Examining Barriers to the Research Activities of the Faculty Members of Islamic Azad University

There are many barriers to performing research activities. Understanding the existing situation and resolving the problems and predicaments, especially among the faculty members are necessary. This research was carried out in 2007 with the aim of identifying and examining the barriers to performing research activities among the faculty members of Islamic Azad University (IAU) AliabadeKatool Branch. The research findings show that the most important deterrent factors in research activities are as follows, (in the order of priority): administrative deterrent (with the average of 2.94), deficiencies (2.90), financialeconomic (2.75), personalsocial (2.74) and specialized deterrent factors (with the average of 2.42). Personal barriers, deficiencies and administrative barriers have a significant difference according to men and women’s evaluation. The average of evaluation shows that women give more importance to the role of administrative and personal barriers. In addition, the result of the ttest for the academic qualification variable (Master degree and PhD) shows that there is a significant difference between the two groups for three categories of factors. The statistical technique of the onesidedvariance analysis (Ftest) shows that out of five dependant variables, two variables, namely economic and administrative barriers have a significant difference according to the educational group. On the other hand, only one variable, namely deficiencieshave a significant difference according to the respondent’s employment state.