Interviews and Surveys Will Explore Early-Stage Researchers’ Training Needs
Within the NextTechTalents project, an in-depth needs assessment is being conducted for Early-Stage Researchers (ECRs), including doctoral and postdoctoral researchers. The purpose of interviews and surveys is to identify systemic barriers and skills gaps that hinder researchers’ career development, particularly for technology-related research. The results will serve as the basis for developing needs-based training modules, career support mechanisms (such as the Knowledge Hub), and policy recommendations for the European Research Area.
Purpose of the Early-Stage Researcher Interviews and Surveys
The aim of the interviews and surveys is to identify the most significant barriers to career development faced by ECRs, the gaps in existing support systems, and the training and mentorship needs, with the intention of improving skills development, mobility, and employability. Thus, the surveys will help uncover researchers’ challenges, expectations, and career aspirations.
Methodology
In-depth e-interviews will be conducted to enable a deep exploration of ECRs’ perspectives, complemented by a quantitative survey that will provide a structured and scalable way to collect data from a larger pool of ECRs.
The main topics covered are:
- General background – this includes demographics and current career stage to capture participants’ profiles and provide context for interpreting their responses.
- Challenges and support – to identify the main barriers, as well as to assess how effective existing support mechanisms are.
- Skills – to explore the self-assessment of skills in the context of the ResearchComp framework and to examine how the planned Knowledge Hub could contribute to competence development.
- Mobility and aspirations – to understand mobility experience and researchers’ future vision for their careers.
- Final reflections – to collect researchers’ open feedback and suggestions, which might illuminate aspects not captured by the structured questions.
Analysis
Thematic analysis, involving the identification of themes and subthemes, will be used for processing the interview results. An inductive coding approach will be applied, meaning that codes and themes are developed directly from the data, rather than based on pre-existing theories or frameworks. The survey results will be analyzed by presenting quantitative data and visualizations, providing a clear overview of patterns and trends across the larger sample of respondents.
Expected Results
The survey and interview data are expected to provide a multidimensional picture of the situation of ECRs across various countries and institutions. They will highlight the most frequently encountered barriers, reveal the skills researchers most often lack, and allow for the evaluation of the effectiveness of existing support mechanisms. The results will serve as a basis for developing new training modules, mentoring programs, and policy recommendations that are grounded in actual needs rather than assumptions. At the same time, they will provide an opportunity to assess what systemic changes are necessary to improve research careers.
Risk Factors
In studies of this scope, risk factors and limitations must be considered. As participation is voluntary, the interviews will reflect only a limited number of ECRs, and there is a risk that, given the diversity of countries and systems, full data saturation may not be achieved. To address this, a complementary survey is also being conducted to obtain more extensive and comprehensive quantitative data. Such a combination of research methods will provide an opportunity to gain a more comprehensive understanding, helping to ensure that the findings are as credible and useful as possible.
Why This Is Important
The results will help determine which skills are most in demand and what additional training should be provided. This data will ensure that the project’s new training modules and policy recommendations are based on evidence, not assumptions, thus enhancing opportunities for ECRs to advance in their careers.
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Keywords
Ventspils University of Applied Sciences, Science, International cooperation, Early-stage researchers, survey, NextTechTalents
