What field are you in?
Pre-tenure, tenured, or adjunct/sessional/contract lecturer?
How much time do you put into research in a typical month or year?
How much do you submit for publication in a typical year?
How much of that is refereed/not refereed?
How do you feel about your research/ research in general?
Do you have any particular techniques that help you get stuff out the door?
For myself: I'm in Humanities, tenured 11 years ago. Post tenure, in the last decade, I've published 2 refereed articles which existed in manuscript form before tenure. I've given several conference papers, produced a few reviews and half a dozen encyclopedia articles, and (very recently) a book chapter. My feelings about research have been morose and glum until recently; partly because I haven't been doing any, and as we all know, work produces enthusiasm as much as the reverse; partly because it seems hard to me to work so hard on something that will only get rejected two or three or four times and then get read by at most half a dozen people; partly because I am not sure that my field really matters to anyone or anything, at least, not in the form most likely to get published in a refereed journal.
By which I mean: there are fascinating things to say and study in my field. But those aren't the things I was trained to study or say, and it's going to take me a massive amount of work to get up to speed on the things I find interesting. Now that I've grasped that that's the problem, I'm working on fixing it. But I spent a decade or so feeling rather depressed about work first.
I'm using "Writing Your Journal Article In Twelve Weeks" by way of assisting me to get a grip, and I like it so far.
You can use sites like http://pollcode.com/ to post polls to Blogger.
ReplyDeleteThere's a blogger attachment too, but it needs to be turned on.
ReplyDelete*squinting*
ReplyDeleteOh god...please use a larger font!
8-)
I have no idea how it did that. I didn't ask it to use a different font.
ReplyDeleteYou know that if nobody comments on this post I'm just going to come back and whine about research some more, until I get a response.... really, it would be easier to humour me now, I'm just saying ... (note comma splice, acceptable in colloquial diction or when transcribing dialogue or internal monologue).
What field are you in?
ReplyDeleteFour humanities fields, one science.
Pre-tenure, tenured, or adjunct/sessional/contract lecturer?
Waaaaay pre-tenure. I'm an undergrad.
How much time do you put into research in a typical month or year?
...hmm. Out of each week, maybe...12 hours or more?
How much do you submit for publication in a typical year?
Two papers, or one per semester. So far, since being back in college, (about two and a half years now), I've presented at six conferences; published three papers, one on Victorian sexuality, one on the Third World during the Cold War and one on symbolism in the work of Lady Gaga; published a short story; and published three poems; edited two journals; and published a book.
How much of that is refereed/not refereed?
I'm unsure what this means.
How do you feel about your research/ research in general?
I LOVE research.
Do you have any particular techniques that help you get stuff out the door?
Nope. I just do it. I'm quite self motivated.
Make it anonymous, and I'll give you my data.
ReplyDeleteUntil then, I'm on summer break, so I work(research) more than I should have to, but not nearly as much as I should. I'm a slack-ass-bastard, and don't publish enough.
My best techniques involve bottles of scotch and home-brewed beer, writing while hung over, enormous amounts of only the best island coffee, and collecting "data" using the 10-sided dice my mega-nerd younger self used for role-playing games.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI've wondered what the breakdown of this site's readers is. Please post any/all of the first 6 questions in multiple choice format using HTML code from a free poll generator website. It will be easier to respond and retain anonymity. Both should help the response rate. Let people comment to answer the last question.
ReplyDelete"I work(research) more than I should have to, but not nearly as much as I should. I'm a slack-ass-bastard, and don't publish enough. "
ReplyDeleteMy feeling, see, is that every single one of us feels exactly the same way; no matter how much we're doing, that we're never doing enough. That constant gun-to-the-head, or, post-tenure, constant guilt, is the worst thing about academe. And it really stands in the way of engagement with our field I think - if only because we have to read so much stuff that was similarly published by people who had to get something out there, not people who had something to say.
And yet, so many fields get criticized for doing fluff research (cf. Nothaughty's apparent derision of Lady Gaga research).
ReplyDeleteMaybe if you have tenure you really should slow down, do something in-depth, and publish steadily but slowly? Of course that could be a problem with promotions, etc.
Oh, I think Nothaughty was deriding pop culture, more than actual academic research on pop culture. Maybe when I know you guys better, I'll break the rather limited anonymity of the username and show you my work.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I'm rather grateful that my areas of specialization allow me to work on so many interesting topics, ranging from Lady Gaga, to the Cold War, to ancient Rome, to the probability of a fully functioning mind derived from AI, to what type of lipstick, buttons, and toothbrushes the people in my area were using 100 years ago.
I do not agree with the popular adage that there are no stupid questions. I think a lot of questions, research or otherwise, are pretty damn stupid. However, I think that if one conducts academic research into a subject, one can get some pretty spectacular answers even from pretty stupid questions.
RKO, again, lots of people study popular culture...and it's derided left, front, and center nowadays as "meaningless."
ReplyDeleteIt's not about you.
It's about the people who do the hiring and the value they apply to what scholars have chosen to research. You're still an undergrad, right? Why do you think that, in this context, that what you write for class counts for what counts about a Ph.D. getting an academic research position?
An emerging trend is that asking fascinating questions is not enough.
From Nothaughty's post:
"Many of my colleagues have expressed increasing frustration with the research demands of TT jobs because ... 2) the kind of research that is getting published, largely in the humanities, is increasingly meaningless. ...... (And this "research" is happening at a time when funding is being cut to "irrelevant" humanities departments all over. Could this "research" be the last desperate gasps of intellectuals to demonstrate their worth to a world that cares more about Lady Gaga than them? Hmmm . . .)"
MPE: Firstly, I don't think it's about me. I was merely pointing out that the tenor of the comment on useless research was about useless research and that the WORLD cares more about Lady Gaga. So, his jab was not at research on Lady Gaga, but at people who don't understand the need for useful research.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, I don't think that what I write for class as an undergrad counts the same as a PhD getting an academic research position. However, as no one else was bloody commenting, beggars can't be choosers. You ask a question, no one answers, I have an answer, therefore you get me. As a great many of my professors have come to lament due to the fact that they practically have to force others to contribute. And they then have to find polite and intricate ways of shushing me.
Finally, I don't really give a damn about emerging trends. Many so-called trends are nothing but blips in retrospect. Research should be done on as many topics as possible to further the greater store of knowledge. Not to get tenure. Not to get grants. Not to please ones department head, or whatever comes after, but because knowledge about the world we live in makes that world better. That's why I answered the above question as "I LOVE research". Frankly, an unenthusiastic researcher produces bad and boring research. I think I've read enough research articles to realize when the writer wasn't in to his or her topic. And in my opinion, that type of work is much worse than meaningless.