The Role of Research and Writing in Career Advancement

Carmel Parker White, Ph.D.

Kansas State University

Purpose

This workshop will help you understand the importance of research and writing in your career.

Question

What are your individual career plans?

The Development of a Taxonomy of Career Competences for

Professional Women

Hackett, Betz, & Doty (1985)

Method and Procedure

50 female faculty members from a variety of disciplines Midwestern university Hour-long, semi-structured “critical incidents” interview Summarize career development, degree of success in

field, and one or more “critical incidents” that were important to career development

Taxonomy of Skills

Communication Skills Career Advancement Skills

Interpersonal Skills Job-Specific Skills

Political Skills Adaptive-Cognitive Skills

Administrative and Leadership Skills

Career Management Skills

Career Performance Skills

In a self-assessment of career performance of family studies faculty, Bradbard et al. (1997) found that three subscales were most consistently related to achievement:– Job-Specific Skills– Administrative and Leadership Skills– Adaptive-Cognitive Skills

Job-Specific Skills

Finding and giving career-support toward self or others

Knowledge of subject matter

Other area-specific skills (e.g., clinical skills)

Teaching skill Advising skills

Technical writing skills Research methodology

knowledge Computer and statistical

skills Knowledge of publication

process Ability to generate

innovative ideas Knowledge of funding

sources

Apply these Skills to Your Future

Technical Writing Skills Research Methodology Knowledge Computer and Statistical Skills Knowledge of Publication Process Ability to Generate Innovative Ideas Knowledge of Funding Sources

Underlying Attributes to Develop as an Undergraduate or in Graduate/Professional School

Passion towards Learning

Curiosity and Wonder

Self-Motivation to Overcome own Inertia and other Obstacles

Underlying Knowledge or Skills to Develop as an Undergraduate or in Graduate/Professional School

Active Learning

Critical Thinking– Essential intellectual traits

Knowledge and Skills (cont.)

Research Skills– Take a research methods course– Take a statistics course and learn statistical computing– Work with a research project (volunteer, for credit, or for pay)– Talk with faculty about their research interests and projects– Appreciate the time and attention to detail that conducting

good research takes– Conduct an honors thesis or research project: Start early

Selecting Research Ideas (Benson & Piercy, 1997)

Theory Constructs Method Sample

Questions/

Hypotheses

Conclusions Findings Analyses

Knowledge and Skills (cont.)

Writing Skills– Write frequently with a specific purpose in mind or for a

specific audience– Embrace the notion that “all writing is revising”– Obtain editing experience– Publish your work

Masthead and example article Electronic journals Special issues Select an appropriate journal Journal article format Journal submission process

Free-writing Exercise: Talking on Paper (Saltzman, 1993)

For the next two minutes, start “talking” on paper. Whatever is in your head, write it down. It does not have to be brilliant, or clever, or even make any sense. Your job is to simply keep “talking” on paper, having the freedom to go “blah, blah, blah” with no expectations for the final result. Your only goal here is to keep your hand moving as quickly as possible, to keep throwing words on the page, no matter what.

Remember: Don’t even think of it as “writing.” Think of it as “talking” on paper.

Personal Benefits of Research and Writing (Erickson, 2001)

Career Connections Depth of Content Knowledge Personal Motivation Financial Reward Academic Credit Relationships with Faculty

Personal Benefits (cont.)

Team Work Writing and Presentation Skills Published Research Self-confidence

Examples from My Career

Evaluation Theme– Pregnancy prevention review publication and invited

APA presentation– Grant evaluating child abuse prevention programs– Grant evaluating use of technology by teachers– Teaching a graduate level Program Evaluation

course

References

Benson, M. J., & Piercy, K. W. (1997). Multiple approaches to developing research: A flexible framework for students and advisors. Family Science Review, 10, 121-135.

Bradbard, M. R., Endsley, R. C., Duke, H. (1998). Self-assessment of career performance in female and male human development and family studies faculty. Family Science Review, 11, 136-146.

Erickson, R. (2001). Why involve students in research? Paper presented at the Schreyer National Conference on Innovations in Undergraduate Research and Honors Education, University Park, PA.

Hackett, G., Betz, N. E., & Doty, M. S. (1985). The development of a taxonomy of career competencies in professional women. Sex Roles, 12, 393-409.

Satzman, J. (1993). If you can talk, you can write. New York: Warner.