Lecturer Views of Performance Evaluation and Research Capacity: Implications for Private Universities in Bangkok

Abstract

This is a study focused on the opinions of lecturer evaluations and research capacity implications for Private Universities in Bangkok, Thailand. The scope for this research were authoritive opinions from academics at professor level. A qualitative methodology was utilised using grounded theory to enable an understanding of the views and practices concerning lecturer performance and research capability. The targeted population of interest was made up of fourteen (14) professorial-level respondents, one from a single department, located across private universities in Bangkok. The research outcomes comprised of four 4 main-themes - Research Capacity; Performance Management; System Qualities; and Work Features; and the corresponding 13 sub-themes, with 294 discussion targets.

Major outcomes from the research raises a range of issues associated with lecturer performance and research capacity building, where inadequate and biased lecturer performance mechanisms, which in turn, create pressures on lecturers to publish research, without funding or support processes. There would appear to be little university research commitment and orientation, leading to an impoverished research climate, with particular reliance on in-country publications, of ambiguous quality.