EPIC Faculty Survey 2003

1
EPIC Faculty Survey2003
2
Table of Contents

• Introduction Slide 3
• Methods Slide 4
• Objectives Slide 5
• How to Read the Graphs in This Presentation Slid
  e 6
• Respondent Profile Slide 7
• Use of Print and Electronic Resources Slide 12
• Perceived Benefits and Disadvantages of Using
  Electronic Resources Slide 18
• Use of Electronic Resources for Research Slide
  25
• Electronic Resources and Teaching Slide 33
• Faculty Perceptions of Electronic Resources and
  Students Slide 39
• Conclusions Slide 46

3
Introduction
The Electronic Publishing Initiative at
Columbia (EPIC) is conducting a series of
interviews, focus groups, and surveys as part of
a comprehensive research program to examine the
impact of electronic resources on the scholarly
communication process. This includes examining
the effect of electronic resources on publishers
of scholarly materials, academic libraries,
information technology departments at
institutions of higher education, college
faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate
students. The study reported here examines
the use and effects of electronic resources on
college faculty.
4
Methods

• A 25 minute online survey of college faculty was
  conducted between February 11 and March 9, 2003.
• E-mail invitations were sent to scholars in the
  fields of International Affairs and
  Earth/Environmental Sciences at 4 year colleges
  and universities across the United States. We
  focused on these particular disciplines because
  two of EPICs projects were created for scholars
  in these disciplines (Columbia International
  Affairs Online for International Affairs and
  Earthscape for the Earth/Environmental Sciences.)
• The overall response rate to this survey was 14.
  Of those who responded, 574 individuals met our
  inclusion criteria. Inclusion criteria stipulated
  respondents be an assistant, associate, or full
  professor at a 4-year liberal arts college,
  Masters college or university, or
  doctoral/research university, specializing in the
  field of International Affairs or Earth Science.
• The original sample reflected the underlying
  distribution of faculty in four year liberal arts
  colleges and universities for control of school
  (public vs. private), rank of professor
  (assistant, associate, full), and type of
  institution (4-year liberal arts, masters
  college or university, or doctoral/research
  university) based on the last year of data
  available (1998). Weighting factors were used to
  match the sample to the population for gender,
  and to distribute discipline so that it was
  represented as 50 International Affairs and 50
  Earth Sciences.

5
Objectives

• The objectives of this study were to
• Gain insights into how academics are using
  electronic resources in their academic work (both
  research and teaching)
• Gain insights into the perceived benefits and
  disadvantages of electronic resources
• Learn how academics perceive electronic resources
  as affecting undergraduate students scholarship
• Examine differences in use of electronic
  resources based on stage of career, type of
  discipline and type of institution

6
How to Read The Slides in This Presentation

• On each slide, the actual survey question is
  listed in the bottom left corner of the slide.
• The N that is listed under the title of the
  slide indicates the number of respondents who
  answered a particular question on the survey.
• The text under the graphs explain the responses
  and comparisons shown in the graph. On some
  slides, bars on the graph are added together when
  percentages are cited in the text. For example
  the text may list the percentage who agreed
  with a certain statement. This percentage is
  comprise of those who indicated that they either
  strongly or somewhat agreed with the statement.
• Some slides have a note in the bottom left hand
  corner stating that All of the differences on
  this chart are statistically significant. This
  indicates that statistical analyses were
  conducted and the two groups being compared
  differ from each other at the .05 level of
  statistical significance testing on all of the
  items listed.

7
Respondent Profile
8
Gender AgeN574

• Gender was weighted to match the underlying
  distribution within the population of faculty at
  4-year colleges and research/doctoral
  universities.
• Most respondents were between the ages of 31 and
  60.

Are you A. Male B.Female What is your age?
(open-ended)
9
Academic Responsibilities Level of
AppointmentN574

• Almost half of the respondents split their
  responsibilities about equally as a teacher and a
  researcher. Forty percent identified themselves
  as more or solely a teacher and 10.6 identified
  themselves as more or solely a researcher.
• Level of appointment matched the underlying
  distribution in the population of faculty in
  4-year colleges and universities.

In terms of your research and teaching
responsibilities, how would you describe
yourself? Please indicate your level of
appointment with your institution.
10
Type and Control of InstitutionN574

• Type of institution and control of institution
  reflected the underlying distribution of faculty
  in four year colleges and universities across the
  country.

What type of academic institution are you
employed at?
11
Use of and Proficiency with Electronic
ResourcesN574

• Virtually all of the respondents used electronic
  resources a few times a week or more (91.8) and
  over 60 classify themselves as being extremely
  or very proficient with electronic resources.

How often would you say you use electronic
resources (excluding e-mail) for academic or
scholarly purposes? Please rate your level of
proficiency with electronic resources.
12
Use of Print and Electronic Resources
13
Do you Prefer Print or Electronic Resources?
N574

• Most faculty members do not have an overwhelming
  preference for print or electronic resources.
  Rather, their preference varies on a case by case
  basis depending on the type of information they
  are looking for, how they are going to use the
  material, and where they are going to use the
  material. Print resources are preferred when the
  material is a book or long article, it is
  something they need to read in-depth, or the
  material contains images or data that does not
  show up well electronically. Electronic
  resources are preferred when using materials that
  are short in length, searching or browsing for
  information, for current materials, and when
  using data or graphics that can be downloaded and
  manipulated.
• Of those respondents who prefer print, the main
  reasons were the ease of handling and reading
  print. Other reasons included the ability to
  write on print, ability to browse, ease of saving
  print for future use, and ease of evaluating the
  reliability of print resources.
• Of those respondents who prefer electronic
  resources, the main reasons were the ease of
  access and use, saving time and space, and the
  ability to access information from anywhere.
• Associate/full professors were statistically more
  likely to prefer print resources than their
  junior colleagues. This may be due to their
  history of using print resources whereas junior
  faculty may be more familiar with electronic
  resources.

Do you prefer print or electronic resources?
14
Dependence on Resources Used by FacultyN574

• Respondents report that they are very dependent
  on electronic resources, especially e-mail, the
  World Wide Web and electronic databases sponsored
  by their own institution.
• The electronic resource that is depended on the
  least by faculty is Listservs with 44.3 of
  respondents reporting that they are very or
  somewhat dependent.

How dependent are you on the following for your
academic or scholarly work?
15
Dependence on Resources by Type of
InstitutionN574

• When comparing dependence on different types of
  resources by type of institution the faculty
  belong to, a few differences emerged. Respondents
  from non-research colleges and universities were
  statistically more dependent on resources from
  other institutions whereas those from research
  universities were statistically more dependent on
  print holdings of their own institution. This is
  probably due to the fact that research
  universities tend to have more extensive library
  collections compared to other colleges and
  universities. As a result respondents from
  research universities may be able to obtain all
  of the materials they need from their own library
  whereas those from other types of institutions
  have to rely on the resources of other
  institutions for some of their information needs.

How dependent are you on the following for your
academic or scholarly work?
All of the differences in means by discipline on
this chart are statistically significant.
16
Faculty Dependence on Various Types of Web Sites
N574
Means 3.15 3.15 3.03 2.60 2.69 2.62

• Over three quarters of respondents report they
  are very or somewhat dependent on government
  websites (79), their institutions library
  portal (76.6), and organizational websites
  (77.3). Slightly over half of respondents were
  also very or somewhat dependent on online
  newspapers, journal websites and other University
  websites.

How dependent are you on the following types of
web sites for your academic or scholarly work?
17
Electronic Resources Affect on Work HabitsN574

• Overall, there is an increased reliance on
  electronic resources, and an increased resistance
  to using other modes of information gathering,
  even when they cant find what they want
  electronically. Eighty-six percent of respondents
  somewhat or strongly agree that they are becoming
  more and more dependent on electronic resources.
  This in turn is affecting their use of the
  physical library more than ¾ of the sample say
  they use the physical library less than they
  would if they did not have access to electronic
  resources. Further, 40 somewhat or strongly
  agree that they would rather settle for what they
  can find online, even if it is not quite what
  they wanted, in order to save making the trip to
  the library. For 20.5 of our sample, the use of
  electronic resources has become so pervasive that
  they admit to rarely even looking beyond
  electronic resources for information.

Please indicate how much you agree or disagree
with each statement.
18
Perceived Benefits and Disadvantages of
UsingElectronic Resources
19
Benefits of Electronic Resources--ConvenienceN57
4

• Respondents were asked to rate their level of
  agreement or disagreement with several statements
  about electronic resources. Statements that
  reflected the convenience aspect of electronic
  resources were typically rated with the strongest
  agreement. These included saving one time and
  effort, and allowing one to access materials from
  any location.

Please indicate how much you agree or disagree
with each statement.
20
Benefits of Electronic ResourcesImproved
Availability N574

• Statements that focused on the increased
  availability of information as a result of
  electronic resources found slightly less
  agreement. In terms of improved availability of
  information, electronic resources are perceived
  as providing greater access to current
  information, graphics/images, and materials such
  as government documents and scientific databases
  than what is easily available in print. However,
  only 31 agree that they have greater access to
  older information. Further, only 28.7 strongly
  agree that materials become available quicker via
  electronic resources than they are available via
  print resources.

Please indicate how much you agree or disagree
with each statement.
21
Disadvantages of Electronic ResourcesN574

• The largest problem with electronic resources is
  having to weed out the garbage from the
  goods. Not only is it problematic that this
  must be done, but approximately half of our
  respondents report that they have difficulty
  making these assessments. When asked to specify
  how they evaluate electronic resources, 64 said
  they rely on the reputation of the provider, 28
  rely on their own knowledge of the subject, and
  19 rely on the peer review process.
• In addition to the difficulty of evaluating
  electronic resources is the fact that electronic
  resources can result in an overload of
  information being made available. About 40 of
  our respondents report that having so much
  information available can be overwhelming for
  them.
• Things that were less problematic for scholars
  were getting easily distracted and going on
  tangents while using online resources, and
  putting things off until the last minute.

Please indicate how much you agree or disagree
with each statement.
22
Benefits and Disadvantages by DisciplineN574

• When comparing faculty by discipline, a few
  differences in perceived benefits and
  disadvantages of electronic resources emerge.
  International affairs scholars are more likely to
  feel that electronic resources save them time,
  make it possible for them to work remotely, give
  them greater access to older scholarly
  information, and that some materials which are
  not easily available in print are more readily
  available electronically. Types of materials
  that are more easily available online are foreign
  newspapers, working papers or policy briefs from
  think tanks and NGOs, and government documents.
  However, international affairs scholars are also
  more likely to think that too much information is
  available.
• Earth and environmental scientists perceive
  electronic resources as giving them increased
  access to pictures and graphics and making
  material available quicker.

Please indicate how much you agree or disagree
with each statement below.
All of the differences in means by discipline on
this chart are statistically significant.
23
Benefits and Disadvantages by SeniorityN845

• There were also some perceived differences in
  benefits and disadvantages between senior and
  junior faculty. Senior faculty are more likely to
  agree that they have trouble judging the quality
  of information available online, and that
  electronic resources increase the need to weed
  out reliable from unreliable information. Junior
  scholars might be better at identifying the
  sources of information (such as identifying
  information that is in the url, or better at
  tracking down the source of information).
• Senior faculty are more likely to agree that
  electronic resources make some materials more
  readily available to them. They may be more
  aware of how things were before electronic
  resources were a viable way of obtaining
  information, so they have a better benchmark to
  compare the current state of affairs against.

Please indicate how much you agree or disagree
with each statement below
All of the differences in means by seniority on
this chart are statistically significant.
24

• Important and
• Satisfied
• Ability to download
• Ability to print
• Currency of info
• Speed of sites
• Reputation of providers
• Text in PDF or other standard format

• Important and
• Not Satisfied
• Full text available
• Search capabilities
• Ease of Navigation
• Availability of older/archived information
• Ability to tell if peer reviewed

• Respondents were first asked to rate the
  importance of various aspects of electronic
  resources, and then asked to rate their
  satisfaction with these aspects in the resources
  they use. Aspects of electronic resources which
  were important and satisfactory to respondents
  were the ability to download and print, the
  currency of information, the speed of sites, the
  reputation of providers, and text being available
  in PDF or other standard format. Items that were
  rated as important but were not satisfactory were
  having full text materials available, search
  capabilities of databases, navigation, the
  availability of older materials, and the ability
  to tell if material was peer reviewed.

25
Use of Electronic Resources for Research
26
Uses of Electronic Resources in Research N236

• Of those who participate in research as part of
  their academic responsibilities, 236 were asked a
  series of questions regarding their use of
  electronic resources for research. The most
  common uses for electronic resources in research
  are to correspond with colleagues (96.8) or to
  access a specific journal/paper/book (95.9).

What do you use electronic resources for in your
research?
27
Positive Effects of Electronic Resources on
Research N236
Means 4.50 4.19 4.05

• Overall, researchers agree that electronic
  resources have aided in their research.
• In particular, most researchers strongly or
  somewhat agree that electronic resources
  facilitate their ability to collaborate with
  faculty all over the world (89.2) and make it
  easier to find materials outside their area of
  expertise (83.4). This would indicate that the
  most influential aspect of electronic resources
  is their ability to broaden research horizons
  both with whom the research is conducted and with
  access to more materials.
• When asked to specify how electronic resources
  affect their ability to collaborate with
  colleagues, respondents stated that email makes
  communication much easier so that the exchange of
  materials is quicker and it is easier to give and
  receive feedback. Electronic resources also
  facilitate the exchange of large documents or
  datasets through file transfer protocol (ftp).
  Further, several faculty mentioned that
  electronic resources aid them in finding
  colleagues with similar interest through websites
  or listservs.

Please indicate how much you agree or disagree
with each of the statements below.
28
Positive Effects on Research (contd)N236
Means 3.68 3.86 3.42

• More than half of the researchers agreed that
  their research reaches a broader audience as a
  result of electronic resources and electronic
  resources increase their access to unpublished
  literature. Slightly less than half agree that
  electronic resources get their research into the
  public eye sooner than print resources.

Please indicate how much you agree or disagree
with each of the statements below.
29
Negative Effects of Electronic Resources on
Research N236
Mean 2.59 1.87 2.35 1.97

• The majority of respondents disagreed with all of
  the statements about negative effects of
  electronic resources. However, 24.4 strongly or
  somewhat agreed that the use of electronic
  resources cuts down on serendipitously finding
  information that would be useful and 17.2
  strongly or somewhat agreed that they spend less
  time thinking or deliberating over material
  because the whole research process is sped up.

Please indicate how much you agree or disagree
with each of the statements below.
Slide 2 of 2
30
Effects of Electronic Resources on Research by
Discipline N236

• There were a few differences by discipline in the
  perceived effects of electronic resources on the
  research process. Earth Science scholars are more
  likely to agree that they spend less time
  thinking or deliberating over material because
  the use of electronic resources speeds up the
  whole research process and that electronic
  resources make it easier to find materials that
  are outside their area of expertise.
• International Affairs scholars are more likely to
  agree that electronic resources increase their
  access to unpublished (gray) literature.

All of the differences in means by discipline on
this chart are statistically significant.
Please indicate how much you agree or disagree
with each of the statements below.
31
Electronic Resources Affect Types of Research
Projects Worked OnN236

• Ninety-two percent of respondents report
  electronic resources have influenced the types of
  projects they have worked on. Ways in which
  electronic resources have affected types of
  projects worked on are by increasing facultys
  access to colleagues (77), increasing access to
  information within their own field (63),
  increasing access to data (59), and increasing
  access to information in other fields (44).
• Earth Science scholars were statistically more
  likely to say that increased access to
  information in other fields allows them to work
  on interdisciplinary projects they otherwise
  would not be working on.

Which of the following statements, if any,
describe how electronic resources have affected
the research projects you have worked on.
32
Electronic Resources Affect on the Quality of
Research N236

• Nearly all of the researchers believe electronic
  resources have had a positive affect on the
  quality of their research (96.9).

Overall, how positively or negatively have
electronic resources affected the quality of your
research?
33
Electronic Resources and Teaching
34
Uses of Electronic Resources for TeachingN341

• Of those who teach as part of their academic
  responsibilities, 341 respondents were asked a
  series of questions regarding their use of
  electronic resources in their teaching.
• Almost all (99.8) of the teachers in our sample
  use electronic resources in some capacity for
  their teaching. Ninety-two percent direct their
  students to primary or supplementary materials
  online.
• For lecture preparation, teachers go online to
  retrieve datasets, find current events
  information, or find images to use in their
  lectures. Many faculty also place course
  materials online through a course website or
  through reserve readings via the library. This
  gives students greater access to course materials
  such as syllabi, homework assignments and
  readings.

In which of the following ways do you use
electronic resources for teaching?
Slide 1 of 2
35
Use of Electronic Resources for Teaching
(contd)N341

• Some teachers also use the online environment as
  a supplement to the classroom environment by
  incorporating online classroom programs into the
  course. For example, some teachers use the
  Blackboard course management program for its
  discussion board, where students can post
  comments on the class material.
• Some teachers are even using online materials as
  a replacement for textbooks.

In which of the following ways do you use
electronic resources for teaching?
Slide 2 of 2
36
Use of Electronic Resources for Teaching by
DisciplineN341

• There were some disciplinary differences in how
  electronic resources were used for teaching.
  International affairs scholars are more likely to
  direct students to primary or supplementary
  materials online, to use online classroom
  programs, and to go online to get current events
  information to help demonstrate ideas.
• Earth and environmental scientists are more
  likely to go online to get images to help
  demonstrate ideas.

In which of the following ways do you use
electronic resources for teaching?
All of the differences in percentages by
discipline on this chart are statistically
significant.
37
Effects of Electronic Resources on Teaching N341
Means 4.38 4.02 3.69

• The majority of teachers agree that electronic
  resources have aided their teaching. Electronic
  resources were most useful to teachers in
  providing materials that they otherwise would not
  be able to incorporate into their class and
  providing materials that make it possible to
  assign projects that they wouldnt have been able
  to assign in the past. Faculty also report that
  electronic resources save them time in class
  preparation.

Please indicate how much you agree or disagree
with each statement.
38
Electronic Resources Affect on the Quality of
Teaching N341

• The vast majority of respondents, (92.6) believe
  that electronic resources have a positive effect
  on the quality of their teaching.

Overall, how positively or negatively have
electronic resources affected the quality of your
teaching?
39
Faculty Perception ofElectronic Resources and
Students
40
Electronic Resources StudentsBenefitsN341

• Faculty believe the use of electronic resources
  has some benefits for students.The online
  availability of datasets, government documents,
  policy briefs, foreign newspapers, and working
  papers gives students easy access to materials
  they might otherwise have to forgo. This
  increased access in turn allows students to do
  projects they havent been able to do in the
  past. For example, online resources give
  students access to primary documents that they
  would otherwise need to access the libraries of
  foreign ministries or international organizations
  to obtain.

Based on your experience with students homework
or research papers/projects, please indicate how
much you agree/disagree with each of the
following statements.
41
Electronic Resources StudentsProblemsN341

• Despite the benefits, faculty also identify areas
  where students have difficulties with electronic
  resources. First, students have trouble
  evaluating information in the online environment.
  Traditionally, the library was the gatekeeper of
  information, however this is less true in an
  online environment. Unfortunately, many students
  do not have the experience or expertise to
  provide solid decision making about whether an
  online source is reliable or not.
• A second problem noted by faculty is that
  students have a tendency to go no further than
  electronic resources. They tend to get most or
  all of their information off the Internet, while
  ignoring other valuable information that is
  available only in print form. Many faculty
  believe students use of electronic resources has
  resulted in them often not knowing how to use the
  library.
• Plagiarism is another problem. Students will copy
  and paste material from a website directly into
  their paper without seeming to realize this is
  plagiarism. Further, the quality of their work
  suffers because they cut and paste paragraphs
  from various sources together without fully
  analyzing and understanding the material.
• Faculty also believe students spend less time
  deliberating over material. Students tend to
  wait until the last minute because they can
  easily access information via online resources.
  This cuts down on the amount of time an idea has
  to percolate in their minds.

Based on your experience with students homework
or research papers/projects, please indicate how
much you agree/disagree with each of the
following statements.
42
Evaluation of Resources is Problematic for
Students ScholarshipN318
MEAN 3.16

• Students difficulty evaluating the quality of
  online information was the top problem faculty
  identified for students. Of those who agreed that
  students have difficulty evaluating the quality
  of online information, 92.8 thought this to be
  very or somewhat problematic for their students
  scholarship.
• As the next few slides will show, very few
  institutions offer a course on evaluating
  electronic resources. However, many faculty
  members are taking class time to remedy this
  problem by instructing students on how to
  evaluate electronic resources.

You strongly or somewhat agreed with the
statement that Students have difficulty
evaluating the quality of content of some online
information. How problematic has this been for
your students scholarship?
43
Availability of Courses Instructing Students How
to Evaluate Electronic ResourcesN341

• Only 12.0 of respondents reported that their
  institutions had a course that taught students
  how to evaluate electronic resources with an
  additional 27.9 unsure as to whether their
  institution offered a course. Still, the
  majority of respondents (52.9) said their
  institution does not offer a course in the
  evaluation of electronic resources.
• Of the respondents whose institutions did have
  some type of instruction on evaluating electronic
  resources, most were given through the library,
  information studies department, or a general
  freshman orientation course.

Does your department or your institution have any
mechanism set up that instructs students how to
evaluate online information so that they are
better able to distinguish what is reliable
information and what is not?
44
Class Time Spent Instructing Students How to
Evaluate Online InformationN341

• When asked if they spent class time instructing
  students how to evaluate electronic resources,
  71.3 of respondents answered yes.
• Faculty members from doctoral/research
  universities were statistically less likely to
  instruct students in the evaluation of electronic
  resources (64.4) compared to comprehensive
  (77.3) and liberal arts colleges (76.8).
• International Affairs faculty members were
  statistically more likely to have instructed
  students in the evaluation of electronic
  resources (77.8) compared to Earth/Environmental
  Science Scholars (64.8).

Do you spend any class time instructing students
how to evaluate electronic resources?
45
The Effect of Electronic Resources on Overall
Quality of Students Learning ExperienceN341
MEAN4.01

• In spite of the problems that students have with
  electronic resources (such as difficulty
  evaluating what information is reliable and
  plagiarism), the majority of faculty members,
  (84.7), believe that overall electronic
  resources have had a positive impact on the
  quality of students learning experience.

Overall, how positively or negatively have
electronic resources affected the quality of your
students learning experience?
46
Conclusions

• Electronic resources have become the main tool
  for scholars information gathering.
• The electronic resources faculty are most
  dependent on are e-mail, the World Wide Web, and
  their own librarys electronic databases.
• Electronic resources are seen as providing
  convenience more so than increased availability
  of information.
• The main problem with electronic resources is
  having to separate out reliable from unreliable
  information.
• Electronic resources affect the type of research
  projects faculty work on by increasing their
  access to colleagues, data, and information.

47
Conclusions (contd)

• Electronic resources provide teachers with
  materials they otherwise wouldnt be able to
  incorporate into the classroom, and make it
  possible to assign projects that students
  wouldnt have been able to do in the past.
• Most faculty believe students have an enhanced
  learning experience because of the information
  available through electronic resources.
• Future efforts could focus on providing increased
  access to older and full text material, and
  improving search and navigation capabilities.