Business-science research collaboration under moral hazard

I analyze, in the context of business and science research collaboration, how the characteristics of partnership agreements are the result of an optimal contract between partners. The final outcome depends on the structure governing the partnership, and on the informational problems towards the efforts involved. The positive effect that the effort of each party has on the success of the other party, makes collaboration a preferred solution. Divergence in research goals may, however, create conflicts between partners. This paper shows how two different structures of partnership governance (a centralized, and a decentralized ones) may optimally use the type of project to motivate the supply of non-contractible efforts. Decentralized structure, however, always choose a project closer to its own preferences. Incentives may also come from monetary transfers, either from partners sharing each other benefits, or from public funds. I derive conditions under which public interventio

Canonical correspondence analysis in social science research

The use of simple and multiple correspondence analysis is well-established in socialscience research for understanding relationships between two or more categorical variables.By contrast, canonical correspondence analysis, which is a correspondence analysis with linearrestrictions on the solution, has become one of the most popular multivariate techniques inecological research. Multivariate ecological data typically consist of frequencies of observedspecies across a set of sampling locations, as well as a set of observed environmental variablesat the same locations. In this context the principal dimensions of the biological variables aresought in a space that is constrained to be related to the environmental variables. Thisrestricted form of correspondence analysis has many uses in social science research as well,as is demonstrated in this paper. We first illustrate the result that canonical correspondenceanalysis of an indicator matrix, restricted to be related an external categorical variable, reducesto a simple correspondence analysis of a set of concatenated (or stacked ) tables. Then weshow how canonical correspondence analysis can be used to focus on, or partial out, aparticular set of response categories in sample survey data. For example, the method can beused to partial out the influence of missing responses, which usually dominate the results of amultiple correspondence analysis.

Búsqueda federada en el ecosistema de la e-ciencia: el caso Science Research

Se analiza el buscador Science Research en el contexto de la e-ciencia y de la búsqueda federada en comparación con la indización y la recolección. Se pone en relación también con otros buscadores académicos, especialmente Scirus y Google Scholar. Se realiza un análisis de los diversos componentes de Science Research y un estudio comparativo de obtención de resultados.

The Art & Science of Learning Design

We live in an era defined by a wealth of open and readily available information, and the accelerated evolution of social, mobile and creative technologies. The provision of knowledge, once a primary role of educators, is now devolved to an immense web of free and readily accessible sources. Consequently, educators need to redefine their role not just ¿from sage on the stage to guide on the side¿ but, as more and more voices insist, as ¿designers for learning¿.The call for such a repositioning of educators is heard from leaders in the field of technology-enhanced learning (TEL) and resonates well with the growing culture of design-based research in Education. However, it is still struggling to find a foothold in educational practice. We contend that the root causes of this discrepancy are the lack of articulation of design practices and methods, along with a shortage of tools and representations to support such practices, a lack of a culture of teacher-as-designer among practitioners, and insufficient theoretical development.The Art and Science of Learning Design (ASLD) explores the frameworks, methods, and tools available for teachers, technologists and researchers interested in designing for learning Learning Design theories arising from findings of research are explored, drawing upon research and practitioner experiences. It then surveys current trends in the practices, methods, and methodologies of Learning Design. Highlighting the translation of theory into practice, this book showcases some of the latest tools that support the learning design process itself.

What about people in European Regional Science?

The 51st ERSA Conference held in Barcelona in 2011 was one of the largest ever. Here, by examining the characteristics of the conference, this paper identifies the main trends in Regional Science at a moment in which the discipline is renewing its efforts to provide responses in a complex, globalised world in which cities and regions are acquiring greater and greater importance. This paper follows in the tradition of a long list of studies that have examined the nature of the field of Regional Science and draws on a broad array of sources of information: the delegates’ demographic details, the conference program itself, a satisfaction survey conducted among delegates, a quality survey addressed to those chairing the sessions and, finally, a bibliometric database including each author signing a paper presented at the conference. With this information we describe the ERSA delegates: their relative youthfulness; the areas in which women are taking on a more important role; the countries and regions of the world that have the most dominant profile in Regional Science today; the thematic areas that are being driven by professionals as opposed to academics; the relevance of regional economic growth and innovation as trending topics in the field; the growing frequency of co-authorship and, consequently, of scientific collaboration; and, finally, and perhaps most importantly, the continuous enhancement of the quality of the work being undertaken in the discipline. Indeed, following on from this description, the results of the regression analysis conducted show that for ERSA delegates what matters most is quality, and this must be the direction that future conferences should move toward. Ultimately, therefore, ERSA conferences are comprehensive, all-embracing occasions, representing an ideal opportunity for regional scientists to present their work to each other and to network.

Influence activity and the organization of research and development

The organizational design of research and development conditions theincentives of the researchers of the research project. In particular,the organizational form determines the allocation of effort of theresearcher between time spent on research and time spent lobbying management. Researchers prefer to spend their time on research. However,the researchers only get utility from performing research if theproject is approved for its full duration. Spending time lobbyingmanagement for the continuation of the researcher s project increasesthe probability that the management observes a favorable signal aboutthe project. Organizing a research joint venture increases theflexibility of the organizational form with respect to the continuationdecision. For low correlation between the signals of the partners aboutthe expected profitability of the project, we find that the organizationof a research joint venture reduces influence activity by the researchersand increases expected profits of the partners. For high correlationbetween the signals, internal research projects lower influence activityby the researchers. We try to relate the correlation of the partnerssignals to the characteristics of basic research versus more appliedresearch projects, and find that the model is consistent with theobservation that research joint ventures seem involved in more basicresearch projects compared to internal R&D departments, whichconcentrate on more applied research.

Embodying feminist research: learning from action research, political practices, diffractions and collective knowledge.

In the past three decades, feminists and critical theorists have discussed and argued the importance of deconstructing and problematizing social science research methodology in order to question normalized hierarchies concerning the production of knowledge and the status of truth claims. Nevertheless, often, these ideas have basically remained theoretical propositions not embodied in research practices. In fact there is very little published discussion about the difficulties and limits of their practical application. In this paper we introduce some interconnected reflections starting from two different but related experiences of embodying 'feminist activist research'. Our aim is to emphasise the importance of attending to process, making mistakes and learning during fieldwork, as well as experimenting with personalized forms of analysis, such as the construction of narratives and the story-telling process.

Embodying feminist research: learning from action research, political practices, diffractions and collective knowledge.

In the past three decades, feminists and critical theorists have discussed and argued the importance of deconstructing and problematizing social science research methodology in order to question normalized hierarchies concerning the production of knowledge and the status of truth claims. Nevertheless, often, these ideas have basically remained theoretical propositions not embodied in research practices. In fact there is very little published discussion about the difficulties and limits of their practical application. In this paper we introduce some interconnected reflections starting from two different but related experiences of embodying 'feminist activist research'. Our aim is to emphasise the importance of attending to process, making mistakes and learning during fieldwork, as well as experimenting with personalized forms of analysis, such as the construction of narratives and the story-telling process.

The agreement between ipsative and normative questionnaires using compositional data analysis techniques

The main instrument used in psychological measurement is the self-report questionnaire. One of its majordrawbacks however is its susceptibility to response biases. A known strategy to control these biases hasbeen the use of so-called ipsative items. Ipsative items are items that require the respondent to makebetween-scale comparisons within each item. The selected option determines to which scale the weight ofthe answer is attributed. Consequently in questionnaires only consisting of ipsative items everyrespondent is allotted an equal amount, i.e. the total score, that each can distribute differently over thescales. Therefore this type of response format yields data that can be considered compositional from itsinception.Methodological oriented psychologists have heavily criticized this type of item format, since the resultingdata is also marked by the associated unfavourable statistical properties. Nevertheless, clinicians havekept using these questionnaires to their satisfaction. This investigation therefore aims to evaluate bothpositions and addresses the similarities and differences between the two data collection methods. Theultimate objective is to formulate a guideline when to use which type of item format.The comparison is based on data obtained with both an ipsative and normative version of threepsychological questionnaires, which were administered to 502 first-year students in psychology accordingto a balanced within-subjects design. Previous research only compared the direct ipsative scale scoreswith the derived ipsative scale scores. The use of compositional data analysis techniques also enables oneto compare derived normative score ratios with direct normative score ratios. The addition of the secondcomparison not only offers the advantage of a better-balanced research strategy. In principle it also allowsfor parametric testing in the evaluation

La investigacion cualitativa y sus aplicaciones en Biblioteconomia y Documentacion

Se intenta determinar cuáles son las técnicas cualitativas concretas que pueden ser útiles en el desarrollo de investigaciones en Biblioteconomía y Documentación, qué temas son más susceptibles de ser abordados desde una óptica cualitativa, y si existe una correlación entre la técnica empleada y el tema tratado. Se analiza la temática y técnicas empleadas en los artículos de investigación publicados en Journal of the American Society for Information Science entre 1995 y 1997, y en los aparecidos en Journal of Documentation y Library and Information Science Research desde 1993 hasta 1997. La mayor parte de los artículos que emplean técnicas cualitativas estudian el comportamiento del usuario en la recuperación de la información, bien sea explorando su conducta al utilizar un sistema automatizado, o bien centrándose en las tácticas que diversos grupos de usuarios emplean al resolver sus necesidades informativas. Finalmente se exponen las principales características que definen este tipo de investigaciones.

Controversies metodològiques de la investigació

En aquest article es plantegen noves formes d'abordar les dues grans crisis generades a causa de l'escisió metodològica que va tenir lloc en els anys seixanta: la de legitimació i la de representació, crisis que són la base de les actuals controvèrsies metodològiques. Superar la dicotomía subjecte-objecte, transformar el concepte de validesa pel de fidelitat, entendre que la investigació es impensable desvinculada del context social i acceptar que la naturalesa més íntima del coneixement es troba en la multiperspectivitat d'aquest, constitueixen els elements clau proposts per a reduïr i tractar de superar la crisi. Per assolir-lo, aquest treball postula la necessitat de no continuar desvinculant la ciència de la filosofia, i de crear espais interactius entre ciència, tecnologia i societat.

Aspectes metodològics i técnica d'analisi en l'estudi dels grups i les classes socials

En aquest article es presenta el procés metodològic, com també les tècniques d'anàlisi de dades, que s'ha utilitzat en l'anàisi dels grups socials mitjançant la informació d'una gran enquesta sobre hàbits i condicions de vida. L'anàlisi dels grups socials des d'una perspectiva globalitzadora i estructuradora de les condicions de vida, tenint en compte com aquests sorgeixen mitjançant I 'associació i la coherència entre múltiples característiques. Les tècniques d'anàlisi de dades que s'han utilitzat han estat l'anàlisi de correspondències múltiples i l'anàlisi de classificació.

Cultura organizativa de investigadores y entorno político y social

no abstract

Programa pacient expert en obesitat

Objectiu general: desenvolupament del Programa Pacient Expert en obesitat. Objectius específics: es basaran amb el compliment de la dieta i l’activitat física, les mesures fisiològiques, la capacitat d’autogestió i el grau de satisfacció. Metodologia: - Àmbit d’estudi: Atenció Primària en Salut. - Disseny: estudi quantitatiu de tipus assaig clínic aleatoritzat. - Participants: adults amb obesitat. - Obtenció de dades: per l’anàlisi de variància per mesures repetides, l’anàlisi del discurs i l’observació estructurada. Limitacions de l’estudi: possible buit de dades per la pèrdua de participants o per la falta de continuïtat d’aquests.

La ciència que desconeixem. Malgrat la destacada recerca cientifica catalana, la societat desconeix que s'investiga

Som grans consumidors de ciència, present en totes les nostres activitats diaries. Tanmateix, ¿sabem o ens interessa saber per a que serveix allò en què s'està investigant?