Outrider 4 - What is a researcher
Summary
TLDRIn this video, Tara Brabazon, Dean of Graduate Studies at Charles Darwin University, explores the evolving role of a researcher. She emphasizes the importance of scholarly conversation, the transformation of information into knowledge, and the necessity of verification within the research community. Brabazon also discusses the challenges faced by researchers, including ethical considerations, the impact of social media, and the precarious nature of academic employment, urging researchers to uphold the integrity and nobility of their profession.
Takeaways
- 📚 The term 'researcher' has a long history, dating back to its first use in 1544, and originates from the Old French word 'searcher'.
- 🗣️ Research is defined as a conversation between the researcher and the scholarly community, aiming to free citizens from ignorance and fear.
- 🌟 Researchers play a noble role in transforming information into knowledge and making it meaningful for society, which is crucial in the face of misinformation.
- 🔍 The goal of research is to find the 'right conversation' and engage in a social sense-making process, as emphasized by Half in her 2009 book.
- 🔑 Researchers are information professionals who use methodology, epistemology, and ontology to analyze and prepare data sets for consumption by diverse communities.
- 🔬 The scientific method is a key tool for managing subjectivity and bias in research, ensuring rigorous validation and verification of findings.
- 🏛️ Research ethics are paramount, with a focus on respect for citizens, animals, and the environment, guided by codes and legislation like the National Review Act.
- 🌐 The challenges facing researchers include maintaining the integrity of peer review, dealing with the volatility of the academic workforce, and navigating the ethics of using public social media posts in research.
- 🏫 The current state of higher education, with its focus on short-term contracts and casualization, poses significant challenges for researchers and the quality of research.
- 💡 Researchers must continually innovate and pursue further qualifications to improve their knowledge and skills, reflecting the dynamic and evolving nature of research.
- 🌱 The importance of research is underscored by its potential to drive competitiveness in various sectors, including public and private corporations, and its role in shaping the future.
Q & A
What is the origin of the term 'researcher'?
-The term 'researcher' originates from the Old French word 'searcher' and was first used in 1544.
What is the motivational definition of 'research' as mentioned in the script?
-The motivational definition of 'research' is a conversation between a researcher and the scholarly community, aiming to free citizens from ignorance, fear, pretenders, and fear mongers.
What is the role of a researcher according to the script?
-A researcher's role is to engage in scholarly conversations, transform information into knowledge, and make it meaningful for citizens, enabling strong and clear decision-making.
Why is the peer review process important for researchers?
-The peer review process is important as it verifies the work done by researchers, ensuring that ideas are checked and validated by colleagues within the intellectual community.
What does the script suggest about the nobility of being a researcher?
-The script suggests that there is nobility in being a researcher because it involves contributing to the advancement of knowledge, holding oneself accountable to high standards of intellectual life, and serving the community through verified research.
How does the script define 'research ethics'?
-Research ethics, as defined in the script, is concerned with the well-being of people, animals, documents, or the environment involved in the research process, ensuring respect and safety throughout.
What are some of the challenges faced by researchers in the context of the script?
-Challenges faced by researchers include maintaining high standards of intellectual life, dealing with issues like research misconduct, gatekeeping of knowledge, and the instability and precarity of academic contracts.
How does the script describe the importance of research in various sectors?
-The script describes the importance of research in various sectors by stating that research makes corporations competitive, contributes to public and private organizations, and is integral to innovation and knowledge advancement.
What is the significance of the scientific method in managing subjectivity and bias according to the script?
-The scientific method is significant as it provides a structured approach to validate and manage subjectivity and bias through observation, hypothesis testing, data collection, analysis, and iterative refinement.
What does the script suggest about the future of research and researchers?
-The script suggests that the future of research and researchers will involve addressing emerging debates around research ethics, especially with the use of public posts from social media, and navigating the challenges of an increasingly volatile academic workforce.
How does the script emphasize the importance of research in the face of 'fake news' and 'alternative facts'?
-The script emphasizes the importance of research by highlighting the need for rigorous, high-quality research to counteract the spread of misinformation and to uphold the integrity of knowledge in a time of 'fake news' and 'alternative facts'.
Outlines
🎓 The Role and Identity of a Researcher
Tara Brabazon, Dean of Graduate Studies at Charles Darwin University, introduces the concept of a researcher, emphasizing the importance of research in shaping human understanding and societal progress. She discusses the etymology of 'researcher' and its historical significance dating back to 1544. Brabazon highlights the definition of research as a conversation between the researcher and the scholarly community, aiming to liberate citizens from ignorance and fear. She stresses the nobility of research and the researcher's role in transforming information into meaningful knowledge.
🔍 The Scholarly Conversation and Verification in Research
The paragraph delves into the nature of research as a social sense-making conversation, with a goal to find the 'right conversation'. It underscores the researcher's responsibility to build relationships between past and present knowledge to create new knowledge for the future. Verification is highlighted as a crucial aspect of research, with literature reviews, methodologies, and peer reviews serving as checks and balances. The paragraph also addresses the importance of intellectual honesty and the avoidance of research misconduct, emphasizing that researchers are part of a community held accountable to high standards of scholarship.
📚 Research Training and the Iterative Process
This section discusses the iterative nature of research, where researchers continuously circulate and update knowledge through various platforms like conferences and publications. It mentions the overlap between research plans and proposals, focusing on the organization and management of information, knowledge, ethics, and resources. The importance of research training, or 'research education', is emphasized, covering theory, methodology, evidence, dissemination protocols, and ethics. The paragraph also touches on the diverse skills researchers need, including budget management, leadership, and information literacy.
🧐 Managing Bias and Errors in Research
The paragraph focuses on the importance of managing bias and errors in research. It acknowledges that bias and errors are inevitable but can be managed through rigorous methodologies, epistemology, and ontology. Researchers are encouraged to control and understand their subjectivities and to use the scientific method or other appropriate methodologies to validate and manage subjectivity. The paragraph also discusses the importance of research ethics, particularly in the social sciences, where timely and sensitive topics require careful handling to avoid harm to participants.
🌐 Research Ethics and the Future of Research
This section discusses the importance of research ethics, especially in the context of social sciences where the research can be timely and impactful. It mentions the need for respect for citizens' lives and the balance of values between researchers, the research itself, and the citizens. The paragraph also addresses emerging challenges in research ethics, such as the use of public social media posts in research. It highlights the importance of peer review as a cornerstone of research integrity but expresses concern over the current state of higher education and the volatility of academic employment, which may affect the quality and integrity of research.
🏡 The Reality of a Researcher's Life and the Pursuit of Knowledge
In the final paragraph, Brabazon reflects on the current realities of researchers, many of whom face job insecurity and precarious living conditions. Despite these challenges, she emphasizes the critical role of researchers in pursuing knowledge and contributing to a future that values truth and rigor over fake news and alternative facts. She calls researchers the 'best of us' and expresses hope for a future shaped by their courageous work in the face of ignorance and foolishness.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Researcher
💡Scholarly Conversation
💡Research Ethics
💡Peer Review
💡Research Training
💡Academic Integrity
💡Verification
💡Research Proposal
💡Information Literacy
💡Dissemination
💡Intellectual Community
Highlights
The etymology of 'researcher' dates back to 1544, originating from the Old French word 'searcher'.
Research is defined as a conversation between the researcher and the scholarly community, aiming to free citizens from ignorance and fear.
The goal of research is to enable informed decision-making and counteract the influence of fear mongers and pretenders.
Researchers are information professionals who transform information into knowledge through methodology, epistemology, and ontology.
Verification is a key aspect of research, emphasizing the importance of peer review and literature review in validating research findings.
Research is not merely about expressing opinions or emotions; it is a precise intellectual endeavor checked by other scholars.
Ethics, decency, regulation, and governance are crucial in maintaining the integrity of research and the intellectual community.
Researchers are employed in diverse organizations beyond universities, including corporations, consultancies, and government laboratories.
Research training, or more accurately research education, encompasses theory, methodology, evidence, and dissemination protocols.
Researchers must manage bias and errors through a tight combination of methodology, epistemology, and ontology.
The scientific method is a structured way to manage subjectivity in research, from observation to hypothesis testing.
Social scientists must balance rigor with respect for citizens, especially when dealing with timely and sensitive topics.
Humanities and arts researchers focus on context, connecting theoretical, intellectual, and socio-political elements to knowledge emergence.
Research ethics is fundamental, ensuring the well-being of participants, animals, documents, and the environment during the research process.
Axiology balances the values of researchers, research, and citizens, guiding ethical considerations throughout the research process.
Peer review is essential for the research conversation, but current challenges include gatekeeping and maintaining integrity in academia.
The volatility of the academic workforce and the casualization of academic roles pose significant challenges to the stability and continuity of research.
Researchers are the best of us, conducting courageous work in a time of ignorance and alternative facts, driving us towards a different future.
Transcripts
hello I'm Tara brabazon and I'm the dean
of Graduate Studies at Charles Darwin
University and welcome to outrider for
what is a researcher now obviously this
is a request from Ruth thank you to Ruth
and this particular outrider what is a
researcher is paired with our last one
what is research so what we're
investigating is how research is poured
into a human form
and how that human being is supported
cared for but also trained and verified
this is a really exciting interesting
topic and I'm so grateful to have the
chance to share it with you so let's do
this what is a researcher now
etymologically the word researcher comes
from old French from the word searcher
and it was first used in 1544.
so it's got an incredibly long history
and it is an incredibly interesting
history and I wanted to start if I can
with a meaningful and motivational
definition of the term for you and this
definition emerged when I was a young
Jedi
when I was a young Jedi researcher I had
just gained my PhD I just graduated from
my PhD and the first book I read after I
completed the PHD to welcome my new
research career was this particular book
and it was by Booth column and Williams
and it was called The Craft of research
published in 1995 by Chicago University
press and Booth Coleman Williams
stated and this has stayed with me
through my entire life really that
research is a conversation
it's a conversation between a researcher
and our scholarly community
between a researcher and our disciplines
or fields
changes your life just a little bit
doesn't it so the goal of this
conversation
is to free citizens from ignorance
from Fear from The Pretenders and from
the fear mongers
so our role therefore as a researcher is
to dialogue with our peers
to enable strong and clear decision
making from citizens our role is to
transform information into knowledge and
make it resonant and meaningful for
Citizens so that they're not impacted by
The Pretenders
and the influences
now if that definition doesn't make you
want to get up in the morning and change
the world like oh yes
that's who I am I am a researcher if
that doesn't make you want to get going
then I'm not sure what Pharmaceuticals
you're actually going to require because
colleagues there is a nobility
to research and there is nobility
to being a researcher
similarly half in her
2009 book designing research for
publication and again I strongly
recommend that book to you focused again
on the importance of this scholarly
conversation and she defined a
researcher's goal as quote finding the
right conversation end of quote and
described research as quote a social
sense making conversation
end of quote these are brilliant
definitions they still get me going and
get me excited so Huff stress the
importance of the scholar and the
researcher as an identity so when we as
a human
make a decision to claim the identity of
a researcher
we identify
we confirm that making strong scholarly
choices is important to us and we don't
just offer a vibe that we move through
life as a researcher
seeking and asking for validation and
confirmation of our evidence our
research and our arguments therefore
as you can see a researcher has an
incredibly powerful role and what a
researcher does in many ways is link the
past and the present and we link that
through scholarly conversations we try
and build the relationship between the
past of knowledge and the present of
knowledge and the reason we're doing
that is to create new knowledge for the
future but we also must the whole point
of being a researcher is we must
recognize the importance of verification
so us having an idea is great but being
a researcher means that we demand that
colleagues check and verify the work
that we do put another way this is why
we have a literature review this is why
we have a methodology and this is why we
put our work through peer review being a
researcher
and this is so important now can I say
being a researcher is not about
expressing emotion
it's not about expressing an opinion
it's not about expressing A vibe it's
not about occupying an identity and
assuming that that particular identity
narrative has truth
instead it is activating a very precise
very clearly configured intellectual
space
we build with transparency a pathway
through knowledge and that pathway is
checked by other Scholars that is the
nature of the conversation now these
other people that are going to check our
work can be peer reviewers but of course
they're also
PhD examiners as researchers we must be
checked
and that verification process is part of
an intellectual Community Building
knowledge the challenge I think so often
that we have is you know I believe
passionately
in these goals the highest standards of
intellectual life the higher standards
of scholarship I think it is a tragedy a
personal and professional tragedy every
time any of us go below those standards
and that can occur through sexual
assault sexual harassment research
Integrity research misconduct issues
bullying but also you know the stuff we
really talk about and we should talk
about a lot more the gatekeeping of
knowledge and also intellectual jealousy
and that's why ethics and decency and
Regulation and governance are required
we are only a researcher
because we are held accountable to and
with the community of researchers you
can never be sort of a researcher on
your own
we are only a researcher because we are
verified as a researcher by others
While most researchers are still housed
in our universities research and
development will use the phrase research
and development they are both integral
to public and private corporations
businesses smes and of course this
includes government Laboratories but
also the glams galleries libraries
archives and museums consultancies and
also environmental agencies as well
researchers therefore are employed
through a diversity of organizations
about sixty percent of our PhD students
do not work in universities they leave
our universities for other modes of
employment and so therefore the reason
research matters particularly to public
and private corporations is because
research renders those corporations
competitive and allows them to compete
well with other organizations
the researcher is important because we
are information professionals I think we
very rarely talk about that these days
we are information professionals what we
do is transform information into
knowledge through methodology
epistemology ontology and what we do is
we deploy clear methodologies to find to
create to locate to curate data sets and
then we analyze those data sets and we
prepare them for consumption and
engagement via diverse communities
as you can see therefore researchers
have very precise
responsibilities and we need to talk a
lot about the responsibilities of
researchers because we are assigned or
we seek out a particular research topic
research question research area and that
often aligns with the priorities of a
particular industry or a particular
government or Nation at a specific time
but from that topic we develop a
research plan now in outrider 2 we
talked about the research proposal and
looked at research plan and research
proposal have a lot of overlap because
really they're about
organization and understanding how to
manage information knowledge other human
beings ethics and also resources time
and money
so a researcher continues to iteratively
circulate the knowledge that is
activated in that research so
dissemination is crucial
to being a researcher we provide updates
on our research via conferences or blogs
or podcasts or videos such as this
Nitros of course and we make sure that
our data sets and data collections are
always tested and verified and improved
so we iteratively look have we got the
right data set how can we improve our
information literacy and our information
collection strategies and then of course
we develop those strong strategies for
dissemination to diverse and I'll use
the weird word stakeholders
researchers are qualified
[Music]
and one of the reasons they're qualified
is they participate in research training
research training is a weird phrase and
in a future outrider I'm going to take
that phrase on I think the better phrase
to be frank is research education but
the research education that we as
researchers activate and share is about
Theory it's about methodology it's about
evidence it's also about dissemination
protocols and ethics
we also through research education talk
about reading
and we talk about writing and the
technical skills that are required in
many disciplines so in the experimental
Sciences theoretical Sciences field work
based Sciences or indeed in high Theory
that's what we talk about being a
researcher therefore is intensely
specialized without apology
we hold Bachelor degrees
master's degrees doctoral degrees and we
gain diverse experiences from around the
world we are internationally checked for
our research we understand diverse
research cultures and we continue to
test and check ourselves every single
year via peer review there are also some
other important skills you know we've
got to do budget management time
management there may be leadership
skills there more importantly there may
be followership skills there but also
information literacy skills
communication studies communication
skills and that's why so many of us as
researchers don't stop at our PhD we
activate further qualifications micro
credentials or often what's called Nano
learning
because a researcher is able to continue
to innovate
and to create and curate and transform
with a singular goal
to improve knowledge
how amazing is this
part of what a researcher must do is
learn to recognize and learn to manage
bias and learn to manage errors bias and
errors if you're alive if you're
breathing you're going to have bias and
you're going to have errors
but we learn to manage and acknowledge
those biases and those Errors By a very
tight combination between methodology
epistemology and ontology and we
continually revise that relationship
researchers learn to control and manage
and understand our subjectivities
subjectivity not a problem but you must
acknowledge it you must control it and
manage it it is a lens to research and
you must understand how that lens
operates in terms of developing your
research outputs scientific researchers
of course have the scientific method
that validates and tries to manage
subjectivity in bias and of course
that's the scientific method from
observation to hypotheses working
definitions start to deploying you know
scientific equipment then getting the
data set doing the analysis going back
to the hypothesis and saying you know
what the hypothesis was wrong and going
through the whole process again so that
scientific method is a great way to
manage and acknowledge and work through
bias and subjectivity the social
scientists of course have diverse
methodologies working through say
ethnography or field work or participant
observation
and particularly in the social sciences
the imperative is to create those
reactive data sets through interviews or
through surveys
ethics is crucial in The Sciences but
particularly I would argue the social
sciences and I'll tell you why because
the investigations that are done in the
social sciences are important but are
often very timely and a very very hot
topics and that's great but the problem
with the very timely Hot Topics is that
they can do great harm
to the participants so all this social
scientific rigor must be tempered
by respect for citizens
any research any researcher must respect
deeply
the life of citizens okay Humanities and
arts research and research as wow this
is a a very very wide field but
researchers in these disciplines at its
most basic are very involved in thinking
about context
and that context may be theoretical
context intellectual context social
economic political geographical context
so the humanities and social sciences
terribly interested in thinking about
how context operates in our changing
views and the emergence of knowledge
so for example historians deploy very
intricate epistemologies to try and look
at the granular relationship between the
past and the present and build that
relationship very intricate like skin
delicate delicate skin between the past
and the present High Theory and high
theoretical research is absolutely
crucial very very difficult and we need
to acknowledge the importance of the
high Theory and the high theoreticians
amongst our researchers who construct
mind furniture and move our mind
furniture around brilliant inspirational
human beings and of course art based
research is important here some of this
is based in studio so Studio based
research but also practice LED practice
based creative-led creative based often
involving the construction of artifact
and again the relationships between
artifact and exegesis and what happens
in that space is incredibly interesting
for a researcher to explore
so what aligns all of this research is a
commitment to research ethics
and in Australia we have a code for
research conduct which must be the
punctuation of every second of every
minute of every hour of the research
that we do but can I say most national
systems around the world to all our
friends around the world who are joining
us you also have clear ethical
parameters and in the United States for
example the National Review Act was
formed in 1974 and so institutions still
uphold that legislation to this day
which is incredibly inspirational
research ethics is concerned with what
happens to people
or animals or documents or the
environment and what happens to those
people and environment and animals
during the research
process
axiology is the frame and the guide
through research ethics at its most
basic what axiology does is it balances
the values of the researcher
the research and citizens and so it
carefully ensures you so so values
matter a lot here and how we balance
those values between diverse
stakeholders is the key of axiology very
precious very important so therefore
researchers must endlessly check their
research design
particularly when it's involving human
beings or animals or the environment
medical research of course is guided
through a series of ethical codes as we
would hope starting with of course the
Nuremberg code in 1947 moving through
the Declaration of Helsinki in 1964 and
the Belmont report in 1978 so through
these governance
protocols research ethics becomes the
foundation of medical research and
applied science more generally so as you
can see research training yucky phrase
but research education must include
foundationally attention to research
ethics but also academic and research
integrity
and that includes particularly it starts
with uh monitoring data and ensuring
that the fabrication of data is not
enacted and authorship is respected and
logged so the challenges I think that
are going to emerge for you are
researchers of the future are very very
clear
we've got the research ethics and the
methodologies around using public posts
so say for example you want to cite a
public Twitter post or you're on
Facebook and someone has made a post
public they have made a decision to
render a post public now the interesting
research ethics conversations at the
moment are involving the circulation of
public posts from social media and can I
acknowledge my wonderful former student
Dr Leanne McRae who is doing some
amazing intellectual work in this space
and Leanne I need you to write this work
up for us okay so these are the new and
emerging debates around research ethics
and of course then there are the
challenges with peer review and I'm
going to get really stroppy about this
for which I apologize but I get angry
about this every day
peer review is crucial to building those
blocks building that conversation
between an individual researcher and
their intellectual Community that's
where we started our definitional work
today but we've seen in so many recent
controversies that there are a series of
Gatekeepers
in our disciplines who are keeping out
new voices keeping out the innovative
ideas to maintain their own power
and the other key problem and challenge
we've got in the maintenance of the
Integrity of peer review is what is
happening to higher education at our
Universities at the moment it breaks my
heart every single day look a tear just
popped out it's not unbelievable
research colleagues is conducted in the
long term a PhD is a three-year degree
you are enrolling to complete a PhD in
three years but the challenge with that
is that supervisors are being hired who
are not on a three-year contract
so your supervisors may be rendered
redundant by the organization may be
restructured out of the organization or
they may be on a contract casual or zero
hour contract right and of course these
contracts are creating great instability
as does I'm gonna go there the
differentiation of academic functions so
in the last 10 years particularly in the
last five years all sorts of new
contracts have arrived in academic life
so now we have a group of colleagues
that are called teaching only academics
or teaching focused academics now I've
thought that I've lost I always lose but
can I make an obvious can I ask you a
question and you can ponder it in your
own life in the next week
if an academic is not research active
are they an academic
and I Define research activity by the
way compliance level five refereed
articles or five refereed objects in a
five-year period so very low level five
in five years is research activity if
you're below that
are you actually an academic just
putting it out there please disagree
with me offer comments in the comment
section if you like but what I'm talking
about now is the volatility of the
academic Workforce peer review editing
these are noble Acts
that have been conducted for free
by generations of researchers so that we
are able to continue that research
conversation right
but as Publishers like El Sevilla and
Springer become two of the most
profitable corporations in the world
and that profit is based on the Free
Labor
of academics
we have to ask ourselves what exactly
we're doing here
now that free peer review that free
academic labor was absolutely fine when
academics were on full-time permanent or
tenured contracts okay this was about
service we were given the gift of tenure
and therefore we serve our intellectual
community
but those days are long long over
and all of us are on short-term
contracts as I've said thousands of
times where all the precarious now we're
all one day away from getting the sack
and we've got a large number of our
colleagues on part-time casualized jobs
battling to find food security or
housing security and of course
ironically I've performed this through
many of the videos that you've seen my
degree of Housing and security you've
seen in these videos so I'm currently in
a temporary accommodation this is the
last week I'll be in this particular
temporary accommodation and then next
week I'm moving to another place to live
so I am writing my research on a wonky
table in temporary accommodation day
after day week after week and I am not
alone
this is the reality of a researcher's
life now
so through these tough times to be a
researcher
the pursue pursue knowledge
has never mattered more
we need you
and we need your high quality research
in a time of fake news
in a time of I'm going there alternative
facts wow
time of Twitter pylons
and photo opportunities rather than
rigor
the quiet
distinguished
and careful work of a researcher
must be respected
it'll rarely be supported by governments
because it really creates those quick
outputs those quick outcomes that create
profit for particular Industries
but this is courageous work
in a time of cowardice
an ignorance
and foolishness
you as a researcher
you are the best of us
and you will move us
to a different future
I wish you love light and peace
tea out
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