Perceived Research Expectations for Mathematics Education Faculty in US Institutions of Higher Education
Blake Peterson, Keith Leatham and Steve Williams recently published an article titled “Perceived Research Expectations for Mathematics Education Faculty in US Institutions of Higher Education” in the journal Investigations in Mathematics Learning. Blake has answered a few questions about this article below:
Who would you say is the target audience for this article?
Mathematics Education Faculty in US Institutions of Higher Education. Both those who are trying to meet those expectations and those who are making decisions as to whether the expectations have been met.
What is the big problem you hoped to address with this article?
Since research expectations for mathematics education faculty seem to vary across institutions, what variables seem to impact that variation?
What are some of the key ideas in the article?
Statistical analyses were used to examine differences in these results across three demographic characteristics (institution type, research commitment, department). We found statistically significant differences related to each of these variables. Research expectations varied substantially across institution type. For example, the average expected number of yearly publications was 2.23, 1.63, and .99 papers at R1, R2, and Other institutions respectively. By contrast, research expectations seldom varied by department.
What are some of the main ideas you hope your audience will take from this article?
There are implications of these findings for individual faculty, mathematics education programs, and the broader field of mathematics education. Given the variation that exists across institutions, departments, and percent time doing research, it would seem beneficial to all for expectations documents to make explicit mention of expected number of publications, how much various types of publications count, how much other types of scholarly activities count, and whether those activities are necessary.