The Need to Be a Leader of Research in the United States: Take the Risk and Move Beyond Your Opponents

David B Ross, Gina Peyton, Vanaja Nethi, Melissa Tara Sasso, Melissa Tara Sasso

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

Abstract

This chapter is designed to explore how researchers, when conducting sensitive inquiries, could face many risks (e.g., professional, reputational, mental) while associated with an institution of higher education, a research think tank or any other agency. Researchers need to take on more of a leadership role when conducting studies that might be too risky for others, while other complacent researchers explore the same and irrelevant issues repeatedly. Researchers need to enroll in college leadership courses in addition to exploring many methodological philosophies. Instead of working in a silo of research, if researchers have had the opportunity to understand many philosophies and models of leadership, they would have the ability to know that leaders take risks, while non-leaders stay with the status quo of life.
In the case of status quo researchers, they remain within a safe course of action and never address some of the most important, yet sensitive, issues, which are problems facing organizations, communities and even possible medical breakthroughs. If researchers combine leadership strategies with research, they will find the importance of taking risks. In business, when leaders take risks, they find ways to be innovative and to find solutions to being creative and advancing in their vision, while being ahead of their competition. If researchers mirrored this philosophy, they would advance their competitive edge in possible grant proposals, uncover solutions to problems facing our societies, politics and world events, and not hesitate regarding any considerations for research (e.g., narcissistic behaviour, mobbing and bullying, gender issues).
Original languageAmerican English
Title of host publicationResearchers at Risk: Precarity, Jeopardy and Uncertainty in Academia
Pages147-161
Number of pages15
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 5 2021

Publication series

NamePalgrave Studies in Education Research Methods

ASJC Scopus Subject Areas

  • Education
  • Social Sciences (miscellaneous)

Keywords

  • Decision-making
  • Leadership
  • Risk/s
  • Researcher/s
  • Sensitive research

Disciplines

  • Education

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