Universities could do much more to help the journalists on their staff to conduct useful research into journalism, according to a study of journalism educators within the UK and Ireland.
A survey of ‘hackademics’ working within higher education found that many are doing little or no academic research.
Those questioned felt that university journalism departments could support journalists in becoming published scholars by:
- Offering staff formal training in research methodologies as a matter of course, from a beginners’ level to an advanced level, whether or not as part of a postgraduate qualification;
- Reviewing teaching, marking and administrative loads in a transparent manner, paying particular attention to those whose teaching requires them to give extensive and frequent formative feedback to large numbers of students;
- Establishing mentoring arrangements whereby new entrants to the academy are paired with experienced researchers;
- Creating an active and inclusive internal research culture, for example by sharing information about conferences, circulating drafts of papers, holding seminars in which practitioner and academic perspectives can be discussed in an atmosphere of mutual respect, and utilising a system of sabbaticals or research leave;
- Supporting members of staff in creating and participating in research networks outside their institution, for example through the Association for Journalism Education and similar organisations in different countries.
The above suggestions emerged from a research project, conducted by Tony Harcup of the University of Sheffield, into how journalists have fared since being recruited to teach journalism in universities.
The full research findings are being published in three parts: in Journalism Practice 5(1) and 5(2), with the third part to be published in Journalism: Theory, Practice and Criticism 12(5) later this year.
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