How Do Institutional and Demographic Factors Affect the Allocation of Workload Among Athletic Training Faculty?

Context Workload may vary among faculty due to various demographic and institutional factors. Prior studies on this topic have been limited in scope focusing only on a subset of the athletic training professoriate. Objective To evaluate the percentage of total work time that athletic training faculty dedicate to their assigned academic responsibilities, and to assess how various factors such as faculty role, rank, institutional Carnegie classification, and tenure status affect the proportional allocation of those duties. Design Cross-sectional study. Setting Online web-based survey. Patients or Other Participants The survey instrument was sent to a total of 716 athletic training faculty who were members in good standing of the National Athletic Trainers’ Association. Although 223 recipients responded to the invitation to participate, only 179 participants completed the survey in its entirety, resulting in a 25.0% response rate. Main Outcome Measure(s) The survey was developed to determine if faculty role, academic rank, tenure status, and institutional Carnegie classification (ie, independent variables) affected the quantity of time participants dedicated to each of their assigned responsibilities, which could have included teaching, research/scholarship, service, administrative duties, and clinical practice (ie, dependent variables). Results On average, athletic training faculty allocated 52.0% of their time to teaching and teaching-related duties, 19% to research and scholarship, 13% to service, 2% to clinical responsibilities, and 14% to administrative obligations. All demographic and institutional factors that were considered in this investigation affected the allotment of work effort. Conclusions Most athletic training faculty allocate the greatest amount of their work time to teaching and teaching-related duties. Also, the amount of time assigned to each of their academic duties depends on their role, rank, institutional Carnegie classification, and tenure status.