Stories from the Field: Higher Education Institution Faculty Embarking on a Research and Publication Journey

This study explored the faculty research engagement level in higher education institutions. The convergent parallel mixed method design was used, with surveys and interviews digging into the participants' experiences. The study included 92 permanent, full-time higher education institution faculty members for the academic year 2022-2023. Ten participants were selected through purposive sampling for the qualitative section. The study's findings revealed the amount of research engagement and demographic profiles of Registered Guidance Counselors at Higher Education Institutions. There is no significant association between the demographic variables age, gender, educational attainment, academic rank, research activity, and workload when the variables are correlated. In the qualitative section, there were six emerging themes such as in Theme 1: Acquiring research abilities through a graduate school curriculum research experience. Theme 2: Lack of time for research due to heavy teaching responsibilities. Theme 3: Strengthening the university's culture of research through the mentorship process. Theme 4: Mechanisms provided by the university for institutional research support. Theme 5. Starting from within; Intentional and deep-seated love of research and Theme 6: Bringing the Academic Research Culture into Balance: Perspectives of Higher Education Faculty. Faculty who are actively engaged in research are an asset to any organization because they bridge theory and practice, which is extremely beneficial to students. As a result, additional research may be undertaken to completely understand how Higher Education institution faculty address the lack of local knowledge about the factors of their research participation.