Doctoral Dissertation A Study on the Relationship between Research Ability and Mindset of ...

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Doctoral Dissertation

A Study on the Relationship between Research Ability and Mindset of
Cambodian Faculty Members and Their Research Outputs: A Perspective
from Fifteen Higher Education Institutions

EAM PHYROM

Graduate School for International Development and Cooperation
Hiroshima University

March 2017
A Study on the Relationship between Research Ability and Mindset of
Cambodian Faculty Members and Their Research Outputs: A Perspective
from Fifteen Higher Education Institutions

D141086
EAM PHYROM

A Dissertation Submitted to
the Graduate School for International Development and Cooperation
of Hiroshima University in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirement for the Degree of
Doctor of Philosophy

March 2017

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Writing a dissertation is not easy; it takes a lot of time and energy to think and persist. But the depth of
philosophy, the clarity of scientific methods, and the momentary taste of truth – experienced along the
course of researching and writing – are beautiful and are key driving forces of my academic perseverance.
And not just that! This dissertation is possible because a number of people have supported me in different
ways, and I cannot go without thanking them.

First off, I would love to express my deep gratitude and sincere respect to my academic advisor, Dr.
HOTTA Taiji, for all his thought-evoking questions and advices, his tolerance and support, and his many
realistic life lessons shared with me throughout my entire six-year period under his supervision. His
practical insights and life philosophy have stimulated many positive changes in the way I conceive and
comprehend education and in the way I think and work.

My sub-supervisors – Dr. BABA Takuya, Dr. YOSHIDA Kazuhiro, Dr. MURASAWA Masataka, and
Dr. KITAMURA Yuto – are great thinkers. Their critical comments and incisive questions during the
candidacy exam, the preliminary defence, and the final defence truly enriched the quality of many aspects
of my dissertation, from the way I argued to the methodological paradigm I used and further to the
conclusions I drew. They also practically tolerated some of my research limitations, understanding that this
is a common situation of a less experienced graduate student. Although I did not spend much time with
them as I did with my main advisor, I highly appreciate their contributions: reading, time, questions,
comments, and understanding.

I specially thank many kind-hearted and supportive senior scholars, researchers, policy makers,
university management, administrators, and lecturers in Cambodia who spared their busy time for my
interview and survey. Though I cannot name all of them here, they clearly know who they are and surely
have to be proud of themselves for their contribution in nurturing another younger Cambodian brother like
myself. Even though I faced some problems during the data collection, I still could sense the hidden core
values in these Cambodian people – I meant, the love of knowledge and the culture of brotherhood.
Without their inputs, this piece of work would not be possible.

Personally, data collection was the hardest part of my doctoral endeavor. I so owe a big favor to some
capable and cooperative seniors who partially assisted me in discovering and gathering needed data and
document, those people counting Mr. SENG Cheyvuth, Mr. THY Savrin, Mr. CHUONG Chantha, Mr.
KAO Sovansophal, Mr. KAO Sovandara, Mrs. KHEK Samnang, Dr. HENG Kreng, Dr. NO Fata, Dr.
NETH Bunlay, Mr. PIN Vannaro, Dr. ROTH Hok, Dr. HUL Siengheng, Dr. EANG Rothmony (and Darith),
Dr. CHREUNG Hai, Dr. CHY Rotha, Mr. HAB Channara, Mr. Hak Thoeurn, and some others whom I
have to apologize for not being able to list all their names herein. I cannot thank these people enough.

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Dr. CHHEM Rethy has to be specially thanked for his inspiration, and Dr. SONG Sopheak has to also be
specially acknowledged for the many hours of our academic and philosophical talk.

I have to thank Ms. Sugata Sumida so much for her selfless help in the last battle of my dissertation binding.
IDEC is a great place, and IDEC officers play their roles very well. I also want to express my deep
gratitude for their generous support.

All my fellows of Cambodian Students Association in Hiroshima (CSAH) from year 2011 to 2016
accompanied me throughout my life in Japan. They joint me in many events and fora – academic and social
– where I could test my knowledge frontier and life philosophy. Without them, sharpening my research
ways of thinking must have been uneasy. One of the most exciting parts of my life in Japan is seeing some
of these people learn, change their worldview, and grow. I hope they forgive me for being snubbing, strict,
and straightforward at times. Sweet and bitter experience with these Cambodian people has really
strengthened my psycho-emotional power. I am truly willing to express gratitude to them.

I also highly appreciate the value of scholarship offered to us (foreigners) by Japanese citizens
and/through their government. Without the scholarship stipend, I could not afford enough 8 to 10 hours a
day in this country working on my dissertation and papers. It has been a superb life course to spend that
long time in Japan, tasting the industriousness of Japanese academic and working milieu, learning the
strategic and systematic ways of Japanese thinking, understanding the disciplined and pragmatic ways of
behaving, visualizing the peaceful and tranquil aspects of Japanese living environment, and, after all,
experiencing all these fundamental philosophy, culture, and nature of a great civilization. I cannot describe
how much I appreciate this nation. These episodes of life lessons have always dragged my brain into
imagining the civilized past of the Khmer. Six years in Japan, I believe, means a lot for any thinking man
who thrives to grow and understand the true meaning of development and civilization.

On a more personal note, finally, I owe deep spiritual debts to some special beings at home. I silently
thank my realistic mom (the dearest woman who has spent nights and days narrating all kinds of life stories
to me and so shaping almost everything in me) and my idealistic dad (who has inspired in me a strong
interest in sports and mechanical skills which help me in many critical instances of my life) and my
understanding girlfriend and loving life. I spent almost all the time on my work, leaving them behind. I
cannot apologize them enough. During my absence, my sister, Bang Panha, Linda, and the little Bosba
helped taking care of and bringing happiness to the family. They have to be well thanked. I hope one day
all of them realize why I am so much into the business of the mind.

Hiroshima, February 15th, 2017
Eam Phyrom
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DEDICATION

Generally, to all sharp-thinking Khmer intellectuals, devoted Khmer monks, and passionate Khmer
guru, who, either in the civilized past or on-the-move present, have shaped all fundamental principles
of the Khmer origin of knowledge, system of social institutions, and way of life.

Specifically and personally, to Ouk Ou (aka Krom Ngoy), Chuorn Nath, Keng Vannsak, and Sam
Buntheoun! All are Cambodian heroic thinkers and teachers. All love knowledge. All love truth. And
all will be remembered.

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SUMMARY

Introduction: This study sought to examine trends and correlates of research outputs of Cambodian
faculty members. It pursued this main purpose by embracing a mixed-methods perspective through
three dimensions (i.e. external, institutional, and individual dimension) of research environment of
Cambodian higher education sector. Both the mixed-methods analyses and the multi-dimensional
framework are comprehensive and pragmatic approaches to understanding educational phenomena.
This study could possibly attain both practical and conceptual merits as it tried to offer a right-timing
response to the currently increased attempts of Cambodian government and its higher education
institutions to promote research culture and capacity and to the challenges they have been facing,
while also fulfilling some empirical gaps of previous local literature on the topic of research output
production. The precise missions of this dissertation were to answer four related research questions:

 Research question 1: How productive are Cambodian faculty members in terms of research
outputs during their service at their current higher education institutions?
 Research question 2: How experienced, competent, attitudinally oriented, and motivated are
Cambodian faculty members towards research activities and production?
 Research question 3: How supportive is research environment (i.e. institutional environment
and external environment) in Cambodian current higher education context? and
 Research question 4: What factors (of external, institutional, and individual dimensions)
explain research outputs produced by Cambodian faculty members in their current higher
education context?

Methods: The use of mixed-methods approach meant that data for analyses of these four research
questions were of two main types. First, qualitative interview data were collected from 50 key
informants – i.e. 5 policy makers, 11 university or research unit leaders, 31 faculty members, and 3
external stakeholders. Analyses of the qualitative interview data basically comprised the thematic
analysis method, using three levels of coding that aimed to generate common themes for each research
question. The second portion of data was quantitative survey data set based on self-reported
questionnaire’s responses of 483 faculty members from 15 higher education institutions in the country.
The quantitative analysis measured statistical trends of research outputs, research orientation, and
research environment; explored patterns of relationship between these key constructs and respondents’
demographic traits; and finally employed zero-inflated negative binomial regression models to
identify (among the research orientation and research environment predictor variables) the direct and
moderated correlates/determinants of research outputs of Cambodian faculty members. Each of the
four research questions was systematically addressed, using both these quantitative and qualitative
accounts.
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Key findings: The study concluded:

 that, in the midst of their increased awareness about research role of an academic and the
research function of higher education institutions, the number of Cambodian researchers and
their research outputs have still been limited
 that individuals’ research ability (i.e. research production competence and research
experience) and their research mindsets were explanatory of the variation and production of
research outputs among Cambodian faculty members, and
 that three major challenges (with regards to academic culture, research institutionalization,
and research resources) have been utterly experienced by Cambodian faculty members and
higher education institutions despite increased research promoting mechanisms.

Discussions:

Limited researchers and research outputs: Previous local literature generally presumed low research
activities and capacity of Cambodian higher education institutions. The current study reached a similar
conclusion but offered some objective indications to attest such claims. From the quantitative analyses,
some detected negative trends of the research output production in Cambodian higher education sector
included: having limited number of research-engaged faculty members (for example, only 7.87 percent
of survey respondents reporting “published journal articles with international publishers” during their
services); producing a low average of composite research output score (i.e. producing around 3.24
outputs (SD = 6.67) during their services at their current institution); producing fewer international
research outputs (about 34 percent of the total 1,565 outputs reported in this study); and having more
research activities and outputs engaged or produced by only faculty members from certain fields and
particular institutions. The study’s qualitative data further accentuated the dependency of research
funding and the inadequate relevance of existing research activities and outputs. Around sixty to
seventy percent of the fifty interviewees claimed that existing research activities were more donors-
driven (either through consultancy or collaborative projects) and less purely academic and/or scientific
research works. Previous studies on research culture and capacity of developing countries generally
highlighted these limited, niched, and dependent tendency of research activities and research outputs –
especially, in terms of finance, infrastructure, and human resources.

Research outputs as a function of research ability and mindset: Despite low, research outputs of
some kinds have obviously been produced by Cambodian faculty members. The main question that
most relevant local literature has not addressed is what drives those research-engaged Cambodian
faculty members to produce their research outputs. This current study quantitatively and qualitatively
explored this particular question and detected that their research ability (i.e. having strong research
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production competence and having high research experience) and their practical research mindset (i.e.
seeing research as a growth opportunity and showing cognitive and behavioral orientation and
perseverance to be advanced in an academic area) are key determinants that both differentiated
Cambodian research-productive faculty members from research-unengaged ones and explained why
some of them produced more research outputs.

 Research ability: Statistical analyses suggested that a one-unit increase in research
production competence generated an expected increase of research outputs by a factor of 1.55
(i.e. 55 percent change); a one-unit increase in research experience generated an expected
positive change by a factor of 1.47 (or a 47-percent change) in research outputs. Likewise, the
study identified a clear huge gap in terms of research production competence and research
experience between faculty members who reported high research output production and those
who produced fewer or did not produce research outputs at all. That is to say, 71.22 percent of
the faculty members with high research production competence reported at least one research
output, compared to only 28.78 percent of those with low research production competence,
and 62.93 percent of faculty members with high research experience reported at least one
research output, compared to only 37.07 percent of the low-research-experience ones. In the
qualitative analysis, more than 90 percent of the interviewees emphasized that having research
ability is a key criterion for them and other faculty members to engage in research projects at
their current institutions. Certain theoretical concepts from literature in the area of research
productivity – such as the concepts of research self-efficacy and research training environment,
the concept of cumulative advantages and reinforcement, and the importance of background
knowledge – tend to support the current study’s findings. In practical terms, these findings
implied that only the fittest faculty members can survive in the research world of Cambodian
higher education sector whereby research resources and culture have been very limited and
donors-dependent.

 Research mindset: A high percentage of the fifty interviewees (i.e. 84%) raised opinions that
reflected the idea of practical research mindset as a main factor pushing research engagement
and production. Faculty members who were productive in research outputs generally viewed
research as an opportunity to grow and as something generative, whilst those who did not
engage in research viewed research more as complicated works and less generative –
especially, when research benefit was compared to that from teaching. Practical research
mindset also involved the fact that faculty members showed cognitive orientation and
experience towards research literacy and mastery in their particular areas. In many cases of the
interview, research-active faculty members believed or showed that they are research-
preferring, goal-oriented, hard-working, and disciplined as they thrive to reach the advanced
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or expert level in their fields. In the bivariate quantitative analysis, faculty members who
produced at least one research output rated higher than their zero-research-output counterparts
did in terms of emotional research orientation (a mean score of 4.16 vs 3.84) and behavioral
research orientation (a mean score of 3.15 vs 2.67). Previous literature discussing the concepts
of research orientation, academic self-understanding, and academic mindset offered some
explanations on why this notion of practical research mindset may influence research output
production in the Cambodian context. A local study on this topic also pointed to a similar idea
of “virtue” as the reason for research engagement of some faculty members in one top-ranking
university in Cambodia.

 Moderating characteristics: Research ability and mindset are abstract constructs. In more
realistic senses, the scores of research outputs – as well as research production competence
and research experience – were generally differentiated between older and younger faculty
members, between doctoral and non-doctoral degree holders, between overseas and local
graduates, between faculty members from city-based universities and those from province-
based universities, and between faculty members from public institutions and those from
private institutions. In further moderation analyses, the effects of research production
competence and/or research experience on research outputs might turn insignificant in the
separate analysis of only the science-majored faculty members, of only the faculty members
from province-based universities, of only the faculty members from private universities, of
only the faculty members of the young-age group, and of only those within the old-age group.
While such patterns could be due to the smaller sample size of these groups in the study’s
samples, these fluctuated significant patterns somehow reflected the particularity or
distinctiveness in terms of effects on research performance shaped by different individual
conditions, disciplines, and institutional types of Cambodian higher education. Also, it should
be noted that the effect of research production competence on the count variation of research
outputs turned insignificant in the separate analysis of only local research outputs, while the
effect of research experience turned insignificant in the separate analysis of only international
research outputs.

Reflection into challenges at higher dimensions: These findings that signified the effects of research
ability and research mindset on research outputs tended to draw attention on perhaps an overlooked
perspective towards why some faculty members in Cambodia could produce research outputs while
they were based in the research environment that has not been very supportive. That being said, most
previous studies looked at the issues from the large research-inactive portion of the overall population
of Cambodian faculty members, whilst the current study inclined to look at the issues more from the
slight research-active pie. The study’s findings emphasized individual factor influences since it
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