Qualitative research has gained recognition in recent years in a variety of disciplines, including education, social work, psychology, health sciences, and more. The focus groups are research communities that meet six times during the academic year and study various research methodologies such as narratives and life stories, text and dialogue analysis, , and writing academic articles. Participants also discuss and support one another’s studies. The groups attract scholars with varying amounts of research experience, some of whom hail from other social sciences faculties. Participation in focus groups may span many years; in some cases, it is career-long.
The Research Authority offers personal mentoring to teacher educators who wish to spend their sabbatical year at MOFET, conducting research or publishing their results.
The Research Authority offers teacher educators research assistance in three areas: methodology (quantitative and qualitative studies); quantitative and qualitative data analysis; and the preparation of manuscripts for publication in refereed journals. Teacher educators are referred to advisors from among Israel leading educational researchers.
This committee offers financial support to teacher educators who conduct research in education and teacher education in both quantitative and qualitative paradigms. Although competitive, researchers have an opportunity to improve their proposals in response to reviewers’ comments either within a short period of time or prior to the next submission date. The committee allocates wages to researchers as well as financial aid to cover research costs.
The Review Board reviews MOFET’s research projects as well as the research proposals of fellows in the post-doctoral program. Teacher educators whose academic institutions do not have a review board may apply to MOFET in order to have their projects reviewed. The board also serves as a consultation forum for members of review boards in teacher education institutions.
The Research Authority invites senior researchers to collaborate with colleagues from diverse teacher education institutions in one of its large-scale, policy-relevant research projects. The senior researchers also share their knowledge as consultants, mentors, tutors, lecturers, or facilitators of focus groups.