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ABSTRACT Whilst scientists are by default motivated by intellectual challenges linked to the area of their interest rather than have an interest in the financial component related to their work, [...]

Using wiki technology in a credit library course, the authors created an online exhibit for students' research entitled the Distal Archive. The purpose of the Digital Archive is to showcase [...]

Academic researchers often approach community mental healthcare agencies, such as Family Services of Western Pennsylvania (FSWP), to request access to the populations we serve for study samples. The usual request [...]

Data envelopment analysis is used to construct and evaluate portfolios for selecting and allocating funds for research and development projects.

Five questions--What should be transferred to decision makers? To whom should it be transferred? By whom? How? With what effect?--provide an organizing framework for a knowledge transfer strategy. Opportunities for improving how research organizations transfer research knowledge can be found in the differences between the answers suggested by our understanding of the research literature and those provided by research-organization directors asked to describe what they do. In Canada, these opportunities include developing actionable messages for decision makers (only 30 percent of research organizations frequently or always do this), developing knowledge-uptake skills in target audiences and knowledge-transfer skills in research organizations (only 20 to 22 percent frequently or always do this), and evaluating the impact of knowledge-transfer activities (only 8 to 12 percent frequently or always conduct an evaluation). Research funders can help research organizations take advantage of these opportunities.

Byline: Jesus P. Bonilla (1) Keywords: economics of science; empirical progress; epistemic utility; research programmes; scientific progress; theoretical progress; verisimilitude methodonomics Abstract: Some peculiarities of the evaluation of theorieswithin scientific research programmes (SRPs) and of theassessing of rival SRPs are described assuming that scientiststry to maximise an `epistemic utility function' under economicand institutional constraints. Special attention is given toLakatos' concepts of `empirical progress' and `theoreticalprogress'. A notion of `empirical verisimilitude' is defendedas an appropriate utility function. The neologism'methodonomics' is applied to this kind of studies. Author Affiliation: (1) Departamento de Logica y Filosofia de la CienciaFacultad de Filosofia, U.N.E.D., 28040, Madrid, Spain Article History: Registration Date: 30/09/2004

Abstract Would your department benefit from an organizational change? How would you know? How would you handle the change? What skills would you and your staff need? This paper addresses these and other questions involved in man aging change. It presents a case study of a small academic research department at a state university that suddenly became a large research unit; it reviews the changes made and discusses the lessons learned., Introduction The competition for resources at a state-supported university campus is often severe and the scarcity of extra funds required for the reorganization of a department can prevent meaningful change. [...]

Issues are presented concerning the management of a student-refereed peer-review and discussion assignment. Students from different institutions collaborated on the project through the Internet.

Issues surrounding the carrying out of social work research and the beneficiaries of such research were examined during a recent seminar regarding ownership of research.

We are in the midst of a 'research-bourgeois' revolution within higher education in the UK. Part of the global project of neo-liberalism to strengthen the link between money and work, and driven by research assessment, diverse research use-values are being subordinated to homogeneous RAE-value. Academic research workers are becoming alienated from the product of their labour. Once freely available to all academics, 'intellectual commons' - well-stocked library, material security, time and other resources - are being enclosed, access becoming dependent upon production of RAE-value. Two new classes are emerging in academia as some research workers are forced to alienate their own research-labour-power, selling their ability to carry out research work to 'research capitalists', who are able to appropriate a portion of the RAE-value which results.

The article 'The Effect of Medicaid Coverage on Use of Health Services by Low-income Elderly People' (Lum & Chang, March 1998, pp. 31-43) addresses important research questions to call policymakers' [...]

It is important to consider calls for equity and renegotiation of roles in collaborative research. Many educational researchers feel that equity is a vital element of collaborative research, but there is often uncertainty about what is actually meant by equity. It can be argued that notions of equity and renegotiated roles must not be romanticized as positive elements of collaborative research. Issues of power and equity are characterized by uncertainty. They prompt many questions about whether equity is possible or even desirable in collaborative research environments. There is a need for a wider conception of what it means to have equity in research relationships.

A number of initiatives designed to involve students in scientific research have been established. The Kansas Collaborative Research Network, a virtual community linking researchers, teachers and students, has established the Tardigrade Biodiversity Project. This involves students learning about and producing new knowledge about the microscopic, aquatic invertebrates of the phylum Tardigrada. This project encourages students to express their understanding of science by undertaking their own research.

Author(s): Branko Milanovic (corresponding author) [1] For the past 30 years or so, income inequality has been on the rise across the globe. It has increased in the United States, [...]

Many university faculty members struggle with the challenge of allocating time to both teaching and research. However, several steps can be taken to address the problem which include the revision of research productivity standards by universities, the balancing of teaching and research efforts by professors and the evaluation of professors based on their ability to develop innovative teaching strategies such as new courses and experiments.

There is little dispute about the benefits and importance of scientific research to the prosperity and competitiveness of the United States. It may be less apparent, however, that some of [...]

Academic scientists are neither environmental managers nor environmental policymakers, but they have important roles to play in both arenas. To play these roles effectively, they must participate as colleagues with managers and policymakers in the management and policy-making processes on a recurrent basis and be fully engaged at critical junctures. Since many scientists - particularly the most active researchers - neither understand nor track the management and policy-making processes, they need mechanisms to involve them efficiently and effectively. These must be institutional mechanisms. Institutional mechanisms for involvement increase effectiveness, reduce time commitments, and provide protective cover for participants. These may be important attributes, particularly for untenured professors. Institutional mechanisms also enhance the probability of involving not only our best natural scientists and engineers, but scholars from other fields, such as the social sciences, who can play equally important roles. Institutional mechanisms legitimize the time spent by managers and policymakers away from what may be perceived as more pressing issues. A model borrowed from psychotherapy, the holding environment, is a useful institutional model to promote adaptive work by scholars and environmental managers and policy makers. The model has been adopted by the New England Aquarium and adapted as its Aquatic Forum. It is now being refined and evaluated. Scientific consensus among experts and scenario planning are two powerful and underutilized strategies for involving scientists in environmental management and policy-making. Their application is dependent upon creating and sustaining an environment appropriate for creative exploration, discovery, and problem solving. Such environments are nurturing and low risk, and enjoy the benefits of skilled facilitators to ensure that all voices are heard, that all messages are evaluated, and that results are synthesized into forms appropriate for decision-making. The holding environment meets all of these criteria.

Research administration needs to stay lean and mean if it is to survive in today's world. This means constantly adapting our systems to meet demands within the constraints of organizational resources. This paper investigates how The Pennsylvania State University is examining its evolving research administration infrastructure and considering new ways of doing business given the opportunities offered by electronic research administration (ERA). Total quality management (TQM) techniques have been used to (a) view research administration at the institution as a single process, (b) determine the best organizational level for various activities, and (c) remove unnecessary steps. In determining the best location for an activity, the principle of 'subsidiarity' - which states that the control of a particular process ought to be maintained at the level closest to where the work is done - is applied. To assess if particular steps are necessary, a cost/benefit analysis and risk analysis are applied to determine whether the value added is worth the associated expense or risk. In so doing, the institution is developing a research administration infrastructure truly supportive of its faculty, yet protective of the institution., Introduction Research administrators at all levels and in all kinds of institutions are facing a brave new world. Many pressures and forces (as well as vacuums) shape this world. The [...]

A panel of research administrators discusses the issues raised in Dr. Edward N. Brandt's 1987 article about changes in research administration. Panelists include Regina Smith, PhD, associate dean for research [...]

This article was originally published in the Fall 1987 issue of the SRA Journal (Vol. XIX, No. 2). The text is based on a presentation at the Northeast Section meeting [...]

This paper presents some of the findings from two national research projects which focussed on Ph.D. research in Britain. Through interviews with graduate students, supervisors and department heads, it explores the characteristic structures which index natural science and social science doctoral study in both single and multi/inter-disciplinary fields. By comparing and contrasting a 'research group approach' to Ph.D. research with the 'one-to-one' model, the research findings highlight ways in which doctoral study can be organised to minimise some of the problems routinely faced by graduate students. Key words: research, Ph.D., discipline, natural science, social sciences, supervision.

Two alternative approaches to conducting qualitative interviews within an integrated research method are evaluated to determine how these can enhance the design of the quantitative component of the research and help interpret quantitative data. These are semi-structured and non-directed interviews. Findings suggest the importance of applying both techniques in a research design, while conducting an extensive review of literature. Two outshopping studies with an integrated design illustrate the nature of data produced through each technique and their contribution to the interpretation of quantitative findings., Introduction While many researchers such as Babbie (1992), Bailey (1987) and Best (1989) support the virtues of empirical research, other prominent researchers (for example Bryman, 1988; Denzin, 1989; Jick, 1983; [...]

The UK Technology Foresight programme was established in 1994 to seek new ways to deal with change, to foster communication between scientists and industry, and to encourage new knowledge. The initiative, sponsored by the Office of Science and Technology, has involved some 10,000 business people and academics who have worked together to recommend actions designed to create new wealth and a better quality of life. The reasoning behind the programme is explained, including a description of its key Delphi questionnaire, and an account of its activities is presented.

Data analysis that focuses on an intuitive understanding of the nature of the findings, the strength of the association and the significance of the result is recommended as an alternative method of presenting quantitative research on the family. Presentation of research findings tends to interpret findings based on statistics rather than substance and to discuss purely statistical findings that may not serve as accurate indicators of the diversity of responses. It also utilizes probability level as an indicator of the importance of results.

Naturalistic qualitative research with families aims to acquire in-depth information about a smaller sample, as opposed to quantitative research which draws from a large, representative sample. Qualitative research focuses on how and why, rather than what, people do or believe. It can also be used for several levels of analysis and seeks to discover new information or ways of thinking, rather than verify existing ones. It also aims to refine the process of theory emergence by producing conceptual images of their settings and mold these continuously according to observations.

R. L. Mooney's 1984 article answered questions about research administration's role in the research environment and whether it facilitates or impedes the research process. Mooney outlined and defined these objectives [...]

The orientation document for the June 1984 meeting of the Society of Research Administrators (Western Section) posed some very intriguing questions. One example was the proposition that administration is antithetical [...]

Students and researchers need to equally focus on residuals and the variance between means to effectively interpret interactions in the analysis of variance, ANOVA. Enhanced understanding of ANOVA and multiple analysis of research results are much-needed steps in improving the precision of the specifications of research findings.

Over the past few years, great strides have been made in forging links between academic researchers and business. Both sectors are facing financial burdens and are being unfairly criticized for not transferring knowledge to benefit the economy. However, academic researchers are indeed creating ideas and opportunities, and many corporations are restructuring after the recession and positioning themselves to utilize these inventions for economic growth. The institutions and corporations that establish efficient mechanisms to harness effective research ideas will be the ones to prosper into the next century., Introduction In 1991, my colleague and I wrote an article encouraging the development of closer ties with the pharmaceutical industry (Reid & Hoddinott, 1991). The emphasis was positive, illustrating the [...]