Measuring the academic literacies beliefs and researcher identity of research students

It is increasingly accepted that academic literacies form an integral part of undergraduate learning, yet the field is dominated by qualitative research and too little attention has been paid to the postgraduate level. This paper contributes a quantitative analysis of students at the postgraduate research level. The survey investigated forty-eight postgraduate research students' academic literacies beliefs and researcher identity. The quantitative method employed here proved to be effective. Further, research students' researcher identity and academic literacies beliefs appeared to be related. This study validates the use of quantitative instruments in academic literacies research. It is therefore suggested that similar quantitative instruments may prove valuable in future research.