Building `capacity' for education research among scholars of the global South: Learning from the case of an international research collaboration in Tanzania

Thomas, Matthew Aaron Martin
2013-07
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Building `capacity' for education research among scholars of the global South: Learning from the case of an international research collaboration in Tanzania

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2013-07

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This dissertation examines the process of engaging in transnational knowledge production vis-à-vis a case study of one research collaboration between scholars based in Tanzania and the United States. The Teaching in Action Research Project involved nine faculty based in Tanzania in an applied, multi-sited team ethnography that examined aspects of pedagogical practice in Tanzanian secondary schools. Its broad aim was to build the research capacity of these faculty at Mwenge University College of Education (MWUCE), a higher education institution in Tanzania that has experienced significant growth in recent years. Through this partnership, faculty and graduate students from the United States engaged with the faculty from Tanzania in a collaborative process of piloting and revising research instruments, collecting and analyzing data, and writing and publishing book chapters and journal articles based on this research collaboration. This study uses qualitative methods to explore how these faculty in Tanzania experienced this research collaboration. It examines their experiences with the collaborative research process, including their perceived benefits and challenges of participating. The dissertation also explores the issue of research capacity by investigating how MWUCE as an institution has sought to develop a robust research culture amidst substantial institutional expansion reflective of the broader higher education sector across much of sub-Saharan Africa. The findings suggest that faculty and institutions may face significant challenges to conducting and disseminating research, but that research capacity building initiatives, though not perfect, can serve as a means to involve faculty from Tanzania in scholarly activities that make meaningful contributions to extant research and also increase their capacity to conduct research.

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University of Minnesota Ph.D. dissertation. July 2013. Major:Educational Policy and Administration. Advisor: Dr. Frances K. Vavrus. 1 computer file (PDF); xiii, 269 pages, appendices A-E.

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Thomas, Matthew Aaron Martin. (2013). Building `capacity' for education research among scholars of the global South: Learning from the case of an international research collaboration in Tanzania. Retrieved from the University Digital Conservancy, https://hdl.handle.net/11299/159303.

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