Metaphoric Perceptions of Academic Staff about the Concept of Research Assistant

Abstract

This study aims to reveal the perceptions of academic staff in charge at education faculties about research assistants, who are members of the research team at universities, through metaphors. Being designed qualitatively, this study uses phenomenological model which is based on a person’s description of a conscious experience related to a phenomenon and through which the researcher tries to reach each participant’s life-world created by the participant’s own subjective experiences. According to the analysis of the obtained data, the metaphors generated by academic staff about the concept of research assistant were grouped under nine conceptual categories. According to the results of this research, it was found that academic staff in charge at education faculty attributes both positive and negative meanings to the concept of research assistant. Research assistants are generally considered as people who are getting mature in academic sense, being trained by their supervisers and other academic staff, are obliged to spare time to any kind of duties such as paperwork, program making, announcing marks apart from academic works in their institution; therefore who cannot show enough interest to their own studies and have to cope with challenges in their academic development.