The Role of Research Experiences and the Faculty Prototype in Doctoral Students' Professorial Intentions

• In Event: Roundtable Session 23
  In Roundtable Session: Examining Faculty and Practitioner Issues in Graduate Education

Abstract

In fields of study where participation in team-based research experiences are prevalent, doctoral students learn the behaviors, norms and values of a faculty career. Through their interactions and participation in team-based research experiences, students develop and/or maintain a perception of ideal research practice, in the form of a faculty prototype. This faculty prototype prompts doctoral students to self-assess their research competence, relative to the faculty prototype, and in part influences their professorial intentions. Drawing upon and extending an existing concept, the faculty prototype, this paper explores the relationship between doctoral students’ learning in a team-based research experience and whether or not they intend to pursue the professoriate as a career.

Author

• Brian A. Burt, Iowa State University