Saving Unobservable Phenomena

In this paper I argue—against van Fraassen's constructiveempiricism—that the practice of saving phenomena is muchbroader than usually thought, and includes unobservable phenomenaas well as observable ones. My argument turns on the distinctionbetween data and phenomena: I discuss how unobservable phenomenamanifest themselves in data models and how theoretical modelsable to save them are chosen. I present a paradigmatic casestudy taken from the history of particle physics to illustratemy argument. The first aim of this paper is to draw attentionto the experimental practice of saving unobservable phenomena,which philosophers have overlooked for too long. The secondaim is to explore some far-reaching implications this practicemay have for the debate on scientific realism and constructiveempiricism.

1 Introduction

2 Unobservable Phenomena

2.1 Dataand phenomena

2.2 What isa data model?

2.3 Data modelsand unobservable phenomena

3 Saving Unobservable Phenomena:An Exemplar

4 The October Revolution of 1974: From the J/to Charmonium

4.1 A new unobservable phenomenon at 3.1 Ge V

4.2 How thecharmonium model saved the new unobservable phenomenon

4.2.1The J/ as a baryon–antibaryon bound state

4.2.2TheJ/ as the spin-1 meson of a model with three charmedquarks

4.2.3 The J/ as a charmonium state

5 Concluding Remarks

     

R&D, knowledge spillovers and company productivity performance

Using company accounts data for 5 countries (US, UK, Japan, France and Germany) we analyse the relationship between intangible assets and productivity. We integrate the company data with industry information on tangible and intangible investments and skill composition of the labour force. The industry data are summarised in two different taxonomies, factor and skill intensive groups, which account for differences in the knowledge intensity and innovative activities within sectors. The results provide evidence of higher productivity in R&D and skill intensive industries. This can be interpreted as evidence in favour of the presence of spillover effects.     

Classifying web genres in context: A case study documenting the web genres used by a software engineer

This case study analyzes the Internet-based resources that a software engineer uses in his daily work. Methodologically, we studied the web browser history of the participant, classifying all the web pages he had seen over a period of 12 days into web genres. We interviewed him before and after the analysis of the web browser history. In the first interview, he spoke about his general information behavior; in the second, he commented on each web genre, explaining why and how he used them. As a result, three approaches allow us to describe the set of 23 web genres obtained: (a) the purposes they serve for the participant; (b) the role they play in the various work and search phases; (c) and the way they are used in combination with each other. Further observations concern the way the participant assesses quality of web-based resources, and his information behavior as a software engineer.     

Adjunct Employment Preference: Who Wants to Be Full-Time Faculty?

Recent research suggests at least half of community college faculty who are teaching part-time would rather have a full-time appointment (Cashwell, 2009; Kramer, Gloeckner, & Jacoby, 2014). Little is known, however, about what distinguishes those voluntarily teaching part-time from those preferring a full-time faculty position. This inquiry draws from person-job fit theory to investigate adjunct faculty members’ abilities and qualifications, as well as their needs from the job itself (Edwards, 1994). Participants were 1,245 adjunct faculty teaching in 10 community colleges during the spring 2016 term. Two thirds of the participants were at least somewhat interested in becoming full-time faculty at a postsecondary institution, with 47% expressing strong, immediate interest in such a position. An ordered logistic regression model indicated that several dimensions of qualifications, job experiences, and socio-demographics predicted employment preference. Part-time faculty with higher levels of recent teaching experience in the community college setting were more likely to express a strong desire for a full-time position, as were adjuncts who utilized more job-related resources. Those who viewed the recognition and rewards given for adjunct job performance as adequate tended to be content in a part-time role. In terms of demographic characteristics, involuntarily part-time faculty were more likely to indicate economic need and self-identify as African American or Hispanic. The findings illustrate how careful attention to the distinctive backgrounds, experiences, and attitudes of part-time faculty subgroups may help college and university administrators more intentionally design policies and programs to better meet the needs of their increasingly diverse constituents.