Interview
Research It!
Syed Saad Andaleeb
In 1927, Ivan Pavlov conducted an experiment on his dog. He would ring a bell each time before feeding it. Gradually, Pavlov's dog began to understand that the bell preceded the arrival of food. He then began to salivate at the very sound of the bell even in the absence of food or smell.
Ivan Pavlov's experimentation on psychological training, particularly conditional stimuli and response, with his dog led to the development of the Classical Conditioning Theory, one of the most important psychological discoveries in history. Pavlov, through his research, founded the basis of what would become behavioural psychology; his theory is applied for mental health treatment, to treat phobias and anxiety disorders and for behaviour modification.
The Scholar has written and edited several research books on Bangladesh.
Theory drives practice, says Syed Saad Andaleeb, Distinguished Professor of the Sam and Irene Black School of Business Faculty of Pennsylvania State University, United States. Using the example of Pavlov's Dog, Andaleeb explains that any discovery would be incomplete without extensive research conducted beforehand.
Andaleeb, an avid proponent of research, laments the lack of attention to the promotion of research to further knowledge and progress. He emphasizes the importance of theory to make practice effective. If there is a lack of strong theory, the practice will also be weak, says Andaleeb.
“There is a tendency to disregard theory development in Bangladesh. When one wants to develop a practice based on a theory, people quip that the person is too “theoretical” and not “practical.” We must understand that the most advanced countries conduct research, build theories, and then implement them in active projects,” he adds.
Bangladesh depends a lot on borrowed knowledge, Andaleeb adds. Instead of developing our own indigenous research to understand the country's strengths and failings, we rely on the works of other countries, expecting their information to be infallible. We depend on “agency-driven” research sponsored by international organizations like World Bank and UN agencies. These organizations often have an agenda to carry out a particular research; in order to be a part of the research, one needs to work according to their guidelines and areas of interest, Andaleeb says.
“Students in Bangladesh, when only exposed to research work done by the Western World, are dependent on their findings and are learning their standards to be imposed on our culture. We are also preparing them for overseas employment. We need to educate them to understand and develop indigenous research streams that will address our local needs,” he says.
With Professor David Lewis of London School of Economics.
Even though, there are institutes like Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) and Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) that conduct research, the country is still far behind in terms of research development. We need to widen the scope of research in a way that it is not controlled by just a few people or institutes. We need to have a more holistic discussion whereby we can question or contradict established research.
Dhaka University, once known as the Oxford of the East, is nowhere to be seen in the top ranking universities of the world. This has a lot to do with our negligence towards indigenous research, says Andaleeb.
Comparing Bangladesh to East Asian countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong and South Korea, he says that these countries that were once at par with us have progressed because of their investment in research from the 1960s.
“I think the problem is that the higher ups in the government and corporate world think that they know it all. If you think that you know everything, you will never have the incentive to learn. Once they admit that they have more to learn, there will be greater interest in developing research projects and the country will take on a new dimension,” Andaleeb says.
Andaleeb at a conference in Harvard University.
Research projects in the West are funded by the government and the private sector and conducted by the higher education institutions. Only nine percent of the total operating revenue of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is from tuition. The institution gets half its total income from research revenues on campus and from their laboratories.
Andaleeb is conducting a study to unearth the lack of interest in pursuing research projects in the country. According to a random sampling of teachers from business school faculties of the country, over 70 percent teachers have said that they spend less than quarter of their time on research.
One of the reasons is that they are not well-recognised for their research work. There is no incentive to motivate people from academia to develop research projects. Around 75 percent of the teachers in Andaleeb's study say that they have published only three or fewer local research papers. The study also finds that better communication between senior and junior members of an organization results in improved research motivation.
We can't develop our research sector by depending on just some individuals and institutes to conduct studies, says Andaleeb. It's important to build an infrastructure, an eco-system of research where multiple parties are involved, starting from university and government administrators to teachers and researchers to commercial establishments.
“There are so many areas that we need to work on. Our Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER), which determines the number of students enrolled in education institutes at several different grade levels, is 4 percent for girls and 8 percent for boys. Where is the rest of the 92-96 percent? There is no research on that,” states Andaleeb.
Andaleeb, also the editor of the Journal of Bangladesh Studies, published by the Bangladesh Development Initiative, says that he tries to motivate young researchers by organising research methodology workshops; over 100 young faculty members of universities in Bangladesh have attended his workshops in the last 10 years. The Bangladesh Development Initiative, a US based non-profit organisation of which he is an executive committee member and was a president for two terms, also sponsors 30-40 researchers from Bangladesh on a travel grant to attend conferences in USA and present their research papers.
“They gain in confidence when they see that their papers are being accepted and that they have a chance to speak in front of distinguished panel members at the most prestigious universities of the world. We organised a conference at Harvard in 2008 and 2009 and at Berkley this year with the support of private banks, the American Embassy and entrepreneurs of this country” he says.
Even though it will take us years to advance towards the top, we could start by developing research in our education institutes. We could work on building knowledge zones that include specialised faculties in individual universities working on indigenous issues such as healthcare, water resources, energy, population, entrepreneurship or human resources. If in every university, there are several knowledge zones, the university becomes a knowledge enterprise. If there a number of knowledge enterprises in Bangladesh, collectively they become a learning community, addressing society's needs, says Andaleeb. The University Grants Commission and the Education Ministry have a large role to play in realising this dream.
Research is needed to promote the process of constant learning and further the understanding of our environment in new ways, says Andaleeb. If we stop this continual process, we become a static and stagnating society.
“The day you stop learning you begin to become obsolete. If you want to survive, if you want to be competitive, constant learning is necessary. And for that, you need constant research,” the noted professor concludes.
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