1,720,964 research outputs found
An assessment of the eResearch Knowledge Centre's support practices in the Human Sciences Research Council in Pretoria, South Africa
Full text linkThe purpose of this study was to determine whether the eResearch Knowledge Centre's (eRKC) research support services are in line with the needs of Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) researchers. It was also intended to identify gaps in services that could be filled by additional services. The pragmatic research paradigm was used to guide the conduct of this study. This paradigm refers to a worldview that prioritizes what works in practice over what is absolutely and objectively true or real. The Research Lifecycle Model was chosen as a theoretical framework for this study because of its foundation in this paradigm. To collect data, a multi-methods cross-sectional descriptive design was used, employing both quantitative and qualitative methods. The two methods were used concurrently. A questionnaire was distributed to 156 members of the HSRC research staff in order to collect quantitative data. Interviews were conducted with nine eRKC staff members who were part of the sample to collect qualitative data. A Likert scale was used to determine whether a participant agreed or disagreed with the statements. The quantitative data analysis was done using SPSS, while the interview data were analysed using Excel. Both the quantitative and qualitative data were aligned with the six phases of the research life cycle. The findings demonstrated the effective targeting of current eRKC research support services to specific phases of the research life cycle model. The needs of HSRC researchers could be determined in each phase using this model. According to the study findings, the current eRKC research support services are aligned with the needs of HSRC researchers and highlighted services that could be expanded or promoted more effectively to HSRC researchers. It proposes a new service, data analysis, and suggests that the eRKC could play a more prominent role in research impact, research data management, and fostering collaboration with HSRC research divisions
A readiness assessment survey of the adoption of transformational leadership for South African academic libraries in the Gauteng Province
Full text linkThe study assessed the readiness of the adoption of transformational leadership for South African academic libraries in the Gauteng province. Available literature shows no evidence that assessment has been conducted by academic libraries before the adoption of this leadership style. Academic libraries nationally and internationally are faced with generic challenges like evolutionary technological changes, reduced budget allocations, leadership challenges, and human resources challenges. They are pressured to prove their value to the university due to changing user needs and most academic libraries are faced with a challenge of having to continuously redefine themselves to survive the changing environment. Academic libraries are constantly challenged and must ensure that they have strong leadership that is equipped to face and deal with never-ending challenges. The study surveyed the leadership of the academic libraries in Gauteng. It mainly adopted a descriptive research design. The survey took an exploratory approach to get quality information. The study used a transformative theoretical framework because of its immediate applicability and its focus on the tensions that arise due to unequal power relations. The study is primarily a quantitative study with some qualitative elements as a follow-up to the issues raised in the questionnaire. Quantitative data were analysed with the Statistical Package of Social Sciences (SPSS v25) statistical tool, and descriptive data were coded by assigning labels to codes and using Atlas.ti 8. The study results found that history, politics, and different dynamics related to academic universities influence the leadership style adopted at academic libraries. Several leadership characteristics influence and guide the leadership preference of academic libraries. Two academic libraries indicated that they adopted a participative and transformational leadership style. The libraries have clearly-defined communication channels between the management and staff. However, the creativity and innovation of the staff were affected by other issues. The results also showed that academic libraries must focus more on empowerment, skills development, delegating, and mentoring of their staff to prepare staff for managerial and leadership positions
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
Investigating popular fiction development at the University of the Free State academic Library
Full text linkThe study seeks to find out students' and library staff's perceptions and experiences of the popular fiction collection at the University of the Free State's Sasol Library. The purpose of the study is to examine what these perceptions and experiences mean for the future expansion and development of the leisure collection. The Social Learning Theory guided the study. The study adopted a qualitative and quantitative approach whereby open- and close-ended questionnaires were distributed online to students and to library staff to gather research data. The population that participated in the study comprised undergraduate and postgraduate students and library staff. The study employed stratified random sampling as a research technique. The targeted population comprised 37,800 registered students and 61 library staff members accidentally sampled. This in turn gave sample sizes of 381 for students and 53 for library staff. Quantitative data was analysed using Google Forms and the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). Further, qualitative data was analysed thematically through content analysis. The study found that students enjoy reading popular fiction at the Sasol Library's fiction collection for leisure. The study also found that library staff support the existence of the leisure reading collection, even though a small number felt that its operations could be improved. The study therefore recommends that the university direct resources towards the expansion and improvement of the popular collection through the training of staff and stocking of reading genres that the students require
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
- …
