Four programs of research in scientific communication

Selected studies of scientific communication, philosophy and sociology of science, sociology of knowledge, and information science are reviewed according to the assumptions they make about scientific information. Based on these assumptions and their historical order of development, the studies are organized into four distinct “programs” of research: artifact studies, user studies, network studies, and laboratory studies. The four programs represent a continuum of definitions of information, from the information-as-commodity definition that is embodied in the artifact studies, to the contextual, meaning-based definition that is characteristic of the laboratory studies. They also provide a rich framework for a renewal of research interest in this area among communication scholars and others interested in the social impacts of information. “When I studied scientific communication back in the sixties, it was a great field to be in ... we thought we knew just about everything there was to know about scientific communication.”¹ Bill Paisley, 1985 Leah A. Lievrouw is assistant professor in the Department of Communication at Rutgers University. Dr. Lievrouw received her PhD from the Annenberg School of Communications at the University of Southern California. Her research interests include scientific communication and the social aspects of telecommunications technologies.     

Societal QOL is More than the Sum of QOL of Individuals: The Whole is Greater than the Sum of the Parts

I submit that we are too focused on individual-level happiness research at the expense of societal level QOL research. That is, societal QOL cannot be simply treated as the sum of the happiness of individual citizens. In making this assertion I review and discuss Abott Ferris’ latest book: Approaches to Improving the Quality of Life (published by Springer, 2010).     

Conflict or control: Research utilization strategies as power techniques

The sociology of research and knowledge use, argue the authors, could be a way of linking important parts of sociology, such as organization studies, the sociology of science to each other. In the article, they discuss the idea that organizational responses to environments are related to research utilization. Based upon an empirical investigation of city welfare departments, four empirical “utilization strategies” are presented and shown to be related to power and control patterns. While negative utilization strategies are hostile to uncontrolled research utilization and enhance the formation of bureaucratic expertise, conflict-oriented strategies are discursively productive and reinforce research use and alliance formation with social scientists to control the environment. Kjell Nilsson presented his dissertation on research utilization in different policy sectors at Lund University in February 1992. He has written and cowritten one book and several articles in the field of knowledge and bureaucracy. Sune Sunesson, Ph.D., is currently professor and head of the research department and Ph.D., program in the School of Social Work at Lund University. He has written several books and articles in the field of bureaucracy studies, the sociology of human service organizations and the utilization of knowledge.     

SOCIAL RESEARCH ON SCIENCE AND RELIGION IN NORDIC COUNTRIES

This article presents a review of the literature on science and religion in Nordic countries. Seventy-seven articles, books, and chapters on the topic were collected from five major scholarly databases between 1997 and 2018. We scrutinized how research in this data set was engaged with social scientific research. Most of the research was not social scientific. It was primarily philosophical, theological, and historical research; very little presented empirical and theoretical social scientific research. The studies reflected societal discussions, bringing out some cultural dimensions and social issues, but not specifically in the Nordic context. Some societal aspects were highlighted, such as ethics and climate change, but these were not necessarily tied to the Nordic societies. We propose that in the Nordic context there seems to be a need for social scientific research on science and religion. This research could use theoretical perspectives from, for instance, sociology, science and technology studies, higher education studies, and anthropological research.     

When ignorance is adaptive: Not knowing about the nuclear threat

The objective of this article is to examine the nature of individual and social responses to the nuclear threat from psychological and sociological perspectives on ignorance. It is argued that a constructed and managed ignorance concerning the nuclear threat serves many functions, structuring an individual and social reality which is reassuring, meaningful, and both individually and collectively self-serving. A sociology of ignorance framework is employed to articulate the possible benefits of “not knowing about” and collaboratively “not dealing with” the nuclear threat, as well as to define the longer-term costs of ignoring this threat. The distinctive roles played by various kinds of ignorance regarding this important issue are investigated, and the conventional wisdom that knowledge of the consequences of a nuclear war is the only way to prevent its occurrence is challenged. Yes, he must grasp with his mind the instant-by-instant, inevitable total destruction and prepare for the carnage of an uncertain future Y. Mishima, Sea of Fertility Joseph P. Reser is a senior lecturer in psychology at James Cook University of North Queensland, Australia, with research interests in a number of applied social psychology areas. Michael J. Smithson is a senior lecturer in sociology, in the behavioral sciences department at James Cook University. His current research interests include the study of ignorance.     

On logic,methodology and practice of applied sociology

Applied sociology will be understood in the following discussion as a unique and original form of sociology; i.e., in its logic and practice distinguished from traditional sociology it is understood as an explanatory body of knowledge and an intellectual discourse about intentional/purposeful social action and behavior. The application of sociology proper to such substantive fields as family, art, law and sport, commonly called applied sociology, which reproduce the body of sociological knowledge just a second time, is not part of such understanding. Applied sociology in its original sense has its own logic in which purpose, implementation and the process of social-problem solution are crucial. It will in the end lead to an applied action or implementation theory. It is, to paraphrase Lazarsfeld, the methodology of “sociology in action” (1960).     

Authorship and Publication Practices in the Social Sciences: Historical Reflections on Current Practices

An historical review of authorship definitions and publication practices that are embedded in directions to authors and in the codes of ethics in the fields of psychology, sociology, and education illuminates reasonable agreement and consistency across the fields with regard to (a) originality of the work submitted, (b) data sharing, (c) human participants’ protection, and (d) conflict of interest disclosure. However, the role of the professional association in addressing violations of research or publication practices varies among these fields. Psychology and sociology provide active oversight with sanction authority. In education, the association assumes a more limited role: to develop and communicate standards to evoke voluntary compliance. With respect to authorship credit, each association’s standards focus on criteria for inclusion as an author, other than on the author’s ability to defend and willingness to take responsibility for the entire work. Discussions across a broad range of research disciplines beyond the social sciences would likely be beneficial. Whether improved standards will reduce either misattribution or perceptions of inappropriate attribution of credit within social science disciplines will likely depend on how well authorship issues are addressed in responsible conduct of research education (RCR), in research practice, and in each association’s ongoing efforts to influence normative practice by specifying and clarifying best practices.     

The Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse (SKAD)

The article presents the sociology of knowledge approach to discourse (SKAD). SKAD, which has been in the process of development since the middle of the 1990s, is now a widely used framework among social scientists in discourse research in the German-speaking area. It links arguments from the social constructionist tradition, following Berger and Luckmann, with assumptions based in symbolic interactionism, hermeneutic sociology of knowledge, and the concepts of Michel Foucault. It argues thereby for a consistent theoretical and methodological grounding of a genuine social sciences perspective on discourse interested in the social production, circulation and transformation of knowledge, that is in social relations and politics of knowledge in the so-called ‘knowledge societies’. Distancing itself from Critical Discourse Analysis, Linguistics, Ethnomethodology inspired discourse analysis and the Analysis of Hegemonies, following Laclau and Mouffe, SKAD’s framework has been built up around research questions and concerns located in the social sciences, referring to public discourse and arenas as well as to more specific fields of (scientific, religious, etc.) discursive struggles and controversies around “problematizations” (Foucault).     

Building Interorganizational Relationships That Build Nations

This paper describes relationship building among nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in a civil society effort. It presents the results of an interorganizational network analysis of 17 Croatian civil society organizations that participated in the 2000 parliamentary election campaign. The research analyzes network relationships including density, structural holes, and centrality, considering the nature of these relationships as a function of choice of communication channels and strength of ties. The results of this study describe the communication roles of various organizations during the transformation from a totalitarian state to a fledgling civil society.     

Facilitating Adolescent Well‐Being: A Review of the Challenges and Opportunities and the Beneficial Roles of Parents,Schools, Neighborhoods,and Policymakers

Adolescents face exceptional challenges and opportunities that may have a lifelong impact on their consumption and personal and societal well‐being. Parents, community members (schools and neighborhoods), and policymakers play major roles in shaping adolescents and influencing their engagement in consumption behaviors that are either developmentally problematic (e.g., drug use and unhealthy eating) or developmentally constructive (e.g., academic pursuits and extracurricular activities). In this article, we discuss two main topics: (a) the challenges and opportunities that characterize adolescence, based primarily on research in epidemiology and neuroscience, and (b) the ways that parents, community members, and policymakers can facilitate positive adolescent development, based on research from many disciplines including marketing, psychology, sociology, communications, public health, and education. Our goal is to summarize the latest scientific findings that can be used by various stakeholders to help adolescents navigate this turbulent period and become well‐adjusted, thriving adults.     

Distributing Responsibility in the Debate on Sustainable Biofuels

In the perception of technology innovation two world views compete for domination: technological and social determinism. Technological determinism holds that societal change is caused by technological developments, social determinism holds the opposite. Although both were quite central to discussion in the philosophy, history and sociology of technology in the 1970s and 1980s, neither is seen as mainstream now. They do still play an important role as background philosophies in societal debates and offer two very different perspectives on where the responsibilities for an ethically sound development of novel technologies lie. In this paper we will elaborate on these to two opposing views on technology development taking the recent debate on the implementation of biofuels as a case example.     

Scientific associations in the German research system—Results of an empirical study

Within contemporary science, scientific associations have been found to fulfill at least four functions: a communicative function that furthers scientific communication within a discipline or subdiscipline; a profesional function that supports individual careers and represents the collective interests of the members within a discipline; a transfer function that provides a meeting place for scientists and societal users of research results; and a promotion function that advises research institutes and political institutions in science policy decisions. This empirical study investigates German scientific associations and shows how and to what degree they fulfill these functions. The results of the study indicate that the communicative and the transfer functions dominate. Uwe Schimank is currently a research fellow at the Max-Planck-Institut fur Gesellschaftsforschung in Cologne. He received his doctorate in sociology at the University of Bielefeld. He is presently working on an analysis of the development of extra-university state-financed research institutes in the German research system.     

Reframing Coalitions as Systems Interventions: A Network Study Exploring the Contribution of a Youth Violence Prevention Coalition to Broader System Capacity

This longitudinal research conceptualizes community coalitions as events in local intervention systems (Hawe et al. in Am J Commun Psychol 43(3–4):267–276, 2009 ). It explores the potential contribution coalitions make, through the collaborative activities of their members, to the broader intervention systems in which they are embedded. Using social network analysis, it examines patterns of structural change in a network of 99 organizations focused on youth violence prevention (YVP) over a 5‐year period in which 30 of the 99 organizations were involved in a local YVP Coalition. Both longitudinal modeling and cross sectional analyses are used to examine change in system capacity—strong interorganizational networks—related to patterns of network density, centralization, and hierarchy. Somewhat surprisingly, the study found that capacity in the broader YVP Intervention System actually diminished during the 5‐year period of the coalition’s operation, though part of the system—the sub‐network that made up the YVP Coalition—was marginally strengthened. In this case, therefore, the evidence suggests that power and relational resources in the broader YVP Intervention System were redistributed. The article explores how the definition of capacity related to density and hierarchy may be contextually dependent. Implications for the role of coalitions in building system capacity are discussed.     

Facilitating Interorganizational Collaboration: The Contributions of Interorganizational Alliances

In an attempt to promote service delivery integration and improve interorganizational collaboration, many recent human service delivery initiatives have included the development of interorganizational alliances such as coalitions and coordinating councils. Despite their popularity, little is known about how these alliances influence interorganizational collaboration, specifically the extent to which they alter the interactions among human service delivery organizations. The present study examined the interorganizational interactions, specifically the exchange relationships, within one county that was implementing two interorganizational alliances—a countywide coordinating council and interagency service delivery teams. Membership on both alliances was associated with broader interorganizational exchange networks. Organizations involved in a coordinating council were more likely to be included in client, information, and resource exchanges, and participate in joint ventures with a broader range of organizations. Providers involved in interagency teams also exchanged clients and information with a broader sector of service delivery organizations than nonparticipating providers. Observational data suggested that both alliances created structures and processes intended to facilitate interorganizational exchanges. Together, these results suggest that the development of opportunities for and encouragement of staff and leader involvement in these types of alliances may be an important part of our attempt to create a more integrated social service delivery system. The implications of these findings for researchers and practitioners are discussed.     

Strategic types in institution building: A fit perspective

It is generally accepted that the institutionalization of new knowledge is the final stage in the process of knowledge diffusion and utilization, suggesting the need for conceptual models of institution building strategy. We describe four strategic types of institution building, which involve a transfer of knowledge and programs from a home setting to a host setting: consulting, management, adaptation, and entrepreneurial. The strategic types are conceptually derived in terms of the fit between the institutional components—content, context, and environment—in both home and host settings. Daniel S. Fogel received his B.S. and M.A. from the Pennsylvania State University and his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin. He is currently Associate Dean and Director, Center for International Enterprise Development, and professor of business administration at the University of Pittsburgh. His two recent books areManaging in Emerging Market Economies: Volumes I and II. His current research focuses on strategic flexibility and innovation in interorganizational networks.     

The political economy of information exchange politics and property rights in the development and use of interorganizational information systems

Interorganizational information systems are information systems that cross organizational boundaries. Information managers and system developers often assume that the more integrated these information systems are, the more successful the system will be. Such an assumption is indeed intuitively appealing, and, from a technological standpoint, readily understandable. In practice, development and use of integrated information systems that cross organizational boundaries often result in confusing power struggles, politicking, and sometimes manifest sabotage. Based on economic and political organization theory, this article concludes that data ownership and incentives, rather than integration, are of vital importance for the success of interorganizational information systems. He has studied Public Administration and Policy Science (Twente University, the Netherlands) and received his Ph. D. in Management and Organization Science in 1999 (Groningen University, the Netherlands). His research interests include information management and interorganizational relations, especially in the public sector.     

Profiling Capacity for Coordination and Systems Change: The Relative Contribution of Stakeholder Relationships in Interorganizational Collaboratives

In response to increasing demands for greater coordination and collaboration among community institutions, interorganizational collaboratives (i.e., coalitions, partnerships, coordinating councils) have emerged as a popular mechanism for strengthening the capacity of a community system to respond to public and social issues. This study adopts a network approach to explore the relative importance of dense networks of cooperative relationships among members of interorganizational collaboratives for two outcomes of effectiveness: improving interorganizational coordination and fostering systems change. Based on survey and social network data collected from 48 different collaboratives, findings indicate that, relative to other key characteristics of collaboratives identified in previous literature, cooperative stakeholder relationships were the strongest predictor of systems change outcomes. However, for coordination outcomes, stakeholder relationships were overshadowed in importance by the leadership and decision making capacity of the collaborative. Collectively, findings suggest key differences in the requisite capacity profiles for coordination and systems change outcomes.     

A report on the development of sociology in China since its political division

This article is a brief report on the fate of Chinese sociology after the Communist takeover in 1949. In mainland China there are no longer any departments of sociology in the universities; the discipline has been integrated into other departments where it is taught as an interdisciplinary subject. In contrast, in Taiwan sociology has developed primarily along the lines of American sociology, and research and new currents of thought are still progressing.     

Medicolegal stress at work

Connections between work, stress, and emotional distress have become the object of extensive litigation in the workers' compensation system and other legal forums. This article examines some of this activity from the perspective of medicolegal sociology. It explores five forums in which discussion of these connections takes place-every day life, science, within organizations, adjudicatory inquiries, public policy-and the moral stress discourse that helps bind these discussions together. Particular attention is paid to stress litigation stemming from investigations into violations of the law, principdy police work. Workers' compensation stress claims are viewed as part of an extensive societal medicolegal inquiry into the emotional underlife of work organizations.     

Beyond the Individual: Toward a Nomological Network of Organizational Empowerment

Empowerment research has generally been limited to the individual level of analysis. Efforts to study empowerment beyond the individual require conceptual frameworks suggesting attributes that define the construct and guide its measurement. This paper presents an initial attempt to describe the nomological network of empowerment at the organizational level of analysis--organizational empowerment (OE). Intraorganizational, interorganizational, and extraorganizational components of OE are described. Implications for empowerment theory and practice are discussed.