An evaluation of social networks within federally funded research projects

Bidossessi Dossou Kpanou,Kyle Bower,Kathleen Kelsey

doi:10.37433/aad.v1i3.65

Abstract

United States federal agencies fund research to promote discovery and innovation. Most agencies require collaboration because teams promote productivity to a greater degree than singular researchers. However, the functionality and productivity of collaboration is poorly understood. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the collaborative structure of a federally funded entomology research team to determine the characteristics of the network structure and its impact on research collaboration using social network analysis (SNA) methodology. An online survey and interviews were used to collect data. The theories of social network, strong and weak ties, and scientific collaboration were employed to determine the degree of collaboration among team members. We found a low density pattern of collaboration that was associated with: (a) a centralized pattern, (b) the presence of sub-teams functioning like sub-networks, and (c) the presence of less interactive members. Our results confirm that the SNA approach was useful for evaluating network collaboration with innovative indicators to assess the dynamics of scientific collaboration. The study was limited by non-response. Future research should focus on collecting SNA data longitudinally of the whole network to determine how networking structure and benefits evolves over time, and how strong and weak ties impact scientific discovery.

Highlights

Introduction and Problem StatementUnited States (U.S.) federal agencies fund research to promote discovery and innovation
Researchers who have worked together in the past are likely to continue their partnerships on future scientific projects (Contandriopoulos et al, 2018), while research networks are strengthened by their ability to secure additional funding having demonstrated past success
Through our mixed-method analysis we identified three explanatory factors which contributed to a nuanced understanding of the low-density network, including: (a) a centralized network pattern, (b) the presence of sub-teams functioning like sub-networks, and (c) the presence of less-interactive members

Summary

Introduction

Introduction and Problem StatementUnited States (U.S.) federal agencies fund research to promote discovery and innovation. Academic collaboration is important as it fosters scientific discovery and generates knowledge (Katz & Martin, 1997; Lee & Bozeman, 2005). Agencies such as the U.S Department of Agriculture (USDA, 2019) and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) seek to enhance the productivity and efficiency of scientific research by requiring collaboration as stated in their request for proposals (Katz & Martin, 1997; Lee & Bozeman, 2005). Researchers who have worked together in the past are likely to continue their partnerships on future scientific projects (Contandriopoulos et al, 2018), while research networks are strengthened by their ability to secure additional funding having demonstrated past success

Objectives

Methods

Results