[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-595339-105":59,"doc-detail-595339-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":123,"head_meta":125,"extra_data":127,"updated_unix":129},105,"en","quality-assurance-and-disciplinary-differences-some-quality-criteria-for-research-introduction","Quality assurance and disciplinary differences - Some quality criteria for research - Introduction","","The paper examines how higher-education quality policies and procedures often fail to account for key differences among academic disciplines. It analyzes how quality assurance approaches affect research, undergraduate teaching, and postgraduate work across varied disciplinary contexts. Drawing on experiences with performance indicators and quality assessment in Australia, England, and elsewhere, it argues that even qualitative merit judgments may operate unfairly between fields, illustrated through disciplinary contrasts in research excellence criteria.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/quality-assurance-and-disciplinary-differences-some-quality-criteria-for-research-introduction/595339/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/quality-assurance-and-disciplinary-differences-some-quality-criteria-for-research-introduction/595339.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Blitz","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-29","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":14},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What is the paper’s main purpose in choosing its theme?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"To show a general tendency for university policies and procedures to ignore significant contrasts between different academic disciplines.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"How does the text describe quality as a concept in higher education?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"It portrays quality as highly elusive, leading to multiple interpretations and diverse assessment approaches.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"What three criteria for excellence in research does the paper begin with?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"Publication output by subject group, external funding attracted, and the coherence of forward research plans for the relevant department or unit.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},595339,1792863169,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":14,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":14,"language":139,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":143,"read_time":24,"preview_page_count":4},24464137899374,"https://us-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_3d24733baf745e90a7e4bdd5f77d97b2","My main purpose in choosing this theme is to illustrate what Iwould argue to be a quite general tendency:namely for universitypolicies and procedures to be framed with little regard for significantcontrasts between the characteristic features of different academicdisciplines.To this end,I will explore how some of the now quitecommon approaehes to establishing academic quality impinge onaspects of research,undergraduate teaching and postgraduate workin a variety of disciplinary contexts.The paper will conclude byoffering somc brief speculations about the apparent neglect ofsubject differentiation in current approaches to quality assurance.  \nAs successive demands have been imposed on higher educationinstitutions by government in Australia,England and elsewhere forquality maintenance and enhancement,it has become more and moreapparent that quality is itself a highy elusive concept,giving rise toa range of interpretations and generating a diversity of approachesto its assessment (Lindsay 1993).Much critical comment hasfocused on the associated notion of 'performance indicators'(sce,for example,Cave et al 1988;Goedegebuure 1990;Johnes andTaylor 1990),though this has apparently had only a modest effect onthe continuing fascination of politicians with quantitative measure-ment techniqucs.However,as the following discussion will attemptto show,even some of the more qualitative attempts to framejudgements of merit and worth are open to the charge of operatingincquitably between one disciplinary field and another.  \n# Some quality criteria for research\n\nSince research has been subjected to quality assessment for longerthan teaching -indeed,it could be argued that research activity hasalways been closely linked to peer group judgement(Becher 1989)-it may seem appropriate o begin by considering three well-established criteria for excellence in research.All thrce have beenselected,incidentally,to form the basis of the periodic researchrating exercises undertaken in England,irst by the UniversityGrants Committee,next by the Universities Funding Council andnow by the Higher Education Funding Council(England).Thecriteria in question arc the number of publications produced by aparticular subject group in each university in a given timespan,theamount of external funding attracted and the eoherence of theforward research plans of the department or other unit in question.  \nChemists are well favoured in the publication context,since theirpapers are typically brief(4000 words tends to be on the high side),and commonly multi-authored.An active researcher can expect toproduce ten or a dozen such contributions a year:the most prolificindividuals can notch up totals of four to five hundred titles over aworking life.But where chemists'research problems are commonlysmall-scale and sharply-defined,and their methods capable ofstraightforward replication from one context to another,high energyphysicists tend to involve themselves with large-scale long-termexperiments whose publication yield is relatively small,with theresulting honours often having to be divided between fifty contribu-tors or more.In the very different intellectual arena oecupied byhistorians a productive academic might average one 8000-12000  \nQuality assurance anddisciplinary differences  \nTony Becher  \nUniversity ofSussex  \nword article per annum,and perhaps a book every four or five years.Counting titles across these diverse fields therefore offers an unsureguide,even to research productivity,let alone to the quality of thework done,though it gives a more relevant indication of the natureand scale of the charaeteristic research problems in a particulardiscipline.  \n# Introduction\n\nExternal funding is in its turn a fair measure of the dependence offa research field on large teams and expensive apparatus.Heresubjects such as astrophysics and radioastronomy figure promi-nently,though many other specialisms in the pure and appliedsciences are also in a position to make a reasonable case f","cbCaieWB1TV9tU8l","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaieWB1TV9tU8l","pdf",196363,"English","# Some quality criteria for research\n## Introduction","[{\"question\":\"What is the paper’s main purpose in choosing its theme?\",\"answer\":\"To show a general tendency for university policies and procedures to ignore significant contrasts between different academic disciplines.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the text describe quality as a concept in higher education?\",\"answer\":\"It portrays quality as highly elusive, leading to multiple interpretations and diverse assessment approaches.\"},{\"question\":\"What three criteria for excellence in research does the paper begin with?\",\"answer\":\"Publication output by subject group, external funding attracted, and the coherence of forward research plans for the relevant department or unit.\"}]","Quality assurance and disciplinary differences - Some quality criteria for research - Introduction | PDF",1792080945]