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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