1,721,522 research outputs found
Post industrial manufacturing : the impact of emerging production technologies on design
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Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
The moral and sentimental work of the clinic: the case of genetic syndromes
Full text linkThis paper reports on the genetics clinic and examines the wider functions it
provides for parents who have a child with learning disabilities that may be
associated with an underlying genetic cause. It derives from an ethnographic
study of one clinical genetics team within a UK clinical genetics service and
their clinical caseload, specifically their cases of genetic syndromes associated
with dysmorphology, a speciality within clinical genetics. Dysmorphology is
the medical study of abnormal forms in the human and is concerned with the
identification and classification of a variety of congenital malformations. Our
analysis of the clinical consultations and subsequent interviews with parents
indicate that obtaining a genetic diagnosis and classification of their child’s
problems was not the sole function of these consultations. In addition, the
clinic provides parents with moral absolution from having ‘caused’ their
child’s problems and is an important site for the sentimental and celebratory
focus on the child. Thus, the role of the clinical genetics service is not merely
to assemble a diagnosis from the available information and to provide a
source of expert opinion on the causes of the condition, but to provide
reassurance to parents who might otherwise blame themselves (or be blamed
by others) for their child’s condition. An important aspect of these
consultations was the sentimental work of repairing the child, providing a
sphere in which the development and behaviour of the child is discussed in
favourable terms, and given assurances of ‘normal’ parenting and family life,
often in marked contrast to their experience in the wider public world. Thus,
the work of establishing diagnostic categories also allows important moral
and sentimental work to be accomplished within the clinic
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
Openness in research: the tension between self and other
No full textOpenness in research, particularly in qualitative research, is often taken for granted. After all, it goes without saying that researchers have to be open to the research situation, to the research and to themselves. At the same time, there is a realization that to a certain extent researchers cannot be open¬minded or open-hearted. They cannot be open-minded to the extent that they are a tabula rasa; in order to be able to understand, they have to use com¬mon sense and/or other theories to construct what is meaningful to them. They cannot be open-hearted to the extent that they endanger the research situation, the research or themselves; in order to prevent this, they have to display a strategie open-heartedness which implies ethical considerations.
So the question is how open-minded and open-hearted one can be and how this openness can be obtained. This threefold question is addressed in the three successive parts of this volume.
Part I. In the first part the more general statements about the possibility of openness are presented.
Maso's paper, `Trifurcate openness', discusses the three kinds of open-ness already mentioned, i.e. openness of researchers to the research situation, to the research, and to themselves. His earlier ideas about these three kinds of openness, which together represent a research approach, are elaborated on the basis of insights about appearance and character and of Gadamer' s analysis of what represents a true question. The nature of the resulting reformulation of trifurcate openness, leads one inevitably to question the validity of its results. Maso argues that this approach is the best guarantee to present original, qualitatively excellent perspectives on human existence.
Smaling' s paper, 'Open-mindedness, open-heartedness and dialogical openness: The dialectica of openings and closures', is a necessary complement to the `Trifurcate openness' paper, because it addresses two kinds of openness that to a large extent are absent in Maso's paper, viz. 'openheartedness' and `dialogical openness'. Smaling argues that methodologicalobjectivity requires researchers who are open-minded and, to a certain degree, open-hearted. The consequence of the last limitation is that, according to Smaling, a real dialogical openness between researcher and subject never will or should be accomplished.
Kelle's paper, `Theories as heuristic tools in qualitative research', dis-cusses the way qualitative researchers (could) discover, i.e. be open to, the point of view of their subjects. He argues that the logic of this process of discovery is more or less similar to that of the natural sciences. Both make use of hypothetical reasoning. This reasoning, based on qualitative induction and abduction as described by Charles Sanders Peirce, aims at finding hypotheses that will explain certain empirical data. According to Kelle, the theoretical knowledge of the researcher is in this respect not to be regarded as an obstacle to open-mindedness but as a heuristic device that favours this state of mind.
Atkinson's paper, Ethnography: Style and substance', addresses the accomplished character of descriptions of research situations (which makes it impossible to be open to these situations). These texts are reconstructions of other, primary texts (transcripts of interviews, fieldnotes, etc.), which are constructed according to textual, disciplinary and other conventions. The realization of the constructed nature of the text has led to several textual experiments. Atkinson argues that, together with this realization, constructionists should realize that they are responsible for their construction. They must be aware of the aesthetic and ethical judgements and choices that constitute the basis of their construction and of the necessity that their 'second-order' constructs have an affinity with or are a reflection of the 'first order' ones.
Part 2. In the second part of this book the possibility of open-heartedness is addressed.
Delamont's paper, 'Facing more fieldwork: Exhausting versus necessity', deals with something researchers are very rarely 'open' about, viz. those occasions when they do not want to conduct fieldwork at all. After a confessional narrative about her own lack of motivation to undertake fieldwork once again in schools, Delamont examines which sins of omission and commission are, and are not, acceptable in confessional accounts in the British and American sociology of education. Issues discussed include: the enhancing of status and salary, having or obtaining more interesting tasks, rivalry, getting grants, the expectation of a lack of detachment, age, and the tediousness of the subject.
Verhoeven's paper, 'Closed information: The use of privileged data in research reports', addresses the ethical question about the (im)possibility to be open-hearted about confidential data, i.e. to use them for research purposes. To study this he considers two cases: (1) an interview with a well-known scholar, now deceased, who requested that it would be kept confidential, and (2) statements made by several American symbolic interactionists before and after interviews with them. Verhoeven concludes that there were four good reasons to publish the interview with the well-known scholar, whereas only those casual statements of the symbolic interactionists could have been published which were seen as not confidential, harmless to others and valid.
Thomas's paper, `Openness in research: When researcher and informant's world views are incommensurable', discusses the relativistic belief that one cannot study persons from different ethnic or racial groups, sexual orientations, gender, etc. On the basis of the experience he had in interviewing and interacting with an elderly Hindu Swami, Thomas shows that meaningful communication between representatives of differing belief systems is possible and argues that this provides strong evidence against this relativistic belief. However, meaningful communication, at least in this case, is meant to answer the question of how open-hearted researchers could and should be if the open-heartedness of the subject represents a disrespect of them and their culture.
Part 3. In the third part of this book, the possibility of openness in concrete situations is addressed.
Duffy's paper, `Sensemaking in classroom conversations', describes a research project designed to 'open up' students' experiences of encountering ideas that are new both to the researcher and to the students themselves. The participants were invited to reflect on the assumptions that underlie their philosophies of life and their own processes of reflecting on their reflections by confronting them with new or different ideas. This made it possible to explore how one shifts from a position of 'not understanding' to a position of `understanding', which leads to the goal of this project, viz. the generation of descriptions of the experience of making sense.
Shilts, Filippino, Chenail and Rambo's paper 'From solution-focused therapy to client informed research and back again' is offered as a start towards including client perspectives on treatment in family therapy and specifically on the experience of clients of interventive techniques of therapists. Instead of therapists talking about what they thought therapy was and what they thought was therapeutic for their clients in concrete situations, these and other questions were asked to the family in question after a just completed clinical session. This openness to the perspectives of the clients offered both clients and therapists an opportunity to remain mutable and flexible as well as to become co-creators in the therapeutic process.
Hilhorst's paper `Diversity: dilemma or asset? The case of agrarian women in the Netherlands,' addresses the question how to reckon with the di¬versity and agency of social actors in short duration applied research. This dilemma, or challenge, that she and her co-researcher were facing when asked to carry out a study on interests of agrarian women in the Netherlands was met by adopting an open approach to the research project. More specifically, openness in this case related to openness towards the agency and diversity of the women under study as well as openness towards the terms of reference of the project. This openness resulted in the complete reversal of the initial research question. The question was turned around from: 'How can organisations reach and activate agrarian women?' to: 'How can organisations become more open, so that agrarian women can reach the organisations?'status: Publishe
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