Conversations with Four Highly Productive German Educational Psychologists: Frank Fischer, Hans Gruber, Heinz Mandl, and Alexander Renkl

Previous research (Kiewra & Creswell, Educational Psychology Review 12(1):135–161,  2000 ; Patterson-Hazley & Kiewra, Educational Psychology Review 25(1):19–45,  2013 ) has investigated the characteristics and work habits of highly productive educational psychologists. These investigations have focused exclusively on American scholars who were trained and employed at various universities and have ignored international scholars and scholars with a shared academic lineage. The present study sought to fill these gaps by investigating, through qualitative methods, how a cohort of four German educational psychologists (Heinz Mandl, Alexander Renkl, Hans Gruber, and Frank Fischer) with a shared academic background became productive scholars. Interview responses suggested that the German scholars’ shared experiences during the early years of their careers shaped their career paths and productivity. Additionally, interviews with each scholar revealed several commonalities (i.e., long and focused research career, trademark characteristic, scholarly influencers, effective time-management practices, and research-management strategies) between this contingent of productive German scholars and their productive American counterparts. Finally, the present study also identified several differences (e.g., educational training, funding opportunities, sabbaticals, administrative responsibilities, and research traditions) between the American and German research environments that influence productivity. Practical implications from this investigation include advice for emerging scholars.