Abstract
This paper reports on a study conducted as part of an action-research project—INTEGRA I&E—aiming to promote the research and teaching (R&T) nexus at the School of Social Sciences and Humanities of a Research University in Lisbon, Portugal (Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, ISCTE-IUL). This study set out to investigate a multi-informant perspective of the academics’ rhetoric (conceptions, perception of barriers/facilitators and consequences) concerning the nexus, which can be considered at different levels of the curricular and organizational structure. Focus groups were conducted with 26 professors and 8 researchers from six different disciplinary areas and, afterwards, recorded and transcribed. A content analysis was used to categorize and quantify participants’ responses. Four themes emerged: practices linking R&T, barriers, facilitators and consequences of the nexus. Different levels of analysis were identified for each theme, namely, the level of ISCTE-IUL, Research Centers, Departments, Courses and Classes. Some disciplinary differences were also encountered. This study contributes with a multi-informant and multi-level perspective of academics’ conceptions of the R&T nexus in a Portuguese research-oriented university.
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This study was funded by Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL) and Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian (FCG/PIDE/138181/2015).
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Farcas, D., Bernardes, S.F. & Matos, M. The research-teaching nexus from the Portuguese academics’ perspective: a qualitative case study in a school of social sciences and humanities. High Educ 74, 239–258 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-016-0046-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-016-0046-4