Collaborative Preferences Survey and Interviews
Project Description
In recent years, there has been considerable growth in collaborative research, stemming from the need for solutions to grapple with complex societal problems. The need to improve the scientific basis for decision-making and sustainability science elevates the role of research collaborations and communication among scientists and stakeholders in developing solutions. More often than not, collaboration capitalizes on the diverse perspectives and practices that varying disciplines offer in hopes of facilitating the development of new methods and providing innovative solutions to socially relevant work.
Project personnel hope to uncover how SEANET participants view collaboration practices. To do so, researchers are taking two approaches. First, researchers conducted an online survey among all members of SEANET (i.e., graduate students and faculty, at all participating institutions), including questions on individual characteristics of the participants (e.g., demographics, such as gender), attitudes about collaborative research efforts, and opinions about collaboration efforts within themes of SEANET and the team as a whole. Objectives guiding this survey include: to assess the current attitudes and concerns of SEANET participants regarding previous collaborative projects and SEANET; to identify communication and collaboration preferences; to utilize survey data to create a baseline assessment of collaboration, and to generate ideas for increasing integration among the teams. Second, researchers will conduct 20-30 semi-structured, face-to-face interviews with SEANET members, including graduate students and faculty researchers. Interview questions will gauge researcher identity within the team, role(s) in collaborative research projects prior to SEANET, role on the SEANET team, team decision making, and motivations for engaging in interdisciplinary research.
Results and Accomplishments
The results of the qualitative interviews with SEANET researchers were published in October 2017 in the open access, peer-reviewed journal Frontiers in Communication: Science and Environmental Communication.
Summary of Data Being Collected
| Data | Type | Quantity | Location |
| Year 2 (2015-2016) SEANET participant survey | Quantitative and qualitative | > 50 completed surveys to date | Participants represent all SEANET participating institutions in all bioregions |
| Year 4 (2017-2018) SEANET participant survey | Quantitative and qualitative | TBD | Participants represent all SEANET participating institutions in all bioregions |
| Confidential SEANET participant interviews | Qualitative | ~ 20-30 completed interviews, 30-60 minutes each | Participants represent all SEANET participating institutions in all bioregions |