1,720,991 research outputs found
Manfred Max Bergman / Sandra Hupka-Brunner / Anita Keller / Thomas Meyer / Barbara E. Stalder (Hrsg.): Transitionen im Jugendalter. Ergebnisse der Schweizer Längsschnittstudie TREE. Zürich: Seismo Verlag 2011 (300 S.) [Rezension]
Full text linkRezension von: Manfred Max Bergman / Sandra Hupka-Brunner / Anita Keller / Thomas Meyer / Barbara E. Stalder (Hrsg.): Transitionen im Jugendalter. Ergebnisse der Schweizer Längsschnittstudie TREE. Zürich: Seismo Verlag 2011 (300 S.; ISBN 978-3-03777-093-1; 26,00 EUR)
The quality in qualitative methods
Full text linkQuality concerns play a central role throughout all steps of the research process in qualitative methods, from the inception of a research question and data collection, to the analysis and interpretation of research findings. For instance, the type of instrument or procedure to collect data may be evaluated in relation to quality criteria, and these may be different from those which are used to judge the data obtained from such instruments or procedures. All these may yet again be different from quality criteria that may apply to the qualitative analyses of data. A national resource center for qualitative methods can contribute to the establishment and maintenance of certain quality standards. In this article, we will explore some of these quality criteria and how they can be established and maintained by a national resource center for qualitative methods.
URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs050234
Forecasting Construction Cost Index through Artificial Intelligence
Full text linkThis study presents a novel approach for forecasting the construction cost index (CCI) of building materials in developing countries. Such estimations are challenging due to the need for a longer time, the influence of inflation, and fluctuating project prices in developing countries. This study used three techniques—a modified Artificial Neural Network (ANN), time series, and linear regression—to predict and forecast the local building material CCI in Pakistan. The predicted CCI is based on materials, including bricks, steel, cement, sand, and gravel. In addition, the swish activation function was introduced to increase the accuracy of the associated algorithms. The results suggest that the ANN model has superior prediction results, with the lowest Mean Error (ME), Mean Absolute Error (MAE), and Theil’s U statistic (U-Stat) values of 0.04, 28.3, and 0.62, respectively. The time series and regression models have ME values of 0.22 and 0.3, MAE values of 30.07 and 28.3, and U-Stat values of 0.65 and 0.64, respectively. The proposed models can assist contractors, project managers, and owners through an accurately estimated cost index. Such accurate CCIs help correctly estimate project budgets based on building material prices to mitigate project risks, delays, and failures
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
The Politics, Fashions, and Conventions of Research Methods Theory and Practice of Qualitative and Quantitative Methods
No full textAbstract The results of an empirical study of any set of phenomena, whether investigating structures, processes, or combinations thereof, are influenced by the theoretical framework as well as the research methods employed. This text examines the influence of research methods on how phenomena under investigation are conceptualized, defined, measured, and interpreted. It will be argued that qualitative, quantitative, and, by extension, mixed methods research influence how phenomena are studies, and how these methods are concurrently subject to politics, fashions, and conventions. Inconsistent and impoverished research may be the consequence, particularly for mixed methods research. Keywords paradigm wars, epistemology, quality, mixed methods Research methods are sometimes selected based on their appropriateness in relation to a research question and theoretical framework, although many professional researchers select a research question that is suitable to a favored theory and methods framework. Regardless of the order, in the social and related sciences, nothing can be studied empirically in the absence of theory and research methods. Even mere definitions of constructs such as income, education level, employment status, satisfaction, identity, and so on require theorization, and their empirical study requires some form of data collection and analysis (the latter two are also steeped in theory). However, data collection and analysis methods have a strong influence on what part of a phenomenon is studied and, thus, have a channeling effect on research results. Accordingly, research methods structure theories and phenomena into particular and, in practice, often rather peculiar landscapes of meaning
Reliability and Validity in Interpretative Research during the Conceptualization of the Research Topic and Data Collection
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