Abstract

This paper asks the question: do people with different levels of research productivity
and identification as a researcher think of research differently? It discusses a
study that differentiated levels of research productivity among English and Australian
academics working in research-intensive environments in three broad discipline areas:
science, engineering and technology; social science and humanities; and medicine and
health sciences. The paper explores the different conceptions of research held by these
academics in terms of their levels of research productivity, their levels of research training,
whether they considered themselves an active researcher and a member of a research team,
and their disciplinary differences.