic. This is particularly important in
community college campuses many of which have targeted recruitment strategies aimed at attracting
Research Rational Assignment AHE 501 C. Schroyer

and retaining diverse faculty to better reflect the diverse student body that is characteristic of many
community college campuses today.

Fifthly, a mixed methods research is “practical” in the sense that the researcher is free to use all
methods possible to address the research problem. Specifically, the initial data subsets can be used
to develop more targeted instruments or protocols that can be used to drive the protocol or
instrumentation need to generate secondary or subsequent datasets and results. This seems
particularly important when attempting to answer a very broad question such as what motivates
faculty to continue learning and/or participate in professional development. It is also “practical”
because individuals tend to solve problems using both numbers and words, combine inductive and
deductive thinking, and employ skills in observing people as well as recording behavior.

References:

Bucheit, S., Collins, A. B., & Collins, D. L. (2001). Intra-institutional factors that influence
accounting research productivity. Journal of Applied Business Research, 17(2), 17–32.

“Community College Trends and Statistics.” American Association of Community Colleges,

n.d. Web. 20 November 2015.

Hardre Patricia. (2012) Community College Faculty Motivation for Basic Research, Teaching
Research, and Professional Development. Community College Journal of Research and
Practice, 36: 539-561, 2012.

Latham, G. P. (2007). Work motivation: History, theory, research and practice. Thousand
Oaks, CA: Sage.

Murray, J. P. (1999). Interviewing to hire competent community college faculty. Community

College Review, 27(1), 41–56.

Murray, J. P. (2004). New rural community college faculty members and job satisfaction.
Community College Review, 32(2), 19–38.

Perin, D. (2001). Academic-occupational integration as a reform strategy for the community

college: Classroom perspectives. Teachers College Record, 103(2), 303–335.

Sperling, C. B. (2003). How community colleges understand the scholarship of teaching and
learning. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 27, 593–601.

Van Ast, J. (1999). Community college faculty: Making the paradigm shift. Community College
Journal of Research and Practice, 23, 559–579.
Research Rational Assignment AHE 501 C. Schroyer

Wallin, D. L. (2003). Motivation and faculty development: A three-state study of presidential

perceptions of faculty development needs. Community College Journal of Research and
Practice, 27(4), 317–335.

Wlodkowski, R. J. (1999). Enhancing adult motivation to learn: A comprehensive guide for

teaching all adults. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.