2021 Research Culture Survey
The Research Culture Survey 2021 was launched 18 October 2021 and ran until 30 November 2021. It was open to all those involved in research at UCD including, academic staff, technical officers, postdoctoral researchers (PDRAs), Research Fellows, graduate research students, and research managers and administrators (RMAs). A copy of the survey is available in this PDF document: Research Culture at UCD Survey 2021 Questions.
Executive Summary
We received 1028 responses to our survey and 3318 text comments. The overall response rate was 19%, with the highest percentage response rate by target population from faculty members (37%) followed by post-doctoral research associates (PDRA) at 30%.
The responses clearly identified that at this point, there is a developing awareness of the importance of Research Culture. A future survey may be useful in determining whether it is developing in a positive direction. Respondents generally indicated a high degree of satisfaction with UCD’s supports in a range of areas including open research, mentorship, good authorship practice, research integrity and research IT. The core value of collegiality is recognised as characteristic of UCD’s research culture, although this can be tempered by the realities of a competitive research funding environment.
The survey indicates that challenges are present around how UCD values quality over quantity of research, recognises all of those who contribute to research outputs, and provides support throughout the research life-cycle.
Some Survey Highlights:
Reports
There are three reports from the Research Culture Survey which can be downloaded as pdf's from the links below, or viewed as Flipbooks:
1. 2021 UCD Research Culture Survey - Quantitative Report
2. 2021 UCD Research Culture Survey - Quantitative Report Supplementary Material
3. 2021 UCD Research Culture Survey - Gender Report
2021 Research Culture Survey - Quantitative Report:
2021 Research Culture Survey - Quantitative Report Supplementary Material:
2021 Research Culture Survey - Gender Report:
UCD Supports for Research Culture
The survey asked respondents to consider, using a Likert Scale, how well UCD supports a range of practices related to good research culture, and the overall responses are presented below: