THE NONLINEAR EFFECTS OF TEACHING AND CONSULTING ON ACADEMIC RESEARCH PRODUCTIVITY

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Authors:

John E. Mitchell
Department of Mathematical Sciences
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Troy, NY 12180 USA
mitchj@rpi.edu

Douglas S. Rebne
School of Management
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Troy, NY 12180 USA

Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, 29(1995), 47-57.

Abstract:

This study tests the proposition that moderate amounts of faculty time spent in the ``non-research'' roles of teaching and consulting are, in fact, facilitative of research productivity; and establishes values for the point at which such activities cease to have a facilitating effect. This was done by fitting continuous piecewise-linear regression models to 1980 data pertaining to a national sample of 5605 faculty. The study illustrates the effectiveness of piecewise-linear methods relative to polynomial techniques for problems of this kind and suggests that the former approach should be much more prevalent. The results indicate that up to four hours per week of consulting and up to eight hours per week of teaching are indeed facilitative of research productivity. Policy implications are discussed.

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