1,720,955 research outputs found
Interplay between culture and the unfolding of a field enquiry: Social Representations consensual and reified universes in Latin America
No full textSocial Representations field of enquiry has inspired a vast corpus of research aimed at an in depth understanding of social-related phenomena and of the dynamics underlying the conditions of emergence, transmission and transformation of social knowledge.
Within the Latin American geo-cultural context, which is the setting adopted for the three studies hereby presented, this theory has flourished deeply embedded in an historical socio-political context that shaped viewpoints and attitudes towards it. Henceforth, it has been assimilated, integrated, adapted and shaped according to specificities of this context, pushing forward a particular anchoring on an ideological defense of research as a medium to a comprehensive understanding of the complex reality and to an actual impact on social change.
The first study conducted is aimed at exploring the interconnection between the confluence of a set of socio-historical factors within Latin America societies and the adoption and growth of Social Representations theory as part of a broader set of streams. These have put forward alternatives to a logical-positivistic model of science, thus bringing into light populations previously ignored from a political, social and economic standpoint.
The second and third study are derived from a broader project aimed at taking stock of the temporal, thematic, methodological and geographical evolution of the Theory of Social Representations through a systematic literature review based on a meta- theoretical analysis of the entire corpus of scientific production published globally (de Rosa, 2013a, 2013b). Considering only the Latin American contributions to this field of enquiry, we intend to convey an empirically-based take on the interplay between the theory and the geo-cultural context.
Respectively, the second study is based on a systematic meta- theoretical analysis of 594 contributions from Latin American authors (including journal articles, book chapters and conference presentations) adopting as interpretative lens the five main axis of the Grid for Meta Theoretical Analysis of the Literature on Social Representations which crosses meta-data (traditional bibliometric variables) with data pertaining to the theoretical, methodological and thematic dimensions of the theory of Social Representations (de Rosa, 2013b). More specifically, we have explored through a Multiple Correspondence Analysis the associations in Latin American literature between variables pertaining to the following sections: “Reference to theoretical constructs specific of Social Representation Theory” (e.g. genesis, processes, functions, structure, dynamics of transmission and transformation): “Reference to other theoretical constructs and/or theories”, “Thematic analysis” and “Methodological profile” (e.g. research design, instruments, techniques and sample characterization, size of sample, unit of analysis). The results show a growing trend of internationalization and empirically corroborate the special feature of Latin America in bridging different perspectives so to better grasp several dimensions of social objects, as evidenced by the wide array of research published in journals from distinct disciplines. Moreover, it shows a complex interaction between the miscellaneous methodological choices and the Specific References to the theory, putting in evidence a wide receptivity of different methods, often combined. This feature may provide a profitable ground for a wider development ofa multi-level, multi-theoretical and multi-methodological coherency as suggested by de Rosa in her modelling approach (e.g. de Rosa, 2013a; 2014). In spite of the major role of two schools of thought- the Anthropological-Ethnographic and the Structural approach- our results show an integration of other theoretical constructs and theories aligned with a specific and fruitful way of this context to adopt external influences without bending to rigid divisions.
The third study focuses specifically on contributions presented by Latin American researchers to scientific events worldwide. A descriptive look of an extensive corpus of abstracts and keywords presented in several types of scientific events was combined with a Hierarchical Descending Cluster Analysis in an attempt to search for the thematic and methodological paths, trends and main clusters evidenced in this dissemination venue. The rationale for this study is related to the nature of scientific events as frequent and periodic thus constituting a proxy for an updated and immediate look into the evolution of specific thematic, theoretical and methodological choices across time. This is even more relevant if one considers the scope of the theory in encompassing social phenomena and issues that contemporary societies reflect upon or show concern with. Given the aforementioned social orientation shared by Latin American researchers, the multitude of themes and sub themes that have been addressed through these venues show two interesting trends: the pervasiveness of concern for critical areas within this context, such as Education, Health and Politics associated with an updated and constant interaction with new issues and problems that arise related to these fields, intertwined with the own dynamic nature of nowadays societies.
The analysed sources were retrieved from the specialized @-library on Social Representations and Communication, within the European/International Joint PhD in Social Representations & Communication– the So.Re.Com. “A.S. de Rosa” @-library for Documentation, Networking, and Training
The generativity of the social representations theory for multiple paradigmatic approaches along different decades and across various geo-cultural contexts – continents
No full textThis contribution presents collective results of a research project carried out within the EC-approved SoReCom-Joint-IDP (http://www.europhd.eu/SoReComJointIDP) built on the top of an on-going project led since 20 years by A.S. de Rosa at the European/International Joint PhD on Social Representations and Communication Research Centre and Multimedia Lab.
She has designed specific web-tools (including the on-line grid for the meta-theoretical analysis and the related web-inventories) aimed at conducting an empirical meta-theoretical analysis of the whole body on Social Representations, integrating quantitative and qualitative research tools and data analysis strategies.
We will present a state of art of the literature on social representations all over the world - retrieved from the SoReCom ”A.S. de Rosa” @-library (de Rosa, 2014a, 2014b, 2015a, 2015b) - by analyzing texts which pertain to different paradigmatic approaches and geo-cultural contexts according to the most relevant categories listed within the grid for meta-theoretical analysis (v. February 2014)
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
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
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
No full textWe have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
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