Higher Education Research at the Millennium: A Study of Current State and Future Prospects. ASHE Annual Meeting Paper.

This study compared the ideas of researchers with those of practitioners in higher education regarding what is considered significant and useful literature in terms of content, methodology, and format. The findings were interpreted in terms of theories of action research and the quality movement. Data were compiled using focus groups of researchers and practitioners meeting at five major national conferences and a survey completed by focus group participants and individuals who responded to a posting on the Web, for a total of 82 responses. Data analysis suggested three major themes: (1) both practitioners and researchers agreed there were few memorable pieces in the higher education literature, that more meaning was to be found outside higher education literature, and that dissemination was ineffective; (2) practitioners and researchers differed as to the content and format they found useful and in their standards for assessing quality; and (3) practitioners' and researchers' viewpoints diverged most when discussing significant issues to study, gaps in the literature, future directions, and improving the higher education literature. Possible reasons for this gap are discussed, including paradigmatic assumptions; different cultures or roles; professional field or discipline; disciplinary differences; tenure, promotion, and socialization factors; and seeing a false dichotomy between theory and practice. (Contains 31 references.) (DB)