A pilot study of researching the research culture in Pakistani public universities: the academics’ perspective

The paper reports on a pilot study that explores the determinants of research culture in the context of Pakistani public universities and suggests some measures to strengthen the research culture. The study relies on data collected through structured questionnaire from a small group of lecturers -serving in various Pakistani public universities- available here in UK. For this purpose, questionnaire developed by Santo and her colleagues (2009) was adapted. Moreover, semi-structured interviews of a sub group were conducted to get the deeper insight of the issue. Descriptive statistics and thematic analysis techniques were applied to analyse the quantitative and qualitative data respectively. In addition to reporting the major findings, the paper critically reviewed the concept of research culture. Finally, the finding and suggestions derived from this study may open new avenues for understanding and/or researching the phenomenon of research culture in the local context.