Question Text:
What academic position did you hold when planning/conceptualizing this study?
Answer Categories:
Student assistant (i.e., Bachelor’s or Master’s student)
Research associate/fellow without a PhD
Doctoral candidate/PhD student
Post-doctoral fellow
Assistant professor, junior professor (W1-Professor), or equivalent
Associate professor (W2-Professor), private lecturer (Privatdozent), senior lecturer, or equivalent
Full professor (W3-Professor) or equivalent
Emeritus professor
Other (including private sector):
Recommendations:
We recommend changing the name of the response option “Post-doctoral fellow” to “Post-doctoral researcher/senior researcher” to make it easier for individuals with a Ph.D. who are not employed at universities to select this option and to make the classification clearer.
Category-Selection Probing, Difficulty Probing, Specific Probing, General Probing
Findings for Question:
Information on the aim and purpose of the test:
Question 1 asks about the respondent’s academic position during the study’s planning phase. This question was asked of all participants in the pretest.
The objectives of the pretest were to determine whether participants had difficulty finding the appropriate response category for them in the list and whether the response categories were mutually exclusive and exhaustive.
Findings:
The majority of the test persons (n = 9) had no difficulty finding and selecting the answer option that was right for them. The reasons these test persons gave for choosing a particular answer category were consistent with the answer options they selected.
- „The paper is based on my master’s thesis. That means I started working on it for my master’s thesis and then simply continued working on it and expanded it into a paper, so I’ve been working on it for quite some time. Ever since I started as an SHK.“ (TP04, Answer: Student assistant)
- „I already had my PhD, so at the time I was a post-doc at the University of [CITY] and wasn’t yet a professor.“ (TP03, Answer: Post-doctoral fellow)
- „When I started, I was a doctoral student, but I went on to earn my doctorate during the process. However, during the planning phase, I was still a doctoral student.“ (TP05, Answer: Post-doctoral fellow)
One participant (TP07) had difficulty finding the appropriate position in the list of options because she is employed as a team leader at a non-university research institute. The category “post-doctoral fellow” seemed too low for her career level, so she chose the category “associate professor (W2 professor), private lecturer, senior lecturer, or equivalent” and thus classified herself too high.
"Well, this is obviously a bit tricky for my position. At the time, I was a team leader [at a non-university research institute]. I wouldn’t describe myself as a ‘post-doctoral fellow’ now. These are the typical university positions. I don’t even know what a ‘senior lecturer or equivalent’ is. I’d try to categorize myself here, but I really don’t know how to classify team leaders. I’ve sort of based my answer on the term ‘senior.’ After all, I’ve been ‘senior’ for 15 years." (TP07)
Two other participants (TP06, 08) criticized the response option “post-doctoral fellow,” saying it was too narrowly defined.
- "I’d rather write ‘post-doctoral researcher’ here, because ‘post-doctoral fellow’ is more of a UK thing, where people get one of those prestigious postdoc positions for a year.“ (TP06)
- „I don’t think ‘post-doctoral fellow’ is a good term. ‘Post-doc’ would be better. ‘Fellow,’ I would say, implies a special contractual relationship with the institute.“ (TP 08)
When asked, the test persons stated that the list of response options was complete and exhaustive. The only thing missing was a specific option for employees with a doctorate working at non-university research institutes or statistical offices.
Question Topic:
Job and career/ Job situation & professional activity
Construct:
Academic position
