Academic research is defined as a systematic investigation to establish facts or principles to collect information on a subject in an academic setting. The authenticity of investigation is dependent on individual and environmental factors. An individual’s passion and dedication for research will be dependent on inborn curiosity and training for research.
The environmental factors affecting the research culture will be dependent on policies at various levels, namely governmental and institutional. In addition, a significant environmental factor affecting the research culture of a particular society is a general understanding and open-minded approach to new ideas.
The research process is inherently laborious and time-consuming, but the results obtained through trial and error are both effective and cultivable in human lives. In Pakistani research culture, we miss both.
My recent experience working as a young Assistant Professor at a Pakistani university opened many issues which could be a hindrance to quality research. First and foremost to me is the importance being placed on the quality of research.
There is a race to publish research papers. These papers are of low quality and are usually published in low quality journals. This has partly to do with the policies at the governmental level where quantity is preferred over quality.
Another factor is the aptitude and attitude of faculty towards research. They are not excited by new and vibrant research ideas; in other words, there is a lack of critical thinking. Instead, some faculty members try to propagate their stagnant ideas which are mostly their religious and societal imprints.
Inherently, there is nothing wrong with researching religion and society; rather these two might provide us with very intriguing questions. The problem arises when we look at these two sources as static and ignore the dynamic, intuitive and creative elements that these sources might entail.
I obtained my masters and PhD from leading universities in the Netherlands and lived in this small beautiful country for almost a decade.
The culture and mindset of Netherlands are progressive, multicultural and open-minded in general with a few right-wing tidbits. My long stints at different leading universities in the Netherlands taught me the values of critical thinking and importance of questioning. These values help to pace up and at the same time open up new horizons for discursive discourses.
Critical thinking and questioning is an integral part of research culture as they help in answering the issue at hand from different perspectives. Our higher educational institutions lack this approach. The faculty members and students come from the same society which in general believes in magic solutions and not the laborious work required to achieve milestones.
Our higher educational institutions lack critical thinking. Faculty members and students come from the same society which believes in magic solutions and not the laborious work required for achieving milestones
Take the example of Engineer Agha Waqar, who claimed that cars could run on water and everyone believed him without questioning the authenticity of his claims and putting it to sound scientific tests. When people with these kinds of aptitudes become a part of the scientific community, they take away the essence of science which is trial and error over long periods of time to get results.
In the 15th and 16th centuries, during the period of renaissance, Europe suffered at the hands of the Church, which negated rational thinking and instead tried to carry on with their rule by propagating their stagnant ideas. Europeans worked hard to cultivate rationality, logic and questioning into their society and the results of those scientific labours can be seen in the form of industrialised and prosperous European countries. In today’s world, economic prosperity is dependent on the knowledge economies.
These knowledge economies are produced through sound and scientific research. This kind of research cannot be produced in a particular nation unless and until they can inculcate the research culture into the society.
Books are an important source of information and can press the human mind to think hard about issues eventually leading towards critical thinking, provided the circumstances are conducive. Thus the promotion of book reading through media and other governmental institutions can help inculcate an informed and educated thinking among masses. Another important thing is that the society in general and the scientific community in Pakistan in particular should allow and be tolerant towards all kinds of research ideas. That is the only way forward.
The writer is Assistant Professor, University of Sargodha
Published in Daily Times, February 17th 2018.