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Author ORCID Identifier
Date Available
11-1-2026
Year of Publication
2026
Document Type
Doctoral Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
College
Education
Department/School/Program
Educational Policy Studies and Eval
Faculty
Shannon Sampson
Faculty
Kelly Bradley
Faculty
Eric T. Weber
Abstract
The term public scholar has gained increasing attention among academics and institutions, yet it lacks a definition grounded in empirical methods. This has left the term open to interpretation and led to inconsistencies in its application. Existing definitions are theoretical and emphasize a public scholar’s effort to bridge the gap between research and practice. My aim for this study was to conceptualize and preliminarily operationalize the term public scholar as a construct drawing on qualitative and quantitative data. Through a thematic analysis and initial Rasch scaling, I provided clear parameters around the construct specifically highlighting a public scholar’s behavior (practices), motivation, and identity. I also addressed broader concerns public scholars face such as their relevancy in a technological age where information is ubiquitous and implications of their work when free speech is constrained.
This is an exploratory sequential measurement study that uses both qualitative and quantitative data. The qualitative data support the conceptualization of the construct, while the quantitative data are analyzed through Rasch modeling to examine the structure, hierarchy, and measurement properties of public scholarship. I combined qualitative exploratory approaches, quantitative survey methods, and measurement. After a comprehensive literature review, I mapped key traits from the literature to an item matrix and conducted several cognitive interviews to support construct validity. The resulting survey included open-ended questions, dichotomous items, and four illustrative vignettes. I collected survey data from a calibration sample using a snowball sampling technique, and yielded results from 21 respondents. Participants represented the population of interest: current or former faculty members at American colleges or universities.
I conducted a thematic analysis of the open-ended responses, which revealed participants’ diverse, yet comprehensive perspectives on how they define public scholar and the public, which contributed to the conceptualization of the construct. When asked to evaluate the status of four fictitious characters, one in each vignette, participants prioritized both scholarly behavior and public engagement. I compared these judgements with my own ranking and the Wright Map generated through Rasch analysis. Rasch modeling revealed a hierarchy of traits along the continuum of public scholarship, and a broad, unidimensional model. Together, the quantitative data gathered from the dichotomous items and the data collected from the open-ended qualitative items provided a preliminary conceptualization and operationalization of the term public scholar leading toward a definition.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.13023/etd.2026.229
Archival?
Archival
Recommended Citation
Littlepage, Mary K., "From the Ivory Tower to the Town Square: Defining the Public Scholar" (2026). Theses and Dissertations--Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation. 124.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/epe_etds/124
