Enhancing Junior Faculty Research Productivity Through Multiinstitution Collaboration: Participants' Impressions of the School Psychology Research Collaboration Conference

In addition to teaching and service responsibilities, junior faculty members are required to be productive researchers. Despite the demand on junior faculty to produce published research, studies suggest that they often do not receive adequate assistance with their research endeavors. Mentoring is an effective form of support for junior faculty that can lead to gains in research productivity. Research productivity also has been found to increase as collaboration increases, particularly when the collaboration is outside of one's institution. The School Psychology Research Collaboration Conference (SPRCC), which is funded by the Society for the Study of School Psychology (SSSP), has supported the research of junior faculty in the field of school psychology by fostering professional relationships among junior faculty and enhancing their research skills through mentoring from senior-level faculty-all from various academic institutions. Using content analysis as the primary method of investigation, this study examined SPRCC junior faculty/early-career participants' anonymous responses to open-ended questions regarding the value of the SPRCC in general, the tools and strategies used to conduct the conference, and the potential of the SPRCC to impact their future research productivity. Outcomes of the analysis were used to inform recommendations for establishing other research collaboration events and networking opportunities as well as for improving the SPRCC.