Science Policy Makers Research Articles

Is science on trial? Expert panel discusses science, politics, and the 2016 election

In a wide-ranging conversation, science policymakers and scholars attempt to diagnose why both politicians and the public disagree on scientific issues.

Perceptions and Practices of Replication by Social and Behavioral Scientists Making Replications a Mandatory Element of Curricula Would Be Useful

We live in a time of increasing publication rates and specialization of scientific disciplines. More and more, the research community is facing the challenge of assuring the quality of research and maintaining trust in the scientific enterprise. Replication studies are necessary to detect erroneous research. Thus, the replicability of research is considered a hallmark of good scientific practice and it has lately become a key concern for research communities and science policy makers alike. In this case study we analyze perceptions and practices regarding replication studies in the social and behavioral sciences. Our analyses are based on a survey of almost 300 researchers that use data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP), a multidisciplinary longitudinal multi-cohort study. We find that more than two thirds of respondents disagree with the statement that replications are not worthwhile, because major mistakes will be found at some point anyway. Nevertheless, most respondents are not willing to spend their time to conduct replication studies. This situation can be characterized as a tragedy of the commons: everybody knows that replications are useful, but almost everybody counts on others to conduct them. Our most important finding concerning practical consequences is that among the few replications that are reported, a large majority is conducted in the context of teaching. In our view, this is a promising detail: in order to foster replicability, one avenue may be to make replication studies a mandatory part of curricula as well as of doctoral theses. Furthermore, we argue that replication studies need to be more attractive for researchers. For example, successful replications could be listed in the publication lists of replicated authors. Vice versa, data sharing needs to receive more recognition, for example by considering data production and subsequent data sharing as scientific output.

Land Ocean Interaction - Measuring and Modelling Fluxes from River Basins to Coastal Seas

The UK Land-Ocean Interaction Study (LOIS) provided a major opportunity to measure and model the processes controlling the fluxes of materials between river basins and coastal seas. The main programme of research took place between 1992 and 1998, funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council, and involved approximately 360 coastal researchers contributing to more than 70 collaborative projects. This book presents accessible summaries of key results of this research. The ten chapters of the book are written by leading contributors to the programme, and cover aspects of the physical, sedimentological, chemical and biological processes controlling fluxes between river catchments and coastal seas in temporate environments. Major overarching themes for all of the chapters include the persistence, storage, degradation and transport of pollutants from catchment to coastal sea, and an emphasis on the relevance of research for river and coastal water quality management. The chapters also describe a number of important technological advances in the measurement of processes and longer term monitoring of the fluvial, estuarine and coastal environments. Approaches to monitoring were also transferred between disciplines, in many cases for the first time. The rivers and coastal programme of LOIS was unique in its scale and inter-disciplinarity and its results are of lasting value. This book provides a useful and important summary of many of its results and an effective introduction to the research for those who want to delve more deeply into the data and published papers. It will be of interest to scientists, environmental managers and scientific policy makers. This title belongs to European Water Research Series ISBN: 9781900222105 (Print) ISBN: 9781780402222 (eBook)

Human Capital Barriers to Technological Absorption and Innovation by Ethiopia’s Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs)

Ethiopia’s private sector is dominated by micro and small enterprises (MSEs), many of them operating informally. Accordingly, a key challenge for the country’s science, technology and innovation (STI) policymakers is finding ways to ensure that these small businesses absorb external technological innovations in order to enhance their performance and allow for follow-on innovations. This policy objective has an access to knowledge (A2K) dimension, because Ethiopia’s STI policies and strategies stress the need for improved MSE access to public domain patent information as a means to improving technological absorption. However, research by the Ethiopian Intellectual Property Office (EIPO) has found that despite the efforts of the Ethiopian government to foster small-enterprise absorption of public domain technological information contained in patent documents, MSE take-up of such technology tends to be poor (Belete, 2013). In this piece, the author, former EIPO Director of Intellectual Property Policy and Planning, argues that the government’s emphasis needs to be on building human capital in MSEs, in order to improve their capacity to absorb patent information. This argument draws on literature linking technological absorption capacity to human capital levels, along with findings from an Ethiopian government survey of 3,000 MSEs (MUDC, 2013). The author recommends improved MSE collaboration with intermediary organisations such as the country’s Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions and industry development institutes.

Is Marine Conservation Science Becoming Irrelevant to Policy Makers?

The use of science in policy-making has declined dramatically around the world. One of the most obvious examples of scientific neglect is the refusal of many U.S. politicians to accept anthropogenic climate change despite overwhelming scientific evidence to the contrary. While over 97% of scientists recognize the global threat posed by human climate forcing (Oreskes, 2004a; Doran and Zimmerman, 2009; Anderegg et al., 2010; Cook et al., 2013), 72% of Republican Senators in 2014 were climate change deniers (Schulman, 2015). Senator Jim Inhofe, the chair of the US Congressional Environment and Public Works Committee is an infamous climate change denier who even published a book called “The Greatest Hoax: How the Global Warming Conspiracy Threatens Your Future” (Inhofe, 2012). Such science contrarians among politicians are not uncommon, but when directly confronted on the issue two notable climate change deniers completely sidestepped it, stating “I’m not a scientist” (Senator Mitch McConnell) and “I’m not qualified to debate the science over climate change” (past House Speaker John A. Boehner; Davenport, 2014). Another problem is the treatment of information provided by the best available science as “just another opinion” at the table, to be negotiated and compromised (e.g., Schneider, 2009; Wright, 2010). Here, we seek to shine a global spotlight on the alarming disregard for science in policy decisions affecting biodiversity conservation, mainly of relevance to marine scientists. We also suggest ways for scientific societies to speak out professionally in defense of conservation science.

Smart roadmapping for STI policy

Roadmapping is a broadly applied management instrument for developing and implementing company technology and innovation strategies. During the last years this national science, technology and innovation (STI) policy makers have become aware of the potential roadmapping offers for strategic technology and innovation management and begun applying it in the context of STI policy and priority setting in this context especially. Still reality shows that roadmapping for STI policy purposes is by far more complex than company technology and innovation roadmapping.The article therefore develops a structured, integrated and flexible approach to roadmapping for STI policy which we name “Smart Roadmapping for STI Policy”, taking into account the complexity of STI policy as well as the need for and implications of a Targeted Open Innovation approach to STI policy and the resulting requirements to roadmaps. The proposed approach is designed to allow integration in the broader policy decision making and different level STI strategy implementation.

Public Participation Organizations and Open Policy

This article builds on work in Science and Technology Studies and cognate disciplines concerning the institutionalization of public engagement and participation practices. It describes and analyses ethnographic qualitative research into one “organization of participation,” the UK government–funded Sciencewise program. Sciencewise’s interactions with broader political developments are explored, including the emergence of “open policy” as a key policy object in the UK context. The article considers what the new imaginary of openness means for institutionalized forms of public participation in science policymaking, asking whether this is illustrative of a “constitutional moment” in relations between society and science policymaking.

Dynamic development of public attitudes towards science policymaking.

Understanding the heterogeneity of mechanisms that form public attitudes towards science and technology policymaking is essential to the establishment of an effective public engagement platform. Using the 2011 public opinion survey data from Japan (n = 6,136), I divided the general public into three categories: the Attentive public, who are willing to actively engage with science and technology policymaking dialogue; the Interested public, who have moderate interest in science and technology but rely on experts for policy decisions; and the Residual public, who have minimal interest in science and technology. On the basis of the results of multivariate regression analysis, I have identified several key predispositions towards science and technology and other socio-demographic characteristics that influence the shift of individuals from one category of the general public to another. The findings provide a foundation for understanding how to induce more accountable, evidence-based science and technology policymaking.

Policy decision-making, public involvement and nuclear energy: what do expert stakeholders think and why?

Despite renewed interest in involving the general public in energy and environmental policymaking, little is known about how policy stakeholders with specialized knowledge and extensive experiences perceive the value of such activity. This study seeks to explore how a series of social, cognitive, and communication factors relates to expert stakeholders’ attitudes toward public involvement in energy policymaking. Using data from a national survey of key stakeholders involved in making high-level decisions on nuclear energy, we find governmental stakeholders are more likely to think public involvement is important when perceiving public opinion as being split. Scientists and non-profit stakeholders, however, attach high-level importance to public involvement regardless of their perception of public opinion. Additionally, the perception of a divided public for the issue of nuclear energy is driven by frequent use of online media. Perceived importance of a salient media agenda – the economics of nuclear facilities – is also significantly related to one's perceived split in public opinion. Implications of the findings with respect to promoting a two-way dialogue among citizens and expert stakeholders in science policymaking are discussed.

학생의 과학학습 관련 국내 과학교육 연구 동향 분석

Valid and effective science education would require research-based decisions on multiple aspects of science education including policy decisions, science curriculum development, designing teaching resources and methods. However, this has not been the case. In order to provide a research base for science education practices and policy-making, this study reviewed research articles published in major science education research journals in South Korea in the last ten years. The analysis was focused on 8 areas including student conceptions, student thinking, inquiry, affective domain, student ideas about science, science curriculum, students' learning and classroom activity, and student learning in informal settings. General research trends found include: First, science education research conducted for the past decade focused on a certain limited topics/areas. Second, research participants were also limited to certain grade levels or types of students. Third, rather than examining developmental processes descriptive research was prevalent. Fourth, there was a lack of research on developing new areas of study or research on generation of new perspectives, theories or tools. Fifth, many studies were related to school science learning while relatively less studies were about other areas that would impact students' future. Based on the results, we suggest several implications for science curriculum development, policy development, science teaching and learning resources, and others.

International football tournaments, emotional entrainment and the reproduction of symbolic boundaries. A case study in Germany

Understanding the social consequences of major soccer events is important for social science researchers and policy-makers alike. On the one hand, socially integrative effects are ascribed to these events. On the other hand, they are suspected of increasing the devaluation of minorities and disadvantaged groups. Sociological theories in a Durkheimian tradition suggest that the emotional entrainment that goes along with football-related rituals might play a role. We thus investigated the effects of the World Cup 2010 on the derogation of minorities and disadvantaged groups in Germany and hypothesized that the emotional entrainment is a predictor of changes in derogation. Results of our naturalistic study show significant increases in derogative attitudes after the World Cup. Contrary to our expectations, emotional entrainment is not associated with this increase. We discuss possible alternative explanations, in particular the influence of public discourse.

The kaleidoscope of disciplinarity

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to identify criteria for and definitions of disciplinarity, and how they differ between different types of literature.Design/methodology/approach– This synthesis is achieved through a purposive review of three types of literature: explicit conceptualizations of disciplinarity; narrative histories of disciplines; and operationalizations of disciplinarity.Findings– Each angle of discussing disciplinarity presents distinct criteria. However, there are a few common axes upon which conceptualizations, disciplinary narratives, and measurements revolve: communication, social features, topical coherence, and institutions.Originality/value– There is considerable ambiguity in the concept of a discipline. This is of particular concern in a heightened assessment culture, where decisions about funding and resource allocation are often discipline-dependent (or focussed exclusively on interdisciplinary endeavors). This work explores the varied nature of disciplinarity and, through synthesis of the literature, presents a framework of criteria that can be used to guide science policy makers, scientometricians, administrators, and others interested in defining, constructing, and evaluating disciplines.

Attitudinal gaps: How experts and lay audiences form policy attitudes toward controversial science

Input from scientific experts and lay audiences plays an important role in the realization of scientific advances and scientific policymaking. This study examines factors influencing expert and public attitudes toward the regulation of academic and commercial nanotechnology. Compared to scientific experts, lay publics are more likely to support the regulation of academic nanotechnology, with value predispositions playing a critical role in impacting such opinions. Among lay audiences, liberals and respondents reporting higher levels of religiosity were more likely to support regulation of both academic and commercial nanotechnology research, while those who paid greater attention to the media were more supportive of regulations for commercial research. Across the two groups, perceptions of risks relative to benefits consistently predicted attitudes toward regulation. Importantly, scientists rely less upon their value predispositions when forming regulatory attitudes, instead basing such attitudes on perceptions of regulatory impacts on scientific progress. The regulatory implications of these findings are discussed.

Sectoral systems of innovation: the case of robotics research activities

Robotics technology holds a significant promise for improving industrial automation and production lines, operating complex surgical procedures, performing space and security missions, and providing services to assist, educate and entertain humans. The emphasis of this paper is primarily on the scientific developments of robotics systems of innovation in a global perspective, identifying actors and institutions involved in developing and diffusing this innovative technology. This quantitative research is grounded on tech mining research method that is the combination of content analysis, bibliometrics and text mining. The analysis measures the scientific performance of individual countries based on robotics-related scientific publications from INSPEC database over the period 1995---2009. It discusses the role of academia, governmental institutions and firms in robotics scientific activities and further identifies the most prolific institutions involved in robotics research. The cross-country analysis sheds light on the evolution of robotics publication activities in time and reveals the relative technological specialization of individual countries in specific domains of robotics technology by the use of revealed technological advantage indices. The findings are particularly useful for science and technology policy makers and R&D strategists, presenting strengths and weaknesses of robotics innovation systems and existing and future scientific developments of robotics technology.

PENGGUNAAN STATISTIK DALAM PENELITIAN SOSIOLOGI

The usage of statistic in social research, particularly in sociology is very uncomplicated and straightforward as long as the related researcher understands the basic argument from the chosen statistic formula. The choosing of specific formula is based on the type and data quality in order to get a more precise and accurate formula. The precision and accuracy in choosing the technique and statistic formula strongly define the quality of conducted research so that the formulizing of the summary is more precise, too. Statistic is nothing but a mean to create a more “meaningful” data. The usage itself is varies and the right understanding is not only based on the number resulted manually or computerize which usually used on the SPSS program but also have to be supported with the concept and theory. Furthermore, the understanding can also be get from research result conducted by other and from a balance battle of concept and empiric fact. Simply by using this method, the results can be accepted by others and can be more meaningful particularly for the sake of science development and policy makers. One of the excellences of by using the quantitative research method that usually applies the statistic formula can be used to predict. Moreover, the results and the summary can be generalized to the condition of population so that those can be utilized by a lot of people. Keywords: Statistic, Quantitative Method, Sociological Research

Centrality and Flow Vergence gradient based Path analysis of scientific literature: A case study of Biotechnology for Engineering

Biotechnology, ever since its inception has had a huge impact on the society and its various applications have been intricately woven into the human web of life. Its evolution amidst all the other research realms vital to mankind is remarkable. In this paper, we intend to identify the radical innovations in Biotechnology for Engineering using network analyses. Centrality analysis and Path analysis are used for identifying important works. Existence of Flow Vergence effect in the scientific literature is revealed. Flow Vergence gradient, an arc metric derived from FV model, is utilised for Path analysis which detects pivotal papers of paradigm shift more accurately. A major paradigm shift has been identified in the business models of Biotechnology for Engineering — ‘Capability to Connectivity’ model. Evidence towards the adoption of business practices in BT firms by nanotechnology start-ups is also identified. The notion of critical divergence is introduced and the exhibition of interdisciplinary interaction in emerging fields due to critical divergence is discussed. Implications of above analyses which target: (i) Science and technology policy makers, (ii) industrialists and investors, (iii) researchers in academia as well as industry, are also discussed.

Editorial: Dilemmas of Modern Economy and Business

Various dilemmas concerning modern economy and business have been in the focus of scientific discussion in recent years (Klich, 2013; Renko & Knezevic, 2013; Szarucki, 2013; Agrawal & Gugnani, 2014; Pardhasaradhi & Grace, 2015). In modern economy, not only researches but corporations face complex economic and business dilemmas in their daily routine. The Joint Research Centre of the European Commission addresses key economic challenges by stimulating innovations, sustainability policies, social and environmental responsibilities. These challenges require the mobilization of significant resources by science, innovation and regional policy makers and scientific communities across Europe (EUA, 2014). Broader scientific discussions are crucial for the success of the Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. According to the Global Risks Report 2015, the biggest threat to world stability in the next 10 years arise from the four most serious economic risks. These are high structural unemployment or underemployment, energy price shock, critical information infrastructure breakdown and fiscal crises. We continuously agree that innovation is critical to global prosperity (WEF, 2015). Currently, the internationalisation of family businesses is an increasingly important research area. Substantial numbers of FBs are forced to expand into foreign markets in order to survive and grow in the competitive environment (Daszkiewicz & Wach, 2014). The roles of business angels are especially important taken both decreasing the levels of formal venture capital investment and growing average amount of individual deals. Angel investors are the key players in generating high-growth companies, essential to regional economic development. As a result, they have attracted the attention of policy makers (Rostamzadeh et. al. , 2014). Consequently, this issue of EBER concentrates on the current dilemmas of modern economy and business, particularly dealing with the Baltic States, Slovenia and Poland. Five out of eight articles published in this issue are research papers, two are conceptual papers, while one is a literature review.

Coastal residential waterways, science and policy-making: The Australian experience

Thousands of kilometres of coastal residential waterways have been constructed across the globe, mostly in estuaries. These have caused significant environmental impact demonstrating a need for proper management and planning informed by science. Additional potential impacts of climate change, specifically sea-level rise, make coastal residential waterway developments by their nature particularly vulnerable, with restricted options for adaptation. This paper analyses Australian policies on coastal residential waterways over the last 50 years and the extent to which science, including estuarine and climate change science, has been incorporated into policy decisions or policy formulation. This analysis is in the context of theories on the uptake of science in policy-making and against a background of Australian government and inter-governmental reports indicating the vulnerable nature of low-lying coastal development. This paper reveals that coastal residential waterways referred to as canal estates occur in all Australian mainland states but given the lack of any national coastal policy, the onus is on each individual state to formulate its own policies. These policies are on a continuum from explicit, detailed science-based policy guidelines in some states, through implicit scientific impacts informing political decisions in other states, to generic environmental assessment procedures without specific reference to canal estate development. This paper concludes that the extent to which science has been incorporated into policy-making for canal estates is variable across the Australian states and appears to be heavily influenced by politics.

Argue, observe, assess: Measuring disciplinary identities and differences through socio‐epistemic discourse

Calls for interdisciplinary collaboration have become increasingly common in the face of large‐scale complex problems (including climate change, economic inequality, and education, among others); however, outcomes of such collaborations have been mixed, due, among other things, to the so‐called “translation problem” in interdisciplinary research. This article presents a potential solution: an empirical approach to quantitatively measure both the degree and nature of differences among disciplinary tongues through the social and epistemic terms used (a research area we refer to as discourse epistemetrics), in a case study comparing dissertations in philosophy, psychology, and physics. Using a support‐vector model of machine learning to classify disciplines based on relative frequencies of social and epistemic terms, we were able to markedly improve accuracy over a random selection baseline (distinguishing between disciplines with as high as 90% accuracy) as well as acquire sets of most indicative terms for each discipline by their relative presence or absence. These lists were then considered in light of findings of sociological and epistemological studies of disciplines and found to validate the approach's measure of social and epistemic disciplinary identities and contrasts. Based on the findings of our study, we conclude by considering the beneficiaries of research in this area, including bibliometricians, students, and science policy makers, among others, as well as laying out a research program that expands the number of disciplines, considers shifts in socio‐epistemic identities over time and applies these methods to nonacademic epistemological communities (e.g., political groups).

A Note on PhD Population Growth in Biomedical Sciences.

The explosive increase in the number of postdocs in biomedical fields is puzzling for many science policymakers. We use our previously introduced parameter in this journal, the basic reproductive number in academia (R0 ), to make sense of PhD population growth in biomedical fields. Our analysis shows how R0 in biomedical fields has increased over time, and we estimate that there is approximately only one tenure-track position in the US for every 6.3 PhD graduates, which means the rest need to get jobs outside academia or stay in lower-paid temporary positions. We elaborate on the structural reasons and systemic flaws of science workforce development by discussing feedback loops, especially vicious cycles, which contribute to over-production of PhDs. We argue that the current system is unstable but with no easy solution. A way to mitigate the effects of strong reinforcing loops is full disclosure of the risks of getting PhD.