scholarly journals Building the infrastructure to make science metrics more scientific

F1000Research ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 2897
Author(s):  
Jennifer Lin ◽  
Fiona L. Murphy ◽  
Mike Taylor ◽  
Liz Allen
Keyword(s):  
Research Community ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Rapid Expansion ◽  
Research Quality ◽  
Research Assessment ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Policy And Strategy ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Support Decision Making ◽  
Shed Light

Research leaders, policy makers and science strategists need evidence to support decision-making around research funding investment, policy and strategy.  In recent years there has been a rapid expansion in the data sources available that shed light onto aspects of research quality, excellence, use, re-use and attention, and engagement. This is at a time when the modes and routes to share and communicate research findings and data are also changing.  In this opinion piece, we outline a series of considerations and interventions that are needed to ensure that research metric development is accompanied by appropriate scrutiny and governance, to properly support the needs of research assessors and decision-makers, while securing the confidence of the research community. Key among these are: agreed ‘gold standards’ around datasets and methodologies; full transparency around the calculation and derivation of research-related indicators; and a strategy and roadmap to take the discipline of scientific indicators and research assessment to a more robust and sustainable place.

scholarly journals Building the infrastructure to make science metrics more scientific

F1000Research ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 2897
Author(s):  
Jennifer Lin ◽  
Fiona L. Murphy ◽  
Mike Taylor ◽  
Liz Allen
Keyword(s):  
Research Community ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Rapid Expansion ◽  
Research Quality ◽  
Research Assessment ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Policy And Strategy ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Support Decision Making ◽  
Shed Light

Research leaders, policy makers and science strategists need evidence to support decision-making around research funding investment, policy and strategy.  In recent years there has been a rapid expansion in the data sources available that shed light onto aspects of research quality, excellence, use, re-use and attention, and engagement. This is at a time when the modes and routes to share and communicate research findings and data are also changing.  In this opinion piece, we outline a series of considerations and interventions that are needed to ensure that research metric development is accompanied by appropriate scrutiny and governance, to properly support the needs of research assessors and decision-makers, while securing the confidence of the research community. Key among these are: agreed ‘gold standards’ around datasets and methodologies; full transparency around the calculation and derivation of research-related indicators; and a strategy and roadmap to take the discipline of scientific indicators and research assessment to a more robust and sustainable place.

Perceptions of Flash Drought in the U.S.: How do End-Users and Researchers Compare?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tonya Haigh ◽  
Joel Lisonbee ◽  
Marina Skumanich ◽  
Molly Woloszyn
Keyword(s):  
Information System ◽  
Public Engagement ◽  
End Users ◽  
Research Community ◽  
Federal Agencies ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Drought Mitigation ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
The U.S

<p>Defining flash drought is important not only for the development of the science but also for ensuring clear and useful early warning information to end users. In preparation for a December 2020 U.S-based workshop on flash drought, the National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) and National Drought Mitigation Center (NDMC) undertook a survey of NIDIS contacts to explore how flash drought is understood within and outside of the research community. End users represented in the survey include researchers (outside of flash drought specialty), policy-makers, decision-makers, communicators, and educators and public engagement specialists, largely working within universities or federal agencies across the U.S. Flash drought researchers were asked to describe how they intend for the term “flash drought” to be interpreted when they use it. End users (whether they had heard/used the term before or not) were asked to describe what they think of when they hear the term “flash drought”. Their answers emerged into themes, including: onset/intensification, duration, drivers, impacts, seasonality, predictability, intensity, spatial scale, and uncertainty about its meaning. In this presentation, we will elaborate upon these themes, and discuss similarities and differences in how flash drought researchers and end users conceptualize flash drought.</p>

Research on the Efficient Market Hypothesis: A Review

2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 157-165
Author(s):  
Saloni Gupta
Keyword(s):  
Efficient Market Hypothesis ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Market Model ◽  
Empirical Literature ◽  
Periodic Review ◽  
Efficient Market ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Stock Market Efficiency ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Research And Policy

A periodic review of research done in any field is of significance for research and policy makers. While researchers can use the review to identify research gaps and gather reference bibliographic material; decision makers and policy makers can recommend the path to developments and make use of research findings to support their decisions or policies suitably. This paper is an attempt to review the theoretical and empirical literature on the efficient market model as has evolved. The study will provide a comprehensive commentary on the nature of research done on the stock market efficiency, with particular reference to India, in recent years and findings thereof.

scholarly journals Believing in Something Better: Our Recommendations

2021 ◽  
pp. 445-477
Author(s):  
Carmelo Danisi ◽  
Moira Dustin ◽  
Nuno Ferreira ◽  
Nina Held
Keyword(s):  
Service Providers ◽  
Previous Analysis ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
European Level ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Domestic Level ◽  
Shed Light

AbstractThe previous chapters have offered an in-depth, empirically and theoretically informed analysis of a broad range of issues affecting SOGI asylum claimants and refugees in Europe, with a focus on Germany, Italy and the UK. This analysis has applied new insights to findings unearthed by previous research and shone light on issues that have so far been relatively neglected. But the question often posed to us as academics is ‘so what?’ To address this question, this chapter offers a range of recommendations addressed to decision-makers, policy-makers, governments, NGOs and service providers, aimed at improving the socio-legal framework that applies to SOGI asylum. These apply mainly at a domestic level, but also refer to the European level, where relevant, to offer proposals that recognise the intersections of national, European and international frameworks. As in the previous analysis, we are strongly guided by our participants’ voices, complemented by broader scholarly debates and our analysis and views of these. Our data and analysis thereof also shed light on broader issues in the asylum system, and many of the recommendations set out here would benefit non-SOGI asylum claimants and refugees as well. We hope they will be of wider value in this way.

The Shanghai Re-employment Model: From Local Experiment to Nation-wide Labour Market Policy

2004 ◽  
Vol 177 ◽  
pp. 174-189 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grace O. M. Lee ◽  
Malcolm Warner
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Employment Service ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Service Centre ◽  
Urban Unemployment ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Economic Developments ◽  
Empirical Field ◽  
Shed Light

Unemployment in China is now a serious and growing problem. In this context, Shanghai has been a pioneer in establishing re-employment service facilities. Starting from a local experiment, the Shanghai programme has been mooted by the Chinese authorities as a model to be replicated nation-wide. In this article, we propose an evaluation of this specific Re-employment Service Centre (zaijiuye fuwu zhongxin) programme, so as to shed light on the measures to be taken in combating urban unemployment. Our empirical field research in Shanghai took the form of over 50 open-ended, qualitative interviews with policy makers, managers, trade union representatives, workers and unemployed persons. Economic developments may make Shanghai seem distinctly special and shed light on the question of wider applicability of the Shanghai model. The replication of such a model has, in our view, only achieved mixed outcomes and the research findings suggest a degree of scepticism as to how far it can be extended.

scholarly journals Interactive Visualisation of Sustainability Indicators for Water, Energy and Food Innovations

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 1571
Author(s):  
Paula J. Forbes ◽  
Ruth E. Falconer ◽  
Daniel Gilmour ◽  
Nikolay Panayotov
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Sustainability Indicators ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Stakeholder Consultation ◽  
Visualisation Tool ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Interactive Visualisation ◽  
Support Decision Making

The Water-Energy-Food (WEF) nexus describes the synergies and trade-offs between water, energy and food. Despite the significant attention that the WEF nexus has received in recent years, challenges remain, primarily related to gaps in integrated data, information and knowledge related to the most critical inter-linkages and their dynamics. These WEF nexus complexities and uncertainty make decision-making and future forecasting extremely difficult. Policy makers and other stakeholders are currently faced with the task of understanding longer term environmental impacts and tJhe benefits and limitations of innovations that could be potentially beneficial, such as Anaerobic Digestion as a waste solution or insect protein production. This paper describes an approach to support decision making for local-level innovations within the WEF nexus by creating a set of sustainability indicators and an accompanying interactive visualisation. The indicators were derived from stakeholder consultation processes and workshops, and they were selected to include a much broader assessment than just financial aspects when considering the viability of such innovations. By taking this bottom-up approach and placing stakeholders at the heart of the project, we produced a visualisation tool to support sustainable decision making when considering the implementation of WEF innovations. Considering other, often overlooked factors and giving greater priority to these deepens knowledge and the recognition of influential issues that in conventional processes may be overlooked. This visualisation tool is designed to support decision makers to engage in a exploration of the different interlinkages, and to be the basis of stakeholder dialogue around sustainability. The visualisation tool developed was designed to be easily modifiable in order to be updated with new insights and to include other future innovations.

Materialism and Green Purchase Intention: A Study of Urban Vietnamese Consumers

2017 ◽  
pp. 89-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mai Nguyen Thi Tuyet ◽  
Hung Nguyen Vu ◽  
Linh Nguyen Hoang ◽  
Minh Nguyen Hoang
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Survey Data ◽  
Purchase Intention ◽  
Behavioral Control ◽  
Subjective Norm ◽  
Perceived Behavioral Control ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Tpb Model ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
The Impact

This study focuses on examining the impact of three components of materialism on green purchase intention for urban consumers in Vietnam, an emerging economy. An extended Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) is applied as the conceptual framework for this study. The hypotheses are empirically tested using survey data obtained from consumers in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. The regression results show support for most of our hypotheses. The findings indicate that two out of three facets of materialism are significant predictors of green purchase intention. Specifically, success is found to be negatively related to purchase intention, while happiness is related positively to the intention. All three antecedents in the TPB model, including attitude towards green purchase, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control are also found to have positive impacts on purchase intention. The research findings are discussed and implications for managers and policy makers are provided.

scholarly journals Are you really using Yarning research? Mapping Social and Family Yarning to strengthen Yarning research quality

2021 ◽  
pp. 117718012110154
Author(s):  
Petah Atkinson ◽  
Marilyn Baird ◽  
Karen Adams
Keyword(s):  
Research Method ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Research Quality ◽  
Aboriginal Community ◽  
Participant Recruitment ◽  
The Social ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Convenience Sampling ◽  
Missing Feature ◽  
Published Research

Yarning as a research method has its grounding as an Aboriginal culturally specified process. Significant to the Research Yarn is relationality, however; this is a missing feature of published research findings. This article aims to address this. The research question was, what can an analysis of Social and Family Yarning tell us about relationality that underpins a Research Yarn. Participant recruitment occurred using convenience sampling, and data collection involved Yarning method. Five steps of data analysis occurred featuring Collaborative Yarning and Mapping. Commonality existed between researcher and participants through predominantly experiences of being a part of Aboriginal community, via Aboriginal organisations and Country. This suggests shared explicit and tacit knowledge and generation of thick data. Researchers should report on their experience with Yarning, the types of Yarning they are using, and the relationality generated from the Social, Family and Research Yarn.

scholarly journals Research use at the Ministry of Health in Burkina Faso: the decision-makers’ perspective

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Dagenais
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Knowledge Transfer ◽  
Burkina Faso ◽  
Informed Decision ◽  
Communication Strategy ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Research Use ◽  
Informed Decision Making ◽  
Ministry Of Health ◽  
Policy Makers

Abstract Background Despite the increased emphasis placed on the use of evidence for policy development, relatively few initiatives have been developed to support evidence-informed decision-making, especially in West Africa. Moreover, studies examining the conditions under which policy-makers use research-based evidence are still scarce, but they show that their attitudes and opinions about research are one of the main determinants of such use. In February 2017, Burkina Faso’s Minister of Health planned to create a unit to promote evidence-informed decision-making within the ministry. Before the unit was set up, documenting the attitudes towards research at the highest levels of his Ministry appeared profitable to the unit’s planning. Method Individual interviews were conducted by the author with 14 actors positioned to consider evidence during decision-making from the Burkina Faso’s Minister of health cabinet. An interview grid was used to explore several themes such as attitudes towards research, obstacles and facilitators to research use, example of research use in decision-making and finally, ways to increase decision-makers’ participation in knowledge transfer activities. Interviews were partially transcribed and analysed by the author. Results The results show a mixed attitude towards research and relatively little indication of research use reported by respondents. Important obstacles were identified: evidence inaccessibility, lack of implementation guidelines, absence of clear communication strategy and studies’ lack of relevance for decision-making. Many suggestions were proposed such as raising awareness, improving access and research communication and prioritizing interactions with researchers. Respondents agree with the low participation of decision-makers in knowledge transfer activities: more leadership from the senior officials was suggested and greater awareness of the importance of their presence. Conclusions The conclusion presents avenues for reflection and action to increase the potential impact of the knowledge transfer unit planned within the Ministry of Health of Burkina Faso. This innovative initiative will be impactful if the obstacles identified in this study and policy-makers’ preferences and needs are taken into account during its development and implementation.

scholarly journals Rethinking success, integrity, and culture in research (part 1) — a multi-actor qualitative study on success in science

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Noémie Aubert Bonn ◽  
Wim Pinxten
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
Research Integrity ◽  
Current Paper ◽  
Research Quality ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Past ◽  
Research Students

Abstract Background Success shapes the lives and careers of scientists. But success in science is difficult to define, let alone to translate in indicators that can be used for assessment. In the past few years, several groups expressed their dissatisfaction with the indicators currently used for assessing researchers. But given the lack of agreement on what should constitute success in science, most propositions remain unanswered. This paper aims to complement our understanding of success in science and to document areas of tension and conflict in research assessments. Methods We conducted semi-structured interviews and focus groups with policy makers, funders, institution leaders, editors or publishers, research integrity office members, research integrity community members, laboratory technicians, researchers, research students, and former-researchers who changed career to inquire on the topics of success, integrity, and responsibilities in science. We used the Flemish biomedical landscape as a baseline to be able to grasp the views of interacting and complementary actors in a system setting. Results Given the breadth of our results, we divided our findings in a two-paper series, with the current paper focusing on what defines and determines success in science. Respondents depicted success as a multi-factorial, context-dependent, and mutable construct. Success appeared to be an interaction between characteristics from the researcher (Who), research outputs (What), processes (How), and luck. Interviewees noted that current research assessments overvalued outputs but largely ignored the processes deemed essential for research quality and integrity. Interviewees suggested that science needs a diversity of indicators that are transparent, robust, and valid, and that also allow a balanced and diverse view of success; that assessment of scientists should not blindly depend on metrics but also value human input; and that quality should be valued over quantity. Conclusions The objective of research assessments may be to encourage good researchers, to benefit society, or simply to advance science. Yet we show that current assessments fall short on each of these objectives. Open and transparent inter-actor dialogue is needed to understand what research assessments aim for and how they can best achieve their objective. Study Registration osf.io/33v3m.

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