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What if we consider research teams as teams?
1Institute of Health Sciences Education, Room 304, Lady Meredith House, McGill University, 1110 Pine Avenue West, Montreal, QC, H3A 1A3, Canada. Meredith.Young@McGill.ca.
Advances in Health Sciences Education : Theory and Practice
|September 12, 2024
Summary
Viewing research teams as distinct entities is crucial for enhancing knowledge generation in Health Professions Education (HPE). Understanding team dynamics fosters effective collaboration and optimizes research outcomes.
Area of Science:
- Health Professions Education Research
- Team Science
- Collaborative Research
Background:
- Research teams are vital for knowledge generation in Health Professions Education (HPE).
- Existing research often overlooks the specific functioning and success factors of interdisciplinary and interprofessional HPE research teams.
- While HPE scholarship units and environments are studied, research teams themselves remain under-examined.
Purpose of the Study:
- To propose that research teams be conceptualized and studied as unique team entities.
- To highlight the importance of understanding team dynamics for building, supporting, and celebrating effective research teams.
- To identify avenues for future research focused on the functioning and success of research teams.
Main Methods:
- Conceptual framework development proposing research teams as distinct team instantiations.
- Literature review and synthesis of existing knowledge on team effectiveness and HPE research.
- Argumentation for a shift in focus towards studying research teams as cohesive units.
Main Results:
- Viewing research teams as teams emphasizes the need for deliberate strategies in team construction and support.
- Acknowledges that individual competence does not guarantee team effectiveness.
- Opens new research directions into the factors that enable research teams to thrive.
Conclusions:
- Studying research teams as teams encourages a focus on their unique dynamics, requirements, and social nature.
- This perspective can lead to more effective teams, reducing waste and improving knowledge generation.
- Sustaining research teams requires dedicated care, commitment, and effort, recognizing research as a collaborative and social endeavor.
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