1,720,955 research outputs found
The Value and Limitations of Using Metaphors in Research
No full textThis paper shows how helpful metaphors can be in thinking about research, considering a research approach, and writing about research. Everyday language is rich in metaphor so it can also help the researcher to spot what metaphors are prevalent in the field they are investigating. The paper analyses the metaphors used in a dozen books on research methodology in order to explore how metaphors can reveal perceptions of research and the role of the researcher. For example, research can be seen as “mining information”, “designing a building”, “travelling on a journey”, or “being a detective”. Writers make use of explicit metaphors, contrasting metaphors, multiple metaphors and hidden/dead metaphors, but we also need to consider whether such metaphors can be misleading or inappropriate. Whatever field of education is being studied, the researcher will also find that metaphors are commonplace in written and spoken language. Because they are so frequent, they often go unchallenged and contribute to taken-for-granted assumptions which should be questioned. Reflecting on the metaphors has been helpful to me so far in my EdD research on language learning policy in Higher Education, but I feel that considering metaphors would also be useful for researchers who are not explicitly studying language. [With thanks to Professor Gary Thomas for sparking the idea for this paper via the 2017 edition of his book “How to do your research project” and its mountaineering cover illustration]
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe 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
Get PDF“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
Get PDFWe 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
Get PDFWe 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
Financial literacy and higher education choices: the gender expectations gap
Get PDFThis study examines young people’s understanding of, and attitudes towards, the financial side of studying for a degree. It focuses on the relationships between understanding, perceptions, and university choices in England. First, this study looks at the graduate salary expectations of A-level students, including how much they think they would earn if they graduated from university and how much they think graduates earn on average. Second, A-level students' beliefs about the size of the graduate premium and their confidence in the predictions are analysed. Finally, the study explores first-year undergraduate students’ perceptions of value for money in relation to their degree. Their views are considered together with their understanding of how the student finance system works. Previous research tended to focus on graduate salary expectations of current university students and graduates, but rather less attention has been paid to the financial expectations of prospective university students. This study contributes to filling this research gap. As for research into value for money, there has been growing interest in how university students perceive it, but most studies have been content to survey data analysis. This study explores value for money through a moderated group discussion.
The findings revealed complex relationships between young people's understanding of student finance and their beliefs around the financial implications of studying for a degree. Overall, A-level students expect the average graduate salaries and their own salaries that are higher than actual salaries of similar graduates, with male students being more optimistic than their female peers in their expectations. University plans have relevance for salary expectations - students have more optimistic expectations about their potential salary when they are asked about the degree that they intend to study at university. When asked about the size of the graduate premium at age 30, both male and female students expected similar returns, which ignores the fact that the expected gains of attending university are much greater for women. Furthermore, male students are more confident than their female peers in their financial predictions. Focus group discussions with first-year students showed that they rarely considered information about the graduate salaries before starting their degree course. Students also seem to have fragmented knowledge of the English student finance system and tend to mention the cost associated with studying for a degree only when they think that their degree offers poor value for money. These findings demonstrate the financial benefits of studying for a degree are often assumed and are not accurate despite the government's effort to promote informed choice
Author-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.
No full textAuthor-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.</p
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