1. The social organisation of research
RDMRose: Research Data Management for LIS
Session 2 The Nature of Research and the Need for RDM
Session 2.1 The social organisation of research
The social organisation of research
Session 2.1
Nov-18
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2. Learning outcomes At the end of this session you will be able to:
Explain the place of research in universities
Apply theories of academic discipline and speciality to the issues of RDM
Nov-18
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3. Session overview Research in HEIs Types of academic disciplines
Academic tribes
Disciplinary differences
Specialisation, fragmentation, hybridisation, fluidity
Nov-18
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4. Research in HEIs Research is important to universities!
There are many stakeholders
Senior researchers/research groups
Early career researchers
Postgraduate Research Students
Departmental administrators
Data specialists
Research funding is often project based
Nov-18
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5. Types of academic discipline (Biglan, 1973)
Academic disciplines are different; one classic taxonomy is based on the following factors:
Hard (paradigmatic) – soft (non-paradigmatic)
Pure – applied
Living – non-living
Nov-18
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6. Academic tribes (Becher &Trowler, 2001)
Academic disciplines could be seen as “global tribes”
They share:
A sense of identity and personal commitment
Myths
A sense of what is a “contribution”
Social networks, with gatekeepers
Formal communication channels: journals and conferences
Peer review
An “invisible college” and informal networks
Nov-18
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7. Disciplinary differences
“Disciplines differ in the ways they structure themselves, establish identities, maintain boundaries, regulate and reward practitioners, manage consensus and dissent, and communicate internally and externally.” (Klein, 1996, p. 55)
Nov-18
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8. “Blurring, cracking and crossing” (Klein, 1993)
Disciplines change
Disciplines overlap
Most disciplines are a mix of hard/soft; pure/applied
Proliferation of specialities
1000 maths journals with 4500 subtopics (Becher & Trowler, p. 14)
“Research tracks and specialties grow, split, join, adapt and die” (Klein, 1996, p. 55)
Theories and methods may be greater common ground than subject
Interdisciplinarity as a major creative strategy
Nov-18
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9. Example: Geography
Has fundamental internal divisions: Physical and human
Are diverse internationally: different origins: in Germany, earth science, in France history
Has seen many new specialties: “human, cultural, economic, political, urban, and regional geography as well as biogeography, geomorphology, climatology, environmental science and cartography” (Klein, 1996, p. 41)
Nov-18
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10. Specialisation, fragmentation, hybridisation, fluidity
Have material impact on LIS collection
The way that journals change titles, are superceded
“Scatter” (Palmer, 2010) creates much of the work for LIS in facilitating access to the vastly complex body of academic knowledge
Nov-18
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11. Activity 2.1 Analysing an academic department
Nov-18
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12. Activity 2.1 Analysing an academic department
How would you characterise the subject as a whole?
Can you identify some specialities? Do you know of any very new specialities?
Identify some examples of interdisciplinarity or links between this Department and others.
Share your thoughts with a colleague who works to support a different discipline
Nov-18
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13. References
Nov-18
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14. References
Becher, T., & Trowler, P.R. (2001). Academic Tribes and Territories: Intellectual Enquiry and the Culture of Disciplines (2nd ed.). Philadelphia; Buckingham: Society for Research into Higher Education; Open University Press.
Biglan, A. (1973). The characteristics of subject matter in different academic areas. Journal of Applied Psychology, 57(3),
Klein, J. T. (1993). Blurring, cracking, and crossing: permeation and the fracturing of discipline. In E. Messer-Davidow, D. R. Shumway, & D. Sylvan (Eds.), Knowledges: Historical and Critical Studies in Disciplinarity (pp ). Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia.
Nov-18
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15. References
Klein, J. T. (1996). Crossing Boundaries: Knowledge, Disciplinarities, and Interdisciplinarities. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia.
Palmer, C. L. (2010). Information research on interdisciplinarity. In R. Frodeman, J. T. Klein, & C. Mitcham (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Interdisciplinarity. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press.
Palmer, C. L., & Cragin, M. H. (2009). Scholarship and disciplinary practices. Annual Review of Information Science and Technology, 42(1),  
Nov-18
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