An Analysis of the Suggestions by the Committees of Experts Responsible for Academic Works Evaluation: A Case Study of the Academic Position Appointment Requests by Lecturers of Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

Abstract

          This study aimed to analyze the suggestions given by specialized committees of academic works evaluation on academic works in the category of research studies submitted by lecturers of Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Prince of Songkla University (Pattani Campus). Data were collected from the committees of experts’ suggestions given in the forms for the evaluation of academic works. The content analysis was employed in this research in order to identify the key issues in the evaluation forms and elicit meanings of the experts’ suggestions on research studies submitted by 70 lecturers in 2010-2020. The statistics used for analyzing the date were frequency distribution and percentage. 202 items of suggestions were categorized according to contents and key words, and the five highest frequency suggestions in each category were reported.

          The findings revealed that the specialized committee members’ suggestions on academic works submitted by both the candidates granted the requested academic positions and the ones not granted the positions were found similar in the three categories of suggestions: research writing in unit 5 which covered conclusions, discussion, and suggestions; the presentation of the contents in research papers in unit 2 which included review of related literature and studies; and data analysis in unit 3. The suggestions concerning the organization of the research papers, population, and sample selection methods, research findings in unit 4, and research methodology in unit 3, which were given to the research papers submitted by the two groups of candidates were found different. The results of the analysis reflected that when evaluating academic works in the category of research studies, committees of qualified experts particularly focused on the details presented in unit 5, unit 3, and unit 2, respectively.

          Such significant findings provided the researcher supports for raising the awareness of lecturers requesting academic title appointment on the quality of the research works and well-grounded remarks on the lecturers’ academic works in the category of research studies.