Does Research Enhance or Inhibit Teaching? An Exploratory Study

Abstract

The relationship between various types of research or scholarly activity and evaluations of teaching was investigated with respect to 67 ranked faculty members in a college of business administration. Data were collected for a 2-year period on the number and type of publications and presentations and student evaluations of teaching for each faculty member. A factor analysis revealed a distinct pattern in the nature of scholarly activity preferred by individuals. In general, the “higher status” type of research (books, refereed journal articles, national presentations) showed no relationship to teaching evaluations, but there was a modest positive relationship between teaching evaluations and “lower status” types of scholarly activity (proceedings, regional presentations, other publications).