Research capability is the continuous driving force of teachers’ professional career development, and is a critical factor in raising the standard of higher education. This study is based on the major findings of PAC analysis on three college teachers of Japanese and their desire to engage in academic research. The result indicates that the three associate professors have both intrinsic and external reasons to conduct research. Intrinsically, they all obtain joy and satisfaction from finding solutions to problems through research projects. External driving forces mainly derive from career development, promotion prospect, compensation, and academic attainment requirements prescribed by their employers. The study also shows that a quantifiable objective has significant influence on one’s desire to carry out research.