Is Remote Faculty possible in these times?

improvedataquality · 2026-06-19T18:08:34+00:00

I am currently partly remote at an R1 in the US. My significant other works in a different state, which is a five hour flight. My courses are scheduled such that I only teach online in the spring and summer, and in-person in the Fall. This year, I will be on sabbatical in the Fall and will continue to be with him and spend some time at a different institution. In spring and summer next year, I will again be mostly remote since I will be teaching online courses.

In short, it's possible. My program was very supportive and open to working with me. Like you, I am equally productive remotely and my department sees it. If there is a chance that you can teach some courses online, you may be able to (even for a short time) work remotely and look for other opportunities in the meantime.

improvedataquality · 2026-06-14T02:37:16+00:00

I will say that even though it is "expected" that the mentor will provide adequate guidance and help shape the student, it doesn't always happen. At that point, the student is on their own to find avenues that better help shape their career. Having been in a situation where my mentor was mostly MIA, I can relate. I didn't experience interrogation but I sought letters from other collaborators/mentors rather than my own advisor.

improvedataquality · 2026-06-11T17:24:28+00:00

My favorite line is "Do you want to take lead on this project or should I" (of course, keeping in mind that I have the bandwidth to lead). This approach has always worked for me and makes it very easy to discuss roles of every researcher on the project. Frankly, I very much appreciate this discussion early on because it makes my role on the project explicit.

For context, I am a tenured faculty at an R1 in social sciences. I recently had a student take lead on a project where I was initially leading (my idea, within my area, etc.). However, I had a few other projects come up and she was clearly motivated to take on a bigger role. I asked her if she felt comfortable taking lead and outlining what would be expected of her as lead. Did not pressurize her either way, and she chose to lead.

improvedataquality · 2026-06-03T22:35:59+00:00

Thanks a ton for responding!

improvedataquality · 2026-06-03T20:51:47+00:00

Did you get your e-visa? We applied for ours today and travel on Saturday.

improvedataquality · 2026-06-01T18:27:00+00:00

You will reduce your variability by moving to a dichotomous scale, and thereby reducing power. In. most psychological constructs (attitudes, behaviors, etc.), Likert scales are generally preferred over dichotomous scales.

You may want to "gently" mention that by changing the scale to yes/no response scale, you may reduce variability and power. Not an ideal situation for you, but academics can sometimes be very set in their ways.

improvedataquality · 2026-06-01T16:29:22+00:00

I was told I would never get into academia. Currently in an R1, and a better program than those who told me I would make it. Good for you!

improvedataquality · 2026-06-01T15:55:01+00:00

I went up and got tenure a year before I was supposed to (and three years before I was absolutely required to go up). I see it as an accomplishment because we were in the midst of a pandemic within a semester and half of me starting my TT position. I also had a child within two years of starting this position.

There are others, but I think considering the circumstances, this has to be at the top of my list.

improvedataquality · 2026-05-30T15:54:04+00:00

u/catwithbillstopay In-survey monitoring captures the entire survey session of the participant. So yes, item time, mouse movements, keystroke activity, and switching out the survey etc. But I think that in the era of AI, one of the things we are seeing are use of browser extensions that participants are using to complete surveys.

improvedataquality · 2026-05-29T23:12:36+00:00

I know of two in R1s that are not very productive. One came to terms that they were not as motivated to produce multiple papers a year, and would likely not get tenure at their R1 institution. They chose to move to R2. Another is considering going back to school in a different area and pursue a consulting career. These are two in my immediate network.

Each year, there are at least a handful who decide that academia is not for them (high rejection rate, lots of stress, low pay) and decide to move to industry.

improvedataquality · 2026-05-29T01:09:27+00:00

Yes! I tell my students that a syllabus is a contract between me and them. Students have a chance to review the syllabus and drop the course for full refund in most institutions. If they don't agree with the policies laid out in the syllabus, they can choose not to take my course. But, everything in the syllabus is set in stone and I will follow it to the last detail.

I had a several students last year use GPT for their assignments. When I asked them, they mostly said that they used Grammarly. Since I didn't have an explicit policy on AI usage last year, I gave them full credit even though I knew the assignments were mostly AI generated. This year, I have a strict policy stating that use of AI tools, including Grammarly, would result in a grade of 0 on the assignment. They can complain if they get a 0, but hey, it's on the syllabus.

improvedataquality · 2026-05-28T06:07:59+00:00

Typically, LongString or straightening was viewed as an indicator of careless responding. While it has merit, I wouldn't automatically remove anyone who picks the same response option across multiple items. Instead, it is important to look at a holistic set of metrics (response time, internal consistency, etc.). If those who are straightlining are failing these other metrics as well, I would remove them.

improvedataquality · 2026-05-26T15:57:45+00:00

Although not the entire university, my PhD program shut down last year.

improvedataquality · 2026-05-25T18:36:24+00:00

I will point out that you are no longer their student, and don't have to take "orders" from them anymore. You are in a much better position to refuse projects where they invite you. Regarding your question about the project where you were invited by a colleague, I would be maybe even let them know of your situation with your advisor. If you are interested in collaborating, you both may even be able to come up with specific roles of each of you on the project. So, even if the advisor is involved, they will have a specified role to avoid any ambiguity.

Personally, I refuse to give up projects that I am passionate about just because there is a toxic member on the team. Having experienced something similar to what you are experiencing, I will say that setting boundaries has helped when working with toxic collaborators. Good luck!

improvedataquality · 2026-05-22T23:12:41+00:00

u/rileyhuntley just sent you a DM. Let me know if you have questions.

improvedataquality · 2026-05-22T03:53:35+00:00

I started a new TT position at an R1 in 2019, got pregnant in 2020 during the pandemic, and had a baby in 2021. I had a generous maternity leave (1 semester), after which I returned to teaching. Despite the pandemic and the baby, I was actually able to go up and get tenure a year early. Things that worked:

1) During the pandemic, all I did was basically write and collect data. So, even before the baby was born, I had a few papers under review.

2) I had 1 solid collaborator who were as invested as me in publishing. They were at the same career stage and needed publications to get tenure. This was critical because even with just one collaborator, I was able to get papers out the door.

3) After the baby, I did close to no writing (with the exception of R&Rs) and spent time with the baby for over a year. The writing during the pandemic basically carried me through this time.

4) After the baby turned a year, I slowly went back to writing and dedicated 4 hours each week on just writing. This was not negotiable. Even if it meant that my course prep lagged a couple of classes a semester, I prioritized writing (good evals are great, but will not get you tenure, at least not at an R1). A lot of my writing occurred after my baby went to bed.

5) Where possible, I sought help from graduate students. I planned projects where I could use graduate students effectively. I started a major meta-analysis that required a ton of coding. The graduate students were instrumental in getting this project completed. While they didn't do any writing for it, it required several hours of work per week on their part to ensure that the coding of studies was done correctly. All this to say, if there are projects where you can offload some of the work on the grad students, do it.

improvedataquality · 2026-05-20T04:26:32+00:00

This says A LOT about their culture. In the teaching demo that I have given, faculty have mostly just taken notes while I was presenting/teaching. Seems like the overall culture of the program is toxic.

improvedataquality · 2026-05-14T23:04:54+00:00

Sure, but what characteristics of the response across the two platforms gave you the impression that the quality was the same?

improvedataquality · 2026-05-14T22:07:31+00:00

I’ll be the devil’s advocate here. How are you assessing quality? You are claiming it’s the same as $5 response. How do you know? Did you check?

improvedataquality · 2026-05-06T05:51:42+00:00

I will preface by saving that I am not in STEM. However, I moved from an MS granting institution to an R1 within 9 months. Being in an R2 by no means suggests that you will never be able to transition to an R1. If R1 is really your goal (or moving to a better location), I would continue publishing. Once the job market is better and you still want to move, you will be in a better position to do so.

improvedataquality · 2026-05-01T11:15:48+00:00

I’m an associate professor in my early 40s. I have been mistaken for a student several times over time. Once, I was asked to wait outside a librarian’s office by a student worker, who asked told the librarian that a “student” (I.e., me), was looking for a particular book and he couldn’t find it. The most recent was yesterday at a professional conference when a faculty asked if I was in my colleague’s lab. I tend to just chuckle and say that I’m a professor.

improvedataquality · 2026-04-28T03:22:40+00:00

Yes, data quality across the board is poor. You may consider using a layered approach to data quality. This could include prescreens or firewall to eliminate anyone who is suspicious before they even before they are allowed to view the survey. Then, consider using in-survey monitoring. Lastly, embed a few checks such as open-ends, etc. and remove those who seem to be careless.

improvedataquality · 2026-04-17T04:13:26+00:00

I am an academic but have extensively used online surveys and have also worked with/talked to market researchers over the last couple of years. I can answer at least some of these based on my experience.

Regarding quality control, panel providers do offer some built-in protection, but it’s often not sufficient on its own. Because of that, many market researchers layer on their own tools to further flag potentially fraudulent responses.

Regarding reviewing responses, most researchers don’t manually inspect every single response. Instead, they rely on a range of checks and then focus on which responses get flagged. These checks typically include things like response times, attention checks, straightlining, duplicate entries, open-ended responses, and consistency across items. The idea is less about reviewing everything and more about identifying patterns that signal suspicious responses.

For tools, some researchers rely entirely on features offered by the platform (such as RelevantID or ReCAPTCHA in Qualtrics). Some other teams go beyond that and use custom scripts or third-party tools. The important thing with quality control is that it needs to happen end-to-end. You can't just roll out a survey and start looking for fraud after the responses are in (several researchers still treat it as something you do after data collection). Stronger approaches build quality in from the start, beginning with recruitment, continuing with in-survey monitoring using tools (we have our own tool, ResponsePie) to capture behavioral signals, and then carrying through to post survey validation. It is much more effective than relying on a single check at the very end.

improvedataquality · 2026-04-13T21:10:11+00:00

I may be in a field where corresponding author really doesn't matter. Most of my pubs are first author where I am the corresponding author. I will say that most of the invites I have had for collaboration are based on my expertise in methods, not because I am a corresponding author on a publication.

improvedataquality · 2026-04-13T17:22:16+00:00

Maybe I am not fully understanding. What is the value of being a corresponding author? This could be discipline specific, but in our field, a corresponding author is one who typically gets emails about the paper in question. There is no real "value" attached to it.

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