Exploring EFL Applied Linguist's Conceptions of Research: A Mixed Methods Study

The past decade has witnessed a renewed conceptual interest in higher education research, including applied linguistics discipline, which has led to the crafting of research as one of the most effective forms of professional development. This sequential explanatory mixed research study examines the conception of research the applied linguists’ faculty members have in a major site of EFL( English as a Foreign Language) context by obtaining quantitative results from surveying a representative sample of 140 faculty members and then following-up with interviewing twelve purposefully selected respondents to explore those understanding of research in more depth. The quantitative results reveal that inquiry including experimental designs and mixed-methods research was more likely to be conceived of as research by the respondents. The respondents’ views also represent conceptions of research wherein there exist rigorous characteristics which are related to three important paradigms of research. The qualitative findings shed additional lights on the quantitative ones by providing a further understanding of how EFL faculty members think about research.