Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Use Of Citation Speed To Understand The Effects Of A Multi-Institutional Science Center, Jan Youtie

Jan Youtie

The extent to which an article attracts citations has long been of interest. However, recent research has emphasized not just the receipt but also the pacing of citation. Citation speed has been shown to be affected by journal prestige and self-citation but also public funding of research. Amidst these viewpoints, this paper explores the speed of article citation of a multi-institutional, multi-disciplinary publicly funded research center relative to that of a comparison group of articles. Results indicate that articles by authors affiliated with the center are significantly more likely to have early-cited papers within the year of publication than the …

Impacts Of Innovation Policy: Synthesis And Conclusions, Jakob Edler, Paul Cunningham, Abdullah Gök, Philip Shapira

Philip Shapira

This report synthesizes key findings and insights from the Compendium of Evidence on the Effectiveness of Innovation Policy Intervention Project. The Compendium compiles and appraises available evidence about the impacts of a range of innovation policies. The purpose of this report is twofold. First, it pulls together overall lessons regarding the effectiveness and impacts of the innovation support measures covered in the Compendium. Second, the report offers observations and insights about the state of evidence and its production on the effectiveness of policies in this domain, including a consideration of evaluation methods, approaches and gaps. This provides a basis for …

World Bank Assisted Community Driven Project Implementation In Kwara State, Nigeria: Implication For Sustainable Rural Participatory Development And Community Initiatives, R A. Olawepo, O A. Akanbi

Abuja Journal of Geography and Development

The issue Community Driven Development is presented as tool for effective community development at the grassroots in Kwara State. This paper draws on field research on conservation based field observation in which the authors had to visit some of the project locations to ascertain the availability of the project. Apart from his, the study relies heavily on secondary data obtained from the Kwara State Community Based Poverty Reduction Project’s publications and the recently inaugurated Kwara State Community and Social Development Agency. The study reveals that in the last seven years in the state, over 403, 110, 342.76 Naira has been …

A Qualitative Evaluation Of The Effectiveness Of A Mental Skills Training Program For Youth Athletes, Lee-Ann Sharp, Jennifer Cumming, Charlotte Woodcock, Mark J.G. Holland, Jennifer Cumming, Joan L. Duda

Jennifer Cumming

The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate the effectiveness of a mental skills training (MST) program for male youth elite rugby athletes. Three focus groups were held with 21 under-16 male rugby athletes and four male coaches involved in the MST program to examine the quality of service delivery, athlete responses to the MST program, the mental qualities used by athletes, and its perceived influence on athlete performance. Following inductive-deductive content analysis, 40 subcategories and 16 categories emerged. Participants believed the MST program to be an interactive, well-planned program that increased athlete understanding of MST methods and awareness of …

Youth Empowerment Through Math Literacy: An Analysis Of Young People’S Project At Hamilton College, Hannah Roth

Hannah Roth

Through my sociology concentration I was able to experience working as a Coordinator for Young People's Project (YPP), as well as the opportunity to evaluate the effectiveness of the program.

YPP is a grass roots youth organization that focuses on math literacy and social justice for local disadvantaged students. Hamilton College students are trained to develop and facilitate workshops to students in the Utica area middle schools. Each week Hamilton College students travel to the Donovan Middle School in Utica, NY to facilitate these workshops. YPP strives to use math literacy as a tool to develop young leaders with the …

Science Overlay Maps: A New Tool For Research Policy And Library Management, Ismael Rafols, Alan L. Porter, Loet Leydesdorff

alan l porter

We present a novel approach to visually locate bodies of research within the sciences, both at each moment of time and dynamically. This article describes how this approach fits with other efforts to locally and globally map scientific outputs. We then show how these science overlay maps help benchmark, explore collaborations, and track temporal changes, using examples of universities, corporations, funding agencies, and research topics. We address their conditions of application and discuss advantages, downsides and limitations. Overlay maps especially help investigate the increasing number of scientific developments and organisations that do not fit within traditional disciplinary categories. We make …

Evaluating Eu Policies On Public Services: A Citizens' Approach, Judith Clifton, Daniel Díaz-Fuentes

Judith Clifton

This article evaluates EU policies on public services – particularly public network services - from the citizens´ point of view. It is first argued that citizens´ perceptions are important because the provision of fundamental services is at stake and because they constitute the infrastructure necessary for social and economic development. Citizens’ “voice” can, therefore, be known, analysed and used in the design of improved policy on public services along with other indicators. Changing EU policy on public services is synthesised and classified into two main phases in section two. Citizen satisfaction with public services as revealed through surveys from 1997 …

Anything.Hu: Understanding Evaluation Standards For Online Resources In Hungarian Studies, Judit H. Ward

Judit H. Ward

Given the large variety of resources available online, learning foreign languages has become ubiquitous. A significant amount of reliable and free information is available in Hungarian from trustworthy sources, which provide instant language learning material with expert help. Opportunities to improve language skills also include copious casual online communities, where cultural diversity is reality. Using electronic resources for second language acquisition draws attention to critical thinking and evaluation skills in a unique, non-native language setting in the classroom and outside. Despite the lack of the orientation offered by conventional URL extensions on American web sites (edu, com, org, gov), it …

The Performance Metrics Boom And Parliamentary Scrutiny And Evaluation, Gordon Marnoch

Gordon Marnoch

This paper deals with a series of questions which are posed in relation to performance metrics and the practices of parliamentarians as ‘end-users’ scrutinising and evaluating public policies. Does the availability of an extensive range of metrics allow parliamentarians to scrutinise governments’ policy records and progress with specific programmes? Alternately is there evidence of ‘producer capture’ in the sense that metrics are used to narrowly ‘frame issues’, to the exclusion of key dimensions which might otherwise be subject to political scrutiny? Are performance metrics which require relatively high degrees of analytic capacity on the part of parliamentarians ignored due to …

Scholarly Use Of Information: Graduate Students' Information Seeking Behaviour, Carole A. George, A. Bright, T Hurlbert, E C. Linke, G St. Clair, J Stein

Carole A. George

Introduction. This study explored graduate students' information behaviour related to their process of inquiry and scholarly activities. Method. In depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with one hundred graduate students representing all disciplines and departments from Carnegie Mellon University. Analysis. Working in pairs, we coded transcripts of interviews into meaningful categories using ATLAS.ti software. The combined use of quantitative and qualitative analysis aimed to reduce subjectivity. Results. Graduate students often begin with a meeting with professors who provide direction, recommend and provide resources. Other students help to shape graduate students' research activities, and university library personnel provide guidance in finding resources. …

Usability Of The Digital Library: An Evaluation Model, Judy Jeng

Judy Jeng

Summary report from the 2004 ACRL Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship recipient

‘Empowering Europe’S Citizens’? Towards A Charter For Services Of General Interest, Judith Clifton, Daniel Díaz-Fuentes, Francisco Comín

Judith Clifton

This article analyses the development of the European Union (EU) project of a Charter for Services of General Interest (SGI) from the mid-1990s to the publication of the White Paper on Services of General Interest and the draft European Constitution in 2004. Though service charters are often associated with New Public Management (NPM) reforms related to privatization, they are also an integral part of the process of EU institution building, and need to be understood alongside developments such as the Charter of Fundamental Rights. Using a four-stage model of international NPM convergence analysis four phases of the Charter for SGI …

Testing The Barriers To Digital Libraries: A Study Seeking Copyright Permission To Digitize Published Works, Carole A. George

Carole A. George

Purpose: The aim was to explore the issues related to acquiring copyright permission with the goal of determining effectiveness and efficiency using the least complex process. Methodology: A random sample of books was chosen, relevant information was recorded, request letters were sent and tracked, and results (permission received or denied) were analyzed with respect to publisher, publication data, time required, and issues related to the process. Findings: About 52 percent responded with a yes or no with 24 percent Yes responses. Nearly 25 percent never responded, addresses were not found for about 16 percent, approximately 7 percent were too complicated …

Learning From Science And Technology Policy Evaluation: Experiences From The United States And Europe, Philip Shapira, Stefan Kuhlmann

Philip Shapira

Learning from Science and Technology Policy Evaluation, edited by Philip Shapira and Stefan Kuhlmann, presents US and European experiences and insights on the evaluation of policies and programs to foster research, innovation, and technology (RIT). In recent years, policymakers have promoted RIT policies to accelerate scientific and technological development in emerging fields, encourage new patterns of research collaboration and commercialization and enhance national and regional economic competitiveness. At the same time, budgetary pressures and new public management approaches have strengthened demands for RIT performance measurement and evaluation. The contributors, leading experts in science and technology policy and evaluation, analyze and …