**2. Method**

This qualitative study is concerned with defining and deepening the way knowledge is produced and the processes involved in the construction of this knowledge [30]. In a qualitative research, the analysis of lived experience occupies a central place [31] and in the phenomenographic qualitative approach [32], which was used in this

*University Teachers' Conceptions of What University Is: Implications for the Future of Higher… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.100813*

study, it is important to understand the meaning of phenomena for the individual in his/her natural context, taking into account the meaning assigned to it [33]. Qualitative research, from a phenomenographic perspective, accepts the existence of multiple realities constructed both individually and collectively and, from this perspective, seeks to understand the phenomena from the point of view or perspective of the subjects themselves [34]. In summary, the phenomenographic study that we presented has an exploratory nature that allows analysing the subjects' conceptions, observing their variation and architecture based on the descriptions made, allowing us to understand how university teachers conceptualize the university, the perceived changes and their own experience of the phenomenon.

#### **2.1 Participants**

The selection of participants was carried out through prior contact with teachers who at the time were teaching on teacher training courses at various educational levels and who were willing to participate in the study. The choice of these teachers was due to a particular interest in knowing the perspective of teachers with greater affinity with the area of education. Of the 15 teachers who initially volunteered to participate in the study, only 10 responded.

The participants were aged between 47 and 65 years (average 52 years), nine were females and one male. Four lecturers had between 15 and 20 years of service at the university, five between 20 and 30 years and one is 40 years old. With regard to initial training, two lecturers (S5 and S7) reported training in education sciences, five in exact sciences (S1, S2, S3, S8 and S9), three of whom had specific training for teaching (S1, S2 and S9) and one reported training in the humanities (S4). Two of the teachers did not answer this question (S6 and S10).

We can also state that almost all of the teaching staff had held the doctorate degree for more than 10 years, with only one having obtained the degree more recently (S5). With regard to the courses they teach, six mentioned the first and second cycles of preschool education and basic education and four stated that they take part in the teaching of master's degrees in teaching (basic and secondary education).

#### **2.2 Instruments and procedures**

The present work is part of a broader study on university teachers' perspective on the university nowadays. Firstly, we defined a set of questions based on the literature, and then, we carried out an exploratory study with two teachers in order to check the relevance, clarity and comprehensibility of the questions. We present below the results of three questions: (i) what is a university for you? (ii) since you have been at university, what changes do you identify as the most significant? (iii) how are you currently experiencing university? The subjects were numbered from one to 10 (S1–S10) and the registration criterion consisted in the annotation of all the different statements present in the discourse of each participant as belonging to a given theme or category and not in the number of times they were mentioned by each of the participants, also obeying the principle recommended in these cases of mutual exclusion [35].

### **3. Results**

The responses obtained from the aforementioned questions were subjected to content analysis. The results in relation to the first question are published [4] so we present them in summary form.
