Higher Education Faculty Members’ Perceptions of an AI-driven Qualitative Data Analysis Tool for Their Research: An Exploratory Study

The publish-or-perish phenomenon has traditionally been part of faculty professional survival and development in higher education. This, combined with the increasing ubiquity of AI tools in academia, provided the impetus for a study on AI and faculty research in higher education institutions (HEIs). Specifically, we wanted to study how training in using an AI-driven qualitative analysis tool (Intellectus 2.0) would affect participants’ perceptions of their research. Qualitative methodology served as a framework to collect data with questionnaires and interviews to answer three research questions: (1) What knowledge do HEI faculty members have regarding the use of AI qualitative analytic tools to conduct research?; (2) After training on the software, how do HEI faculty members believe it will impact their research?; and (3) In what areas do the trained HEI faculty members believe the software would be helpful to them? Twenty-three HEI faculty members completed the first phase of data collection (a questionnaire); of these, five participated in the second phase (training on an AI-assisted qualitative data analysis tool and an interview). Questionnaire data aligned with current research on faculty members’ limited experience with AI tools for research, while interview data revealed the need for a balance between AI adoption to increase research workflow efficiency and the human expertise needed to analyze AI outputs. The implications of this study are discussed, along with recommendations for future research, policy, and practice in higher education.