Narrowing the gap. Is it possible for policymakers and

researchers to pursue the same agenda?

Romiță Iucu - University of Bucharest

Elena Marin - University of Bucharest (presenting author)

Georgeta Ion – Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona

Carmen Proteasa - University of Bucharest

Mihaela Stîngu - University of Bucharest

Simona Iftimescu - University of Bucharest

elena.marin@fpse.unibuc.ro

ECER 2016 Leading Education: The Distinct

Contributions of Educational Research and

Researchers

• project funded by the Romanian National

Authority for Scientific Research and

Innovation, CNCS – UEFISCDI,

project number PN-II-RU-TE-2014-4-1605

• Center for Development and Training in Higher

Education, University of Bucharest

Research objectives

Research objectives

▷ to analyze the relationship between educational research and its use

in the policy-making process in the Romanian educational system;

▷to evaluate the factors that are likely to affect research production and

transfer with a focus on the obstacles and opportunities that may derive

from the process of research mobilization;

▷ to analyze the role of the research culture at university level on the

development of a closer collaboration between researchers and policy –

makers.

Literature review

(Blunkett, 2000;O’Dwyer, 2004; Levin & Edelstein, 2010; Cherney, Povey, Head, Boreham, & Ferguson, 2012)

collaborations between

researchers,

research does not manage to

meet the decision-

makers’ needs

difference in the

discourse

research has a fairly low impact on

policy

different priorities and perceptions

cultural and linguistic

gap

useful and valid

research

divergent modes of

professional discourse

Factors that influence the impact of research on policy

Proper training in how to make use of research and acquire evidence

Huberman, 1990; Hargreaves, 1996; Black, 2001; Young et al., 2002; Nutley et al., 2002; Hood, 2003; Hammersley,2005)

policy makers do not receive proper training in how to

make use of research and

acquire evidence

researchers do notreceive trening on

how to properlydiseminate their

researchoutcomes

communication problems between policymakers and researchers based on the

existence of divergent modes of professional discourse

Methods and participants

• semi-structured in-depth interviewwith professionals

Heads of departments

Vice rectors responsible

with research activities

Vice deansresponsible

with research activities

• content-analysis methods was used to summarize the

data that arose from the interviews;

• the tool used to process the data was Maxqda 11

software.

Participants` profileHeads of

departments

Vice rectors

responsible with

research

activities

Vice dean

responsible with

research activities

Number of

participants

9 3 2

Universities

University of

Bucharest

UB

West

University of

Timișoara

UVT

Babes-Bolyai

University

UBB

Alexandru Ioan

Cuza University

UIAC

Ovidius

University of

Constanta

UOC

Transilvania

University of

Brașov

UTB

Aurel Vlaicu

University of

Arad

AVU

Number of

participants3 3 2 3 1 1 1

Results

Knowledge transfer difficulties

• the lack of a communication system between researchers and

policy - makers

„there must be a national portal where all universities across the

country have access to a database with articles and researchers, just

like an online platform for open source ” (Head of department)

• policymakers lack of support and lack of predictability related

to the relation between researchers and policy- makers:

„there is no real support from policymakers and there is no

predictability when it comes to create a professional partnership” (Vice

dean responsible with research activities).

The relationship between researchers and policy - makers (1)

The relationship between researchers and policy – makers

is seen as:

• a week relationship, lacking communication:

„ we hardly reach policymaker, they seem willingly to listen to us

until we came with real situations and concrete partnership

strategies that involve research activities” (Head of department)

• lacking trust:

„policy – makers do not take researchers seriously, they do not

look at them, they do not see them and researchers know they are

not being taken in consideration". (Head of department)

The relationship between researchers and policy – makers (2)

• the relationship between researchers and policy - makers is a

top- down relation, based on the decision-making power that

policy - makers have:

„policy- makers are the one that set the tone, developing

policy papers and therefore they should be directly interested in

consulting with researchers in order to develop coherent policy

papers so that it meet the real needs of those involved ”

(Head of department)

Researchers` perception regarding the research transfer process

• researchers` self responsability - a key element within the

process research transfer:

„researchers must become more involved and offensives in order

to influence policy – makers decisions " (Head of department)

„those who are in charge with the research production process

must be held responsible for the dissemination process”(Head of

department)

„researchers` self responsibility is the key of making researchers

becoming more visible" (Head of department)

Research culture

• there is no clear vision on the concept of research culture

„a coherent culture, at university level, does not exist, neither

does it exist a culture of research in general" (Head of

department)

• there is a „collaboration fear” and a lack of clarity about the

researcher status at a national level

• within the university there is a ”traditional model” that defines

the concept of research – the model states that a research area

strictly develops only if a researcher has a particular interest on

that topic

”researcher is the one that help a research area to spread its

importance, not vice versa, meaning that the research process is

still a sum of individual achievements, rather than a joint effort of

a team of researchers” (Head of department)

Researchers` training regarding the process of disseminating

• researchers` training is generally associated with the doctoral

studies and the induction period

„the doctoral studies provides the perfect setting for any researcher

to develop the skills necessary to become a researcher, having at

the same time the „protection” of a mentor” (Vice rector responsiblewith research activities)

„ in the Romanian higher education, there is a long tradition

regarding the induction period that a novice teacher/researcher

should go through under the supervision of a mentor/experienced

teacher or researcher” (Head of department)

• The peer-learning and peer-review activity is an excellent way to

learn more about what does the research activity implies

„in our faculty department, we usually submit to peer review an

article or a research idea and doing that it helps us redefine and

improve our work" (Head of department)

Conclusions

• educational researchers should seek to establish

a closer collaboration with policy – makers in

order to avoid creating a communication gap;

• universities managers consider that the research

outcomes must be comprehensible for both

policymakers, stakeholders and practitioners or

other type of audience;

• researchers have to learn the priorities of other

stakeholders and utilize the ‘ideas in common

currency’ among them;

University managers perspective

• the lack of training into the research methodology

can interfere on the proper development,

implementation and dissemination of knowledge;

• policy makers and practitioners do not receive

proper training in how to make use of research

and acquire evidence, therefore they find

themselves in the situation of not being able to make

fruitful use of educational knowledge in order to

inform their work.

Narrowing the gap. Is it possible for policymakers and

researchers to pursue the same agenda?

ECER 2016 Leading Education: The Distinct

Contributions of Educational Research and

Researchers

Marin Elena

University of Bucharest

elena.marin@fpse.unibuc.ro