Reported motivations and participation conditions among teachers and researchers in a French research–practice partnership

Little is known about how motivations and participation conditions vary across activities and roles in collaborative research. This exploratory case study examined a French research-practice partnership aimed at improving a research-based resource on teaching critical thinking through document review, online workshops and in-person meetings. Thirty respondents completed a survey adapted from an existing questionnaire, rating motivations and participation conditions for collaboration in general and for each activity; participation was recorded independently. Bayesian ordinal models were fitted, with sensitivity analyses for missing data and specification. Enjoyment and intrinsic motivation were rated highly and external motivation low, while autonomy, goal clarity and low stress were rated lower for workshops than for review. Researchers rated lower than teachers overall (expected score difference of −0.57, with [−0.96, −0.17] 95% credibility intervals), mainly for workshops (−0.95 [−1.56, −0.34]) rather than review (−0.12 [−0.52, 0.27]). Workshop attendees rated higher than non-attendees (1.16 [0.38, 1.87]); review participants likewise rated higher than non-participants. Associations with subsequent meeting attendance were unstable across specifications. Given the small convenience sample from one partnership, the tentative findings suggest examining activities separately and distinguishing the importance of conditions from their availability.