INTRODUCTION: Scholarship participation in the academic community necessitates attendance in local and international conferences to produce, present, and publish research. This study captures expressions marked by the vivid recall of reasons for scholarship participation of allied health academic professionals in quasi-qualitative research utilizing the Q methodology. Three-Factor (Array) solution using varimax rotation was employed to elicit the Eigenvalues, variance, and intercorrelations of the data collected. One hundred and ten (110) respondents from seven (7) professions representing 18 countries from four international universities, one institute of advanced studies and one international college participated in the study. Results revealed that respondents needed scholarship participation and the critical reason is to acquire best practices; to improve competencies as an educator and equip oneself of necessary skills to internationalize curriculum both rank next in precedence.
Respondents strongly discard the reasons that they participate in scholarly works for prestige and honor, to receive an honorarium, reap the rewards and recognition. They also showed neutrality on reasons that scholars participate in scholarly works in order to improve the institution’s reputation, advance career, secure tenure, and exposure of oneself to opportunities. The sentiments of the respondents will serve as the impetus for program design and policy development in an academic and health institution sto answer the need for scholarship involvement and give it a priority.
OBJECTIVES:The importance of knowing the reasons for research engagement doe not need overemphasis as it is vital for decision making. The result will be an evidence-based benchmark for program design and policy development to guide the research activities and meet the scholarship needs of individuals and institutions.
METHODS: The research utilized Q-methodology in the collection and analysis of data as it elicits the clustering of reasons and uncovers the points of view for a given population via Factor Array (FA). The conduct of Q Methodology utilized Q cards that were sorted and ranked accordingly by the respondent on a q board. Descriptive statistics were applied to explain the respondent characteristics further. For the study, Thailand the Philippines and served as the locales of the study. The locales were higher education institutions that deliver undergraduate and graduate education that sponsored and collaborated with other international institutions for an annual international and interprofessional research conference. Allied health professionals coming from the Asia-Pacific and other countries attended and participated during the international conference. The researcher did data gathering during the conference time and between October 2017 to March of 2018. The research initiative utilized purposive and convenience sampling. Inclusion criteria required participants to be duly licensed professionals who are engaged in academic responsibilities for at least three years.
RESULTS: A total of one hundred fourteen (114) participants of which eighty-four (84) were female, and thirty (30) were male. The research population represented eighteen (18) Asia-Pacific and other countries namely: Philippines, Ghana, Indonesia, Kenya, Liberia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, South Korea, Thailand, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Argentina, Ethiopia, Seychelles, India, Great Britain, Nepal. A total of seven (7) allied health academic professions were represented constituted by doctors, dentists, nurses, public health professionals, laboratory scientists, nutritionists, and psychologists. Q methodology revealed that the respondents polarize on three clusters of reasons why they engage in scholarly works. The first cluster had an Eigenvalue of 50.76 with 64 respondents loading (46.15%). The second cluster's Eigenvalue was 9.80 and 14 respondents loaded (8.91%). The last cluster acquired an Eigenvalue of 7.64, loaded with 15 respondents taking 6.94% of the population sample. The study highlighted that the three clusters were named: Competence to Lead: Sharing Reasons, Contribution to Learn: Shaping Reasons, and Commitment to Leap, Sharpening Reasons.
CONCLUSION: The Q methodology provided a portrait of select allied health educators compelling reasons for scholarship participation not formally explored. The ranking of Q sorts paved the way to the determination of critical reasons shared across factors while the Q factor analysis revealed the three distinct clusters of scholars pinpointing what the respondents value as a group and understanding their frequency and existence within a population group. Research engagements should base on their distinct characteristics and support attendance to international research forums, enhance networking and encourage the transfer of new learning for sustainability. The results will contribute to developing a program to keep the research grounded as a foundation for researchers to share the gift of research.
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