KBTU – SFE Approach to Research

1. KBTU – SFE Approach to Research ‘Contribution to Knowledge’

2. The Need to Publish AACSB Accreditation • Significant element of AACSB accreditation is ‘quality of research’ • Faculty members should be ‘academically capable’ (i.e. should publish in recognised journals) KBTU Accreditation • Quality of research • Faculty should be ‘academically capable’

3. Current KBTU / SFE Research • Faculty members publish • But not enough in recognised journals • Most of the skills exist within the faculty to publish in the best journals • We need to ‘raise the game’ by increasing the number of published articles in recognised journals • SFE can provide a model for doing this for KBTU

4. What is Research? • ‘Contribution to knowledge’ • Increases the ‘stock of scientific knowledge’ (i.e. what is published in journals) • Requires ‘proof’, not ‘description’ • Usually statistical proof • We need to provide a ‘recognised contribution’ to knowledge in some field

5. Strengths of Research in SFE / KBTU • Faculty members have a research ‘culture’ and virtually everyone has an ambition to publish research, and are used to preparing article for publication • Faculty are all well qualified academically and technically quite capable of publishing research at any level • We are able to collect both primary and secondary data from Kazakhstan that cannot be collected without in-country presence

6. Weaknesses of Research in SFE / KBTU • The research culture is to publish something somewhere, no matter where • faculty are almost obliged to publish whatever they can in the easiest journal to publish in; • this means much effort goes into publishing second rate research i.e. research which is either just simply desk research combined with a few recommendations, or research where there is no primary data or recognised ‘contribution to knowledge’ • Journals are not targeted, so there is no plan to focus research to make particular publications • There is often little, or not enough focus on ‘literature review’, i.e. quoting the major authors and papers in the papers that we publish. Any academic journal will want to see the major papers quoted, otherwise we may miss work that is already published which could have a major impact on the validity of our publication • There is no list of journals set out by the department as those journals that you have to publish in order to be able to obtain certain status at the university

7. Opportunities for Research in SFE / KBTU • Kazakhstan and all parts of the Central Asia region are under-researched and there is plenty of opportunity to publish empirical work (i.e. to test out theories that have been published elsewhere using primary data from Kazakhstan) • KBTU has partner universities, including LSE, Lancaster with whom we surely can partner good research • Good partnerships such as this will allow us to obtain more research funding through the international universities who can then subcontract us to obtain local primary data. • Individual faculty have contacts in the academic world whom they can approach for partnership research • We have most if not all of the technical skills in place to be able to make a significant contribution to research if we target and partner in the right way

8. Threats to Research in SFE • Other universities will take over the publication mantle and the reputation of SFE / KBTU will be diminished • The threats are really that the current approach remains the same, that articles continue to be published in local journals and attract a limited readership, but no attempt is made to target international journals. This a waste of time and valuable faculty resources, if no one is going to read the journals and quote the articles, then SFE will not be on the map.

9. We Can Do a Lot to Improve This • We can go a long way to get ourselves on the research map by: • Planning and targeting journals we would like to publish in • Identifying partners in international universities who are used to publishing at the higher level and want to work with us

10. Advantage of Partnerships Advantage to SFE / KBTU • Partner universities provide quality assurance • Partner universities more likely to provide funding Advantage to partners • Partners can publish papers on Kazakhstan and Central Asia which they would not otherwise be able to do • SFE / KBTU do the ‘donkey-work’ of data collection

11. A Vision for Research in SFE? • Each faculty member in SFE publishes research that is widely quoted in journals worldwide (i.e. quoted in literature reviews of researchers in any university) • This improves our chances in subsequent publications, which can be joint with other universities internationally • This will attract research funding • It opens the door to international conferences • Establishes a network of peer reviewed journals and academics who want to publish with us

12. How to ‘Raise the Game’ • Assess our Current Research and Plan Research Targets and Partners • Assess the current journals we publish in • Compile a short list of target journals (e.g. journal of international business studies) • Compile a list of possible partners in international universities whom we might approach • Complete an extensive literature review on specific target areas of research • Time frame to complete: 1 month

13. Establish the Research Infrastructure in SFE • Produce a series entitled ‘ SFE Working Papers • Every article starts off as a working paper • Working papers become the ‘pipeline’ for future publishes articles • Invite peer review on working papers by the faculty, including the international faculty Time to complete: 1 month

14. Target Partners and Funding • Target partners in international universities (e.g. LSE, Lancaster) re joint research • Target international financial organisations (e.g. World Bank, EBRD, ADB) • Target KBTU sponsors !!!! • Identify possible sources of research funding Time to complete: 2-3 months

15. Plan the Research • Individual faculty to target journals; see the style of the journal – so we know what we have to comply with!! • Plan the finances – how much will it take to undertake (e.g. questionnaire survey of Almaty businesses) • Focus on our strengths (e.g. empirical work, not theory) • Plan to visit conferences internationally – this is where you make your contacts • Time to complete: 2 months

16. Coordinate and Publish the Research • Establish a coordination centre for SFE working papers, so that all are recorded, and published regularly (every 3 months) within SFE • Ensure all papers can be seen by all faculty • Appoint Professor to coordinate the process of publication (e.g. Prof Ken Charman) • Publish the SFE working papers to university sponsors • Time to complete: 2 months

17. Result: • THIS WILL ‘RAISE THE GAME’ • And • Put us on the international Research Map

18. Structuring Research: Nine Steps • Motivation • Key Issues relating to the subject • Literature Review – what do we know about this subject? • Research proposal / Plan • Development of hypotheses • Methodology • Data Presentation • Data Analysis (e.g. regression analysis) • Conclusions for further research

19. The Research Process - 1

20. The Research Process - 2

21. Research Process - 3 Conclusion: How has your research contributed to scientific knowledge? What should be next?

22. The Research Process