Communication in an academic context

Abstract

The purpose of this qualitative case study is to investigate the most common communication problems from the views of faculty members at the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey. The sample of this study consists of 50 faculty members including professors, associate professors, assistant professors, and instructors from five largest departments representing five colleges at the Middle East Technical University. The data were gathered by utilizing interview method, including 19 interview questions which were developed by the researchers. The data collected through interviews were content-analyzed including the process of identifying, coding, and categorizing the primary patterns of data. The results of this study provide evidence that faculty members perceive a number of significant communication problem areas regarding work-related communication and overall departmental communication. Furthermore, although there are some similarities among the faculty members in identifying communication problems as well as the ways of solving these communication problems, some significant differences are also observed among the departments. In addition, analysis of the data revealed that there are some similarities and differences between hard science and soft science departments in defining communication problems and possible ways of solving these communication-related problems.

The influence of academic culture on quality management system ISO 9001 maintenance within Malaysian universities

“…It appeared in Case 'A' that academics also believed that they should deliver their subject in their own way. This finding is consistent with Gizir and Simsek (2005) who found that each discipline of knowledge has its own set of concepts, methods and fundamental aims, and that academics have a distinctive culture that includes attitudes, activities and cognitive style. Therefore, as the faculty's QMS stated the way that subjects should be taught, individualism was seen as working against ISO 9001 maintenance activities.…”

Significant conversations and significant networks – exploring the backstage of the teaching arena

“…Many writers, including ourselves, have described university teaching as a solitary business (Ramsden 1998;Handal 1999;Roxå and Mårtensson 2004;Gizir and Simsek 2005). Becher and Trowler (2001) describe the seemingly contradictory nature of communication in academia.…”

Cultural Studies in Higher Education Research

“…The uses of disciplinary cultures as an intellectual device, however, vary significantly. Disciplinary cultures may be used as one of the structuring principles in the study, essential for the analysis of the empirical data (see Gizir and Simsek 2005;Kekäle 2000;Quinlan and Åkerlind 2000;Ylijoki 2000Ylijoki , 2003. These studies may also discuss and develop cultural studies on higher education through introducing new concepts -like departmental cultureto be utilized in the analysis (Quinlan and Åkerlind 2000).…”