Research Administration as a Living System.

Abstract

Portions of the literature review were previously reported with the author’s dissertation research entitled, “Federal funding success factors: A replicated quantitative analysis. ” The author received her Ph.D. in Education in December 2006. The Delphi study in this article is new research that was performed to expand the findings of the author’s dissertation research. The author has 20 years of experience in contracts and grants administration and has served as a director of sponsored programs. The purpose of this Delphi study was to gather expert opinions and recommendations for change in the research administration system to bring about growth and collaboration. This study was deemed important because at the heart of every system is the fact that individuals need each other to continue to exist. The results of the Delphi study give recommendations from the research faculty perspective for the improvement in the system of research administration and faculty relationships. Administrators and research faculty should view each other as team members whose objectives are to discover and understand how to achieve common goals. The recommendations suggested that change was needed by both faculty and research administrators to become a more unified, living system.