29.12.2013
Allyson Macdonald
An emerging research ethos 1998–2004: A case study from a merger in teacher education in Iceland

The aim of this case study is to identify factors that influenced the research culture and the emerging research ethos in the Iceland University of Education (i. Kennaraháskóli Íslands) formed in 1998 when four organizations merged. The study analyses published documents, summaries of research activity and other information, collected between 1998–2004, to describe internal assimilation and external adaptation. Attempts were made to strengthen the research infrastructure in the institution as staff members grappled with the need to engage in discovery, the scholarly activity defined by Boyer (1990) to be most like research. There was some conflict between the tendency of staff to work on integration and application, and the external pressure to further develop discovery as a scholarly activity, while the ethos of research activity was one of cautious optimisim about the value of research and growing self-confidence in carrying it out.