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Crystal Gay
Qualitative Article Critique
Georgia Southern University

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Waltman, J., Bergom, I., Hollenshead, C., Miller, J., & August, L. (2012). Factors Contributing
to Job Satisfaction and Dissatisfaction among Non-Tenure-Track Faculty. Journal Of
Higher Education, 83(3), 411-434.
The article by Waltman, Bergom, Hollenshead, Miller, and August (2012) is a qualitative
study looking at full- and part-time non-tenure-track faculty (NTTF) in higher education. There
were focus groups held and information from those groups were coded to find themes for job
satisfaction and job dissatisfaction among NTTF. These focus groups were held at 12 different
universities. The universities were chosen based on convenience (previous connections), varying
geographic locations, and all were research institutions. The authors found that by supporting the
teaching efforts of NTTF, putting in place job security and advancement policies, and fostering a
more inclusive environment that administration could improve job satisfaction of NTTF.
There were 220 participants and a total of 24 focus groups. The focus groups were 90
minutes in length and used open-ended interview questions. The two main questions were,
What aspects of your current appointment do you believe to be good/positive? And What
aspects of your current appointment do you believe to be poor/negative? (p. 416). Each focus
group session was recorded and transcribed into a verbatim transcript. Two researchers coded
themes from the transcripts.
Of the 220 participants, the teaching disciplines included STEM (39%), humanities
(35%), and social science (20%). There were full-time and part-time NTTF included in the
sample. Sixty percent of the participants were female, one-fourth had part-time jobs, and another
one-fourth had spouses working at the university. Years of teaching experience ranged from 1-32
years with the average of years teaching at their current institution being 9.

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There were four themes found that spoke to job satisfaction or job dissatisfaction for
NTTF: Teaching and students and personal life and flexibility (job satisfaction) and terms of
employment and respect and inclusion (job dissatisfaction) (p. 417).
There is no discussing of measures taken to keep participants anonymous. While it would
be difficult to trace a comment directly to a particular person, the fact that the authors used
research universities in which they have previous connections is concerning. I would have liked
to have seen the authors address this issue in a direct manner.
The authors found a relevant problem that affects a large portion of those teaching in
higher education and suggested a couple of solutions for improvement of job satisfaction. I
would have liked to see more examples from institutions that could be implemented. The
literature review provided was very comprehensive and the authors returned to some of the cited
articles in the discussion section. The writing style was easy to follow and clear.
The findings section of the paper explored each of the four themes and included quotes
from those interviewed that helped to highlight the issues. The authors also address limitations of
the study including the sample a higher percentage of full-time NTTF than part-time when
national the percentage of full-time verses part-time NTTF is much lower. Another limitation is
the inability to capture all viewpoints of subgroups and that they cannot generalize results since
the samples all came from research institutions. I feel that addressing the limitations was a
strength in the article. If this had not been addressed I would have been concerned. The authors
also suggested several possible studies that could be conducted to enhance knowledge in this
field.
The research conducted is very useful and could be used to guide policies for NTTF at
universities. I think there are ways this research could be expanded but the research method is

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solid and addresses what the authors had in mind. I would have liked to see an analysis of current
policies and how they are affecting job satisfaction and dissatisfaction with NTTF. The authors
discussed this in their conclusion section. The authors addressed further research including
expanding the college classification.