The research plan for the Faculty of Public Health is a part of the national research policy, and as a consequence the research activities in this faculty are relatively much more developed than in other faculties within the university. In the past, lecturers performed individual projects, but recently the trend has been toward research carried out in teams or for integrated projects to be developed. This faculty has a strong network linkage with other faculties and other outside organizations, such as the Faculty of Nursing, and The Health Care Centre, The College of Sport Science, and The Primary Care Unit which are in nearby provinces.
The Faculty of Public Health’s research activities are ambitious, and aim to support the social development of the Eastern region. As Case seven said:
The research plan of my faculty is a part of the national research policy. We have both integrated and individual research based on the National research policy, and also some research projects that aim to solve the problems in Eastern regions.
Lecturers in this faculty are interested in conducting research and the nature of subjects undertaken is suitable for attracting support i.e. applied research. The topics that lecturers prefer to research are often related to their field of teaching, such as factory health promotion or environmental health.
This faculty provides research training courses and seminars for their staff. In addition, lecturers also develop their skills and are motivated to carry out research by being engaged as consultants and guest speakers at other institutions. For instance, lecturers are invited to be guest speakers at the Health Promotion Unit in nearby provinces or at The Federation of Saving and Credit Cooperative of Thailand Limited.
Lecturers in the Faculty of Public Health generally are willing to publish their researches in Thailand, especially in specific journals that are related to their field of study or journals of the institution from which they graduated. The faculty plans to increase the amount of research that is published in international journals by asking overseas professors to guide lecturers in the techniques of writing and publishing research findings.
Case seven pointed out that the factors that have particular influence on research productivity within the faculty begin with the willingness of individuals to pursue personal development. The faculty has two professors, one associate professor and two associate professor on the waiting list, together with many assistant professors which is an important factor because the tenure status significantly influences research productivity. The majority of academic lecturers are of the young generation, around thirty years old, with a doctoral degree. They normally form teams to do research and are willing to encourage students to do research as well.
The second factor which impacts on research productivity is the availability of research funding. This faculty receives research both from the faculty’s recurrent income and from Government funding such as funding from The Thai Research Fund Regional Office, Thai Health Promotion Foundation, World Health Organization, and The Federation of Thai Industries. The Faculty of Public Health has an abundance of funds for which individual projects receive around sixty thousand baht each.
The third important factor in this regard is the faculty’s policy to open post- graduate programs. This faculty has many Master degree programs and has a plan to open doctoral programs that will encourage about 30 lecturers to do research.
assurance to improve quality of teaching and learning, and in addition to discipline specific research, the implementation of classroom research and course evaluation research is envisaged.
Different from other faculties, lecturers in this area have a high teaching workload, but Case seven argued that:
Although our lecturers have high workloads, they can manage their time. The lecturers teach students during the weekday and conduct research on the weekend.
In this Faculty, lecturers have many graduate students to be their research assistants. Case seven also insisted that:
We don’t think that our weaknesses are serious problems, but are things that we can develop. Lecturers understand that research is an important element of teaching activities. Research is part of their demonstrated productivity that can be recorded for special promotion.
Notwithstanding this favourable environment, the research productivity of the Faculty of Public Health is less than expected. Case Seven indicated that this was because half of the academic lecturers are away from the Faculty to studying for higher degrees, saying:
Obviously the active research lecturers have Doctoral degrees. Whereas the Masters degree graduated lecturers are now busy with applying for Doctoral degree courses, and some of them are currently studying Doctoral degree. We expect that in the next four to five years, our Faculty will have all doctoral graduated lecturers.
Another personal factor that can impact upon research productivity is fatigue, especially if the lecturers have young families. But for the Faculty of Public Health, some lecturers still do research although they have family duties. As a consequence, Case seven felt that family duties do not have a particularly strong impact on research productivity:
The majority of our lecturers are single. However, the married lecturers are still active in doing research. I don’t think that to take care of family members impacts on research productivity.
Overall, Case seven insisted that the Faculty of Public Health’s research productivity is relatively much more developed than for other faculties. The lecturers are generally interested in conducting research in teams with students and outside organizations and focus upon projects that aim to support the social development of the Eastern region.
Case seven insisted that there are numerous important factors that have a particular influence on research productivity. The faculty has provided a comprehensive research plan and also the nature of the projects that underpin the research are suitable for attracting support i.e. applied research. An important factor is that lecturers who have tenure status realize that they must perform research tasks, and, in addition, the majority of academic lecturers are of the younger generation who have doctoral degrees that enhance their qualifications to do research. Moreover, the research environment is also very supportive, with the faculty making available research funding and supporting a policy of open post- graduate programs. There is a shared belief that research is the main element of quality assurance to improve teaching and learning activities within the faculty.
Disappointingly, however, in a similar way to other faculties, the Faculty of Public Health has less research productivity than might be expected. Case seven explained that there are still many lecturers who are continuing to study for their further degrees, and the other staff are confronted with high teaching workloads. In addition, it emerged that some of lecturers in this faculty feel physically tired after taking care of their families, but on the positive side, this experience certainly helps to sharpen their ability for efficient time management.