Traditional Research Activities Research Articles

Citizen Science Helps in Tracking the Range Expansions of Non-Indigenous and Neo-Native Species in Greece and Cyprus (Eastern Mediterranean Sea)

Raising knowledge of the dispersal of non-indigenous species (NIS) in new geographic areas is a matter of major concern, as alien species may outcompete the native biota through competition, predation, and hybridization. In the Mediterranean Sea, where biological invasions constitute a serious threat, the combined use of citizen science and social networks amplified the results obtained via traditional research activities, often recording species that would otherwise presumably have passed unnoticed. We hereby report unpublished data for five NIS (the annelid Branchiomma luctuosum, the shrimp Saron marmoratus and the fishes Lutjanus argentimaculatus, Oxyurichthys petersii, and specimens of the group of Abudefduf saxatilis/vaigiensis/troschelii) and one neo-native species (Seriola fasciata) in Greece and Cyprus (eastern Mediterranean Sea), the majority of which were obtained via a focused citizen-science project and constitute new records at a country level. We also revise and update their known distribution in the invaded area, thus contributing to the study of large-scale and well-defined distributional patterns of alien species spreading in the Mediterranean Sea.

Exploring the work and competence of interactive researchers

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide insight into the competence in use when working with interactive research, which is a continuation and elaboration of action research.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative research approach was adopted for the study. The main body of empirical material in this paper is based on two sources of data – a survey comprising open-ended questions, followed by a series of focus group interviews. The respondents were researchers with varying degrees of experience in using interactive research.FindingsThe findings provide illustrations of what characterises interactive research as work and identify an additional set of activities that go beyond traditional research activities. Some activities are relatively easy to describe, while others exist in the gaps between other activities – e.g. boundary spanning – and are harder to explicitly define in terms of implications for the involved researchers’ competence. The work activities reaching beyond the traditional research boundaries are implicit and are not a common shared practice. From a competence point of view, this implies that the competence in use for these implicit tasks of interactive research becomes individually carried. Based on these findings, a number of individual aspects of what constitutes competence in use are suggested.Research limitations/implicationsIn future studies, it would be valuable to use a mixed-method approach that also includes longitudinal observations of the actual work of conducting interactive research.Practical implicationsThe findings and suggestions for how to understand the competence of interactive researchers can be used as guidance for training in research education.Originality/valueThis study contributes to previous research by describing important requirements and critical elements of competence in use when conducting interactive research.

Why is research–practice collaboration so challenging to achieve? A creative tourism experiment

Within tourism research, there has been little attention to research–practice knowledge exchange during the research process nor to practice-based research. This article examines a research-and-application project on creative tourism in which research–practice collaboration is explicitly foregrounded and made central. Through a reflexive process, the challenges this hybrid approach embodies and the pragmatic dilemmas that accompany the complexities of building closer research–practice relations and capturing practice-based knowledge are examined in three strategic areas: developing spaces for ongoing knowledge exchange, enabling practitioners to take on the role of co-researcher, and fostering researchers’ close attention to the application side of the project. In the context of the CREATOUR project, hybrid roles question who can do research, reinforce consideration of the added value of research processes for practitioners, and lead researchers to go beyond traditional research activities, with this ‘disruptive’ context causing tensions, uncertainties, and dynamic co-learning situations. Ongoing interactions over time are necessary to build relations, understanding, and trust, while flexibility and responsiveness are vital to address emerging issues. Training on research–practice collaboration, knowledge transfer, and mentorship techniques for both researchers and practitioners is advised. Challenges in integrating practice-based knowledge directly into research articles suggest a customized communication platform may be a useful ‘bridging’ mechanism between practice-based and academic knowledge systems.

Differentiating Research, Quality Improvement, and Case Studies to Ethically Incorporate Pregnant Women

Pregnant women have been called therapeutic orphans because data supporting common interventions, medications, health teaching, and models of care are meager. The generation of quality evidence benefits from proactive approaches that ensure ethical standards are met to protect participants. The purpose of this article is to differentiate among health care, quality improvement, and research and to discuss ethical involvement of women who are pregnant and potentially childbearing in these initiatives. Health care is provided to protect and improve individual health. Quality improvement aims to enhance delivery of care for all those receiving care in particular settings. Research, whether retrospective or prospective, is designed to contribute to generalizable knowledge. This review includes vignettes to distinguish between research, quality improvement, and case study dissemination and to highlight the value of publication of information with applicability beyond a single site. As a community, perinatal care providers will be able to contribute more evidence to guide care if they err on the side of seeking institutional review board approval for activities that examine the care and outcomes of pregnant women and the fetus. Traditional research activities, including clinical trials, remain crucial. However, to fill gaps in knowledge, we must expedite our ability to report informative cases, examine clinical data, share lessons learned during quality improvement campaigns, and publish and disseminate these findings. Accelerating improvements in care demands expansion of the evidence base.

Characterizing the Use of Research-Community Partnerships in Studies of Evidence-Based Interventions in Children’s Community Services

This study characterized the use of research community partnerships (RCPs) to tailor evidence-based intervention, training, and implementation models for delivery across different childhood problems and service contexts using a survey completed by project principal investigators and community partners. To build on previous RCP research and to explicate the tacit knowledge gained through collaborative efforts, the following were examined: (1) characteristics of studies using RCP models; (2) RCP functioning, processes, and products; (3) processes of tailoring evidence-based practices for community implementation; and (4) perceptions of the benefits and challenges of collaborating with community providers and consumers. Results indicated that researchers were solely or jointly involved in the formation of almost all of the RCPs; interpersonal and operational processes were perceived as primary challenges; community partners' roles included greater involvement in implementation and participant recruitment than more traditional research activities; and the partnership process was perceived to increase the relevance and "fit" of interventions and research.

Towards integrated research in fisheries science

In this paper we present a call for a re-directing fisheries science towards an integrated scientific activity which includes the trajectory of fish from eggs and their life underwater to consumption on the table. We propose that integrated research in fisheries science be defined as “interdisciplinary research for society and human well-being which deals with the sustainability of dynamic fisheries systems, taking various knowledge, values, and needs into account.” As an integrative discipline, fisheries science offers many advantages to overcoming the limitations of the traditional sciences. The ability to conduct traditional research activities based on each academic discipline is a prerequisite to participating in integrated research. However, “additional processes” are needed, such as the introduction of new integrated thinking, joint determination of the research framework, mutual learning by participating researchers, interaction with stakeholders, among others. Integrated research in fisheries science would allow overall influences to be analyzed, including exogenous factors such as environmental changes and other marine industries. Walleye pollock Theragra chalcogramma provides a good model species for analyzing future scenarios of the structure of the industry as well as potential strategies for addressing and considering the effects of other highly fluctuating resources. One of the most challenging topics is identifying possible paths from a depleted stock to its future recovery. Scientific analyses on “How fast?” “Who should bear the costs?” “When it will occur”, etc., should be conducted by close interactions with stakeholders.

Addressing the Challenges of Commercializing New Thermoelectric Materials

The time it takes for new thermoelectric materials to make the transition from first announcement in peer-reviewed publications to commercialization is undesirably long. As a result, universities, laboratories, government agencies, commercial users, and venture funding providers throughout the world have not supported research in the field to the level that would be expected for such an otherwise promising technology. This delay also has led to some misdirection of research efforts and a lack of availability of dependable long-term sponsorship commitments to research in the field. From the perspective of commercial users, this presentation discusses the challenges that the thermoelectric material research community faces in creating materials of commercial value. These challenges are broken down into objectives for both the traditional research activities related to improving ZT and those efforts needed to satisfy other, less recognized requirements which, if unaddressed, can significantly impede or even prevent commercialization. The ZT thresholds that enable much larger markets are presented for power generation, cooling, heating, and temperature control materials. Other important considerations, including semiconductor to metal interface (metallization) properties, material stability and constituent requirements, and costs and environmental-impact-related requirements are discussed. At the system level, factors that impede material development are identified, including challenges arising from a lack of property measurement repeatability among different organizations. Approaches and results are compared with that of the more heavily funded and rapidly developing photovoltaic field. The presentation concludes with recommendations for measures to accelerate thermoelectric material commercialization.

Assessing academic contributions in landscape architecture

There is an increasing demand for research in landscape architecture to inform design decision making. The role of the faculty in departments of landscape architecture has changed from one of educating professionals to one that includes contributing to research and to the development of the discipline. This paper develops a framework for assessing the contribution of faculty in landscape architecture. It proposes a reconsideration of Boyer’s [Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities of the Professoriate, The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Princeton, NJ, 1990; Building Community: A New Future for Architecture Education and Practice, The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Princeton, NJ, 1996] scholarship framework by clarifying the definition of scholarship as research, and identifies research, teaching and service as contributions to academe. Furthermore, it proposes that design, teaching and service can be either topics of research or products of research, but are not, by definition, research. This framework clarifies the issue of how design fits into the academic environment, and provides concrete guidelines for the assessment of both traditional research activities and non-traditional activities such as design. Boyer [Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities of the Professoriate, The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Princeton, NJ, 1990; Building Community: A New Future for Architecture Education and Practice, The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Princeton, NJ, 1996] identifies six main criteria that should be considered in the review of scholarship: clear goals; adequate preparation; appropriate methods; significant results; effective communication; and reflective critique. These criteria have been adapted in light of the argument developed by this paper for peer review, new or substantially improved insight, and universal accessibility as the overarching criteria for contributions to academe. The result is a set of detailed checklists for the assessment of published research and of other contributions to academe (such as teaching and design), which are communicated through other vehicles.

Promoting Effective Methods of Learning and Teaching Statistics and Operational Research

Promoting Effective Methods of Learning and Teaching Statistics and Operational Research Volume/Issue Vol 1, Issue 2 Date Monday, 1 May, 2000 Journal Name MSOR Connections Author(s) Neville Davies Abstract The Learning and Teaching Support Network (LTSN) Centre in Maths, Stats & OR was established on 1 January 2000 and is funded for at least five years. The statistics & OR subjects are the responsibility of the Royal Statistical Society Centre for Statistical Education (RSSCSE) at the Nottingham Trent University, in conjunction with the Department of Statistics at Glasgow University. The following aims and objectives are based upon the original LTSN bid document made to the UK Higher Education funding authorities, but with particular emphasis placed on what we hope to achieve in statistics & OR. The aims are to: Raise the profile of learning and teaching statistics & OR, eventually to be on a par with traditional research activities as regarded by panels for the Research Assessment Exercise; Establish a UK-wide learning and teaching community in statistics & OR; Make a difference in learning and teaching statistics & OR that will benefit students. The objectives are to: Identify champions of good practice in learning and teaching;

From research to practice: one organizational model for promoting research-based practice.

This paper describes a framework used by the National Institute for Nursing in Oxford to integrate research, development and practice. With the increasing attention given to the topic of how research findings are implemented into clinical practice, it was felt important to share the challenges that have arisen in attempting to combine traditional research activities with more practice-based development work. The emerging conceptual framework, structures and functions are described, highlighting the variety of partnerships to be established in order to achieve the goal of integrating research into practice. While the underpinning principles of the framework-generating knowledge, implementing research into practice and evaluating the effectiveness of programmes-are not new, it is the way they have been combined within an organizational structure that could be helpful to others considering such a strategy. Both the strengths and weaknesses of the framework are discussed, a number of conclusions drawn as to its robustness and consideration given to its replication.

Encouraging and evaluating scholarship for the college teacher

AbstractScholarly work, the best way for college teachers to keep vitalized, can be assessed as effectively as traditional research activities.