Research Notes
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Volume 13, Number 1
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March, 1998
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FALL 1997 FACULTY ACTIVITY SURVEY
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The Office of Institutional Research at James Madison University
conducts every other year a survey of faculty activity. While minor changes have been made
to the survey forms from year to year, essentially the same information has been collected
since 1972. Information from these surveys has been used for a variety of purposes,
including accreditation studies, the NACUBO Benchmarking Project, support of grant
applications, and the clarification of the public's understanding of faculty workload and
responsibilities.
Full-time faculty and all other individuals who taught a course for
credit completed the Fall 1997 survey. The Office of Institutional Research identified a
total of 575 full-time faculty as being eligible for inclusion in the survey. Of these,
495 returned usable survey forms for a response rate of 86 percent, down
significantly from
the 94 percent reporting in 1995. See Table 1 and Table 2 for summaries for full-time faculty.
Full-time faculty reported an average of 55.2 weekly hours of activity,
slightly up from 53.7 in 1995. In Fall 1985 the average was 52.4 hours. Departmental means
ranged from a low of 46.2 to a high of 62.1 weekly hours. The average number of weekly
hours devoted to direct contact with students in class meetings was 10.0 (11.4 in 1985)
and the average number of hours spent in preparing for class was 15.2 (15.3 in 1985). This
equates to about 1.5 hours of preparation for each hour spent in the classroom. This year
the survey was modified to more clearly delineate instructional activity beyond class
meetings and preparation for class. Faculty reported an average of 2.6 hours in other
contact activities such as individual study supervision, review sessions, thesis and
dissertation advising, supervision of graduate student research, and supervising
internships and student teachers. Faculty spent an average of 3.7 hours in pedagogical
development, including curriculum development, mentoring junior faculty and teaching
assistants, and activities related to enhancing their own teaching effectiveness. Faculty
spent an average of 5.4 hours in advising and counseling, including office hours, academic
program advising, writing recommendation letters, and non-credit instruction. Overall,
instructional activities consumed 36.9 hours per week (31.3 in 1985), or 66.9 percent
(59.8 in 1985), a rather large increase from 62.1 percent in 1995.
The proportion of time being devoted to research, professional
development, and scholarly activities by full-time faculty was down from 18.7 percent in
1995 to 17.2 percent in the Fall 1997 survey. The 17.2 percent reported this year was down
from 19.9 percent in 1987, which was the highest proportion reported thus far. In Fall
1985 the percentage devoted to research, professional development, and scholarly
activities was 17.9. Professional development of faculty is part of the University’s
planning priorities. For the second time we asked faculty to report the average number of
hours spent in professional development. The average full-time faculty member spent 2.0
hours (3.6 percent of total time) per week in professional development. The percent of
hours devoted to research, professional development, and scholarly activity has been
relatively consistent for more than ten years; however, it has moved up from 5.6 percent
of reported time in 1972.
An additional 129 individuals with faculty responsibilities returned
usable survey forms. Of these, 129 (down from 138 in 1995) were part-time faculty who
averaged 7.0 weekly hours of direct contact with students in class meetings. The 16
administrators who responded to the survey spent 31.3 (up from 24.0 in 1995) percent of
their time in instructional activities. The distribution of effort in average hours per
week and the percentage distribution of effort for full-time faculty and for other
personnel are indicated in the tables which follow this narrative. See Table 3 and Table 4 for summaries for all other reporting
staff.
Questions regarding this and previous faculty activity surveys should
be referred to the James Madison University Office of Institutional
Research.
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