社会科学方法论与高等教育研究

在自然科学、社会科学与人文科学这种知识分类框架下,教育学的学科地位非常尴尬。从早期的“(自然)科学化”、到后来的“人文化”,再到晚近的“社会科学化”,教育学的学科性质始终变动不居。作为教育学的分支学科,高等教育研究面临同样的困境。本文认为高等教育研究若要从根本上提升自身的学术地位,成为真正意义上独立的学术性学科,积极引入社会科学方法论是极其关键的一步。     

The role of research education coordinators in building research cultures in doctoral education

The development of cultures of support has become important in programmes for the preparation of research students. The paper draws on in-depth interviews with 21 research education coordinators from Australian and UK institutions to identify the strategies that they use to build research cultures and integrate research students into them. Students’ research cultures are not always linked to departmental research cultures more generally. Local contexts and conditions and staff (including supervisors’) attitudes are found to be critical in how research education coordinators respond and what is considered possible in order to ensure that research students are involved in research cultures.     

Political transformation and research methodology in doctoral education

This paper examines the relationship between political change and epistemologies and methodologies employed at doctorate level. It does so by analysing the range of topics, questions and methodologies used by doctoral students at the University of Pretoria’s Faculty of Education between 1985 and 2005—a time-frame that covers the decade before and the decade after South Africa’s historical transition to democracy in 1994. During this period the composition of doctoral students at that faculty changed from being largely white and male to a more diverse population in terms of gender and race. A crucial shift took place after 2000 with the arrival of a Black dean who sought to introduce a transformational shift. The paper makes use of Karmon’s notion of epistemic environment, which refers to the way knowledge is conceptualised at institutional level. The data shows how the authoritarian and regulated epistemic environment that shaped the conception of knowledge at the faculty until 2000 created doctoral dissertations that aimed to correct and guide the society but lacked critical discourse and relevance to South Africa’s political, social and educational context. While the transition to democracy in 1994 produced merely semantic changes, if any, the strong internal initiative to change the research culture from 2000 onwards has managed to shift basic notions of truth and knowledge and the understanding of the role and nature of research. This movement was, however, constrained by the institution’s long-established epistemic environment.     

Standards of research publication: Differences between the physical sciences and the social sciences

This study examines differences in standards of research publications between the physical sciences and the social sciences. The results of the first two hypotheses tested indicate that the predominant form of publication in the physical sciences are articles, whereas books predominate in the social sciences. Furthermore, differences were found in the relevant dimension of publication between faculties in more prestigious departments and faculties in less prestigious departments. The policy implications of these findings to university administration are discussed.     

Quality criteria of research perceived by academics in social sciences at higher education

The purpose of this study is to examine the problem of research quality in social sciences at higher education. Quality of research produced at higher education started to be questioned more often as research became the major factor determining academics＇ promotion and fund allocation to universities. In the study, we aimed to reveal how academics perceive research quality and what they identify as the main problems that make it difficult to achieve quality in research. Data were collected through interviews with 25 academics from 7 disciplines （educational sciences, sociology, communicational sciences, law, history, management and political science） in 7 universities. Six of the academics interviewed were professors, 7 were associate professors, 10 were assistant professors and 2 were doctors. Interviews were carried out in 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 academic years, and each lasted about one hour on average. Data collected were analyzed through content analysis. Study findings revealed that academics referred most often to methodological issues as the most important quality criterion of research, followed by issues of theoretical background and originality. Academics definitions of sub-criteria related to these were tackled in more detail in the study. As the most important hindrances that make it difficult to achieve quality in research academics mentioned lack of a long-established research culture, problems of research resources and the pressure caused by academic promotion criteria. Some recommendations related to the problems were made to develop research quality in the light of the study findings.     

综合国力与哲学社会科学成果

哲学社会科学成果与自然科学成果同样重要，哲学社会科学成果也是综合国力的体现，这是由哲学社会科学的地位所决定的，是由改革开放20多年坚持理论创新取得巨大成就的事实和中国历史史实所证明了的。而以美国为首的西方敌对势力推行的思想化渗透政策的巨大危害，又从反面证明了哲学社会科学成果对综合国力的影响。     

龙岩社会科学研究工作的调查与分析

龙岩全面建成小康社会和深化改革发展对社会科学研究提出了许多重大的议题,迫切要求给予有力的回应。龙岩社会科学研究的工作基础可归纳为六大研究体系,从当前社会科学研究存在的不足入手,总结近年来的研究成果与学科范围等方面的工作成效。龙岩的社会科学研究可着重加强社科工作的组织领导,保障经费投入,加强人才工作,健全体制机制,抓好重点工作等,以提升全市社会科学研究的成效。     

Meta-analysis in the social sciences:

Meta-analysis is a class of statistical methods for combining the results from a series of studies addressing the same research question. These methods can powerfully test hypotheses that cannot be answered clearly with one or a few studies and eliminates the ambiguity that results from narrative reviews of a research literature or from counting the number of studies that support a particular conclusion. The usefulness of meta-analysis is demonstrated by reviewing instances in psychotherapy, education, and medicine that show how meta-analysis was used successfully to end acrimonious debate and reach a firm and lasting conclusion.     

Allocation and evaluation: The approach at the social sciences and humanities research council of Canada

The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) is the principal source of funds for university-based research and scholarship in the social sciences and the humanities in Canada. Hence, its funding practices have a significant impact on what research is conducted and how that research is performed. At the same time, high levels of demand for research funding in the face of a limited budget accentuate the need to ensure the best use of funds available. Consequently, the SSHRC pursues a range of evaluation activities ranging from the peer-based adjudication of grant requests for operational purposes, to program evaluations for strategic purposes.The opinions and views express herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada     

社会科学研究如何为建设创新型国家服务

在创新型国家建设进程中,哲学社会科学有着精神动力、理论指导和智力支撑的功能和作用。高等学校要为创新型国家建设做贡献,必须以马克思主义为指导,加强哲学社会科学的研究和创新。为此,针对当前实际,要强调坚持理论联系实际,着力于现代化建设中重大理论和实践问题研究,注重组织管理创新、研究方法创新和研究成果转化。     

Economics of corruption in doctoral education: The dissertations market

This paper addresses the issue of “dissertations for sale” in Russia. The tasks of this anthropological study include establishing the problem of corruption in doctoral education, identification of the dissertations suppliers, study of the specific services they offer, analysis of their prices on different services, and generalizations of findings in the context of the educational system. All of these tasks address the supply side of the dissertations market. This paper identifies a total of 169 firms that offer dissertations for sale in Russia. It concludes that the cost of the dissertations market extends far beyond its monetary expression. Fake doctorates undermine the credibility of real, earned doctorates, and erode the gold standard of quality in research and scholarship.     

Detecting threshold concepts through Bayesian knowledge tracing: examining research skill development in biological sciences at the doctoral level

Instructional Science - Threshold concepts are transformative elements of domain knowledge that enable those who attain them to engage domain tasks in a more sophisticated way. Existing research...