Results from the Faculty Survey

Sponsored by DAHS Office of Research

Context As faculty in the Department of Allied Health Sciences,

it is important that you receive the support you need to conduct scholarly research that can move the field forward through contribution to peer-reviewed literature and that has the potential to positively impact practice. Due to the interdisciplinary and complex nature of the work in our department, we recognize that the support needs are likely to vary greatly across faculty.

The purpose of this survey was to identify the areas of greatest need in terms of research support so that we can be strategic in our placement of resources to support faculty in their independent or collaborative research endeavors.

Methods Web-based survey Programmed via Qualtrics 69% response rate (n=51) Good representation across faculty type

What best describes your current position?

Percent

Tenure track 50.0

Research, Fixed-term 6.0

Clinical/Teaching, Fixed-term 44.0

Faculty Description 26% of respondents have an appointment

with a UNC Center or Institute Average tenure was 10.9 years with a

standard deviation of 9.1 57% report at least some of their salary is

covered by ‘soft monies’ About 20% of respondents have more than

50% of their time covered

Current Involvement in Research

In which of the following ways, if any, are you involved in funded research? (N=51)

Project Manager 3.9%

Other 3.9%

Collaborator 2.7%

Co-Investigator 39.2%

Principal Investigator or Co-Principal Investigator 43.1%

No, I am not currently involved in funded research 39.2%

Not Currently Involved in Research In which of the following ways, if any, would

you like to become involved in funded research? (N=20, 39%) Very few are uninterested in research (2

faculty) Some are interested in becoming Principal

Investigators (or Co-PIs) of funded research (7 faculty)

Some are interested in becoming Co-Investigators (10 faculty)

A bunch (13 faculty) are interested in working as collaborators

DAHS Faculty Research Which of the following characterizes your

research? (Check all that apply) (N=38) Top 10 categories:

Intervention/Efficacy (39%) Clinical/Applied (39%) Prevention (33%) Translational (33%) Assessment/Measurement (27%) Outcomes research (20%) Diagnostics (14%) Workforce development (14%) Community Based Participatory Research (14%) Theory and model development (12%)

DAHS Faculty Research Which of the following special/vulnerable

populations constitutes a focus in your research? (Check all that apply) (N=38) Disease/Disability specific (e.g. Autism,

Developmental Disabilities, Hearing Impaired) (43%)

Low socio-economic status (18%) Racial/Ethnic minorities/groups (16%) Limited healthcare access (16%) Women (14%) Service providers (10%)

DAHS Faculty Research

Which of the following research participant age categories constitutes a focus in your research?(N=38)

Percent

Infants 17.6%

Toddlers 17.6%

Preschoolers 19.6%

School-age children 23.5%

Adults 45.1%

Older adults 33.3%

Not applicable 25.5%

DAHS Faculty Research Climate Please rate the following aspects of research support

based on your recent experiences (i.e. the past 3 years). Rating* Categories

Poor to Fair (mean score between 1 and 2)

Methodological support or statistical support

Support to help you enhance your own competitiveness or your team’s competitiveness for research funding

Fair to Good(mean score between 2 and 3)

Recognition you or peers receive related to success (e.g. grants, publications, awards)

Pre-award research support available to you through DAHS (e.g. finding appropriate funding, proposal preparation)

Good to Very Good(mean score between 3 and 4)

Post-award research support available to you through DAHS (e.g. budget management, reporting)

*Respondents who were unable to assess varied between 18 and 32 depending on the question

DAHS Faculty Research Climate

Rating* Categories

Things are worse than they were

No categories were rated here

Things are about the same Support available to help you enhance your own competitiveness or your team’s competitiveness for research funding

Methodological or statistical support available to you through DAHS

Recognition you or peers receive related to success (e.g. grants, publications, awards)

We would like to know whether efforts have improved over the last 5 years from your perspective. Thinking over the past few years, please rate the following:

*Number of respondents with greater than 3 years tenure and able to assess items ranged from 17-25.

DAHS Faculty Research Climate

Rating Categories

Some improvements have been made

Pre-award research support available to you through DAHS (e.g. finding appropriate funding, proposal preparation)

Post-award research support available to you through DAHS (e.g. budget management, reporting)

Great improvements have been made

No categories were rated here

We would like to know whether efforts have improved over the last 5 years from your perspective. Thinking over the past few years, please rate the following:

*Number of respondents with greater than 3 years tenure and able to assess items ranged from 17-25.

DAHS Research Faculty IntentionsIntention (N=42) Percent

I will apply for an internal to UNC pilot grant in the next six months

29%

I will apply for an externally funded pilot grant in the next six months

32%

I will apply for a career award, fellowship or other investigator-focused award in the next six months.

4%

I will apply for a demonstration grant in the next six months.

7%

I will apply for a research grant in the next six months 47%

I will apply for a training grant in the next six months 24%

Plan to be involved in research as a collaborator or co-investigator, potentially contributing to grant writing

73%

DAHS Faculty SatisfactionStatements (N=42) Percent

Agree

DAHS provides an environment that promotes respectful dialogue between colleagues representing a diversity of perspectives and/or points of view within our academic discipline.

82%

DAHS rewards excellent performance in teaching/mentoring of students

46%

DAHS rewards excellent performance in research 70%

DAHS rewards excellent performance in service (e.g. to professional societies, service/engagement within the University)

41%

My salary level is reasonably competitive, when compared with other faculty in my division.

75%

My salary level is reasonably competitive, when compared to other faculty at the University.

31%

My salary level is reasonably competitive, when compared with other faculty in my discipline at comparable institutions in the U.S.

23%

I have sufficient clerical/administrative support in my department to be able to do my research effectively.

41%

DAHS Faculty Satisfaction 86% agree that overall, I would recommend

my department as a good place to work Tenured faculty tend to rate “DAHS rewards

excellent performance in research” significantly lower than clinical/fixed term faculty (2.6 vs. 3.1)

Other comparisons between research and non-research faculty were not significant

Priorities for supportAreas of potential support (N=41)

1=High, 2= Medium, 3=Low and 4 = Not a PriorityMean

Statistical Support 1.4

Methodological Support 1.7

Pre-Award Support 1.7

Support to enhance competitiveness of me or my team(s)

1.8

Post-award support 2.0

Recognition of research-related successes

2.1

IRB support 2.5

Dissemination, publication, writing

2.5

Results based on open responsesIn addition to expressed needs for statistical, methodological and pre-award support,

Faculty noted the lack of an adequate administrative support capacity to support research projects post-award (e.g. travel reimbursements, subject payments)

Faculty noted a lack of IT support research projects (e.g. data security, computing)

Faculty noted a need for more mentorship (e.g., for junior faculty, for clinical faculty)

Faculty emphasized an interest in improving the research culture and resources (e.g., seminars, forums, collecting information on research resources around campus, working groups, research clusters/collaboratives)

Conclusions 86% of faculty respondents agree that overall, I

would recommend my department as a good place to work

DAHS faculty have a great deal of enthusiasm for quality research and teaching

The potential exists for leveraging research clusters to create more peer support

DAHS faculty have substantial research portfolios from which to build on

Statistical support, methodological support are clear priorities

Pre-award support and support to enhance competitiveness of team(s) are also highly ranked

Next Steps Developing plans to enhance the research culture at DAHS

(e.g. newsletter, forums, seminars, research clusters) Developing plans to address priorities ranked highly by

the faculty (e.g. statistical and methodological support and pre award support)

Using faculty input and recommendations to develop strategic priorities and implementation plans (e.g. administrative and IT support, aligning resources to needs and goals)

Build and bridge resources and structures for collaboration

Thanks again to all faculty who participated in the survey. Your input is very important to this process!

Questions/Comments?

Contact: Jennifer Craft Morgan (craft@email.unc.edu)

We would like to acknowledge the contributions of the entire DAHS Research Advisory Committee

Grace Baranek, PhD, OTR/L, FAOTA, Professor (chair)

Brian Boyd, PhD, Assistant Professor Karen Erickson, PhD, Professor Vicky Legrys, D.A., MT(ASCP), Professor Micheal Lewek, PT, PhD, Assistant Professor Lori Leibold, PhD, Assistant Professor Karen McCullouch, PT, PhD, NCS, Professor Jennifer Craft Morgan, PhD, Research Assistant

Professor Linda Watson, EdD, Professor Sharon Williams, PhD, Professor