Showing papers in "Social Studies of Science in 1983"
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors scrutinized the literature on correlates and determinants of publication productivity among scientists and concluded that publication is a critical assessment of research productivity through publication among scientists.
Abstract: This article is a critical assessment of research productivity through publication among scientists. The article scrutinizes the literature on correlates and determinants of publication productivit...
453 citations
TL;DR: This paper examines the ways in which chains of inference are simplified at all stages of the research work, from research design and sampling to publication, to find out what constraints operate to make this deletion necessary.
Abstract: This paper presents an empirical analysis of simplification processes in the scientific work place. Any scientific task involves complex sets of problems and contingencies. But the conclusions prod...
171 citations
TL;DR: It is argued that the agricultural context of the ABA was crucial for the development of American genetics and for the course of the American eugenics movement.
Abstract: The American Breeders' Association was the first national membership-based organization promoting genetic and eugenic research in the United States. Founded by agricultural scientists in 1903, the ABA was a national analogue of those regional agricultural societies active in support of scientific agriculture. I argue that the agricultural context of the Association was crucial for the development of American genetics and for the course of the American eugenics movement. The practical interests of agricultural scientists encouraged early attention to Mendelian, biometric and cytological studies, resulting in widespread adoption of such methods by American scientists, thanks to the extensiveness of the nation's agricultural research system. Also, consonant social aims of the eugenics movement and the Country Life movement, which involved many ABA agriculturalists, helps account for the eugenicists' rapid and easy access to a national organization and journal.
83 citations
TL;DR: In this article, an examination of X-ray astronomy during its formative years (1960-75) suggests that ''marginal'' scientists are no more likely than others to contribute innovations, a finding contrary to most other studies.
Abstract: Sociologists and historians of science have frequently used the concept of the `marginal man' to describe those most likely to contribute major scientific innovations. An examination of X-ray astronomy during its formative years (1960-75) suggests that `marginal' scientists are no more likely than others to contribute innovations, a finding contrary to most other studies. Moreover, the concept of marginality is, in its present use, so ambiguous as to be almost worthless as a conceptual tool for systematic inquiry into the sources of scientific innovation.
70 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a methodology for assessing the comparative scientific performance of large basic research facilities (and their associated user groups) working in the same specialty, and applied this method of ''converging partial indicators'' to an evaluation of the contributions to science made by a number of radio telescopes.
Abstract: In a parallel paper, we have outlined a methodology for assessing the comparative scientific performance of large basic research facilities (and their associated user groups) working in the same specialty, and applied this method of `converging partial indicators' to an evaluation of the contributions to science made by a number of radio telescopes. In this paper, we employ this methodology to evaluate the scientific performance of various optical telescopes — in particular, the 2.5-metre Isaac Newton Telescope, operated as a central facility by the Royal Greenwich Observatory in South-East England. For several years, this was Britain's only major optical telescope, as well as being the largest such instrument in Europe. We compare its performance over the last decade with that of three American telescopes of similar size. This paper has three aims: first, to ascertain whether the method of converging partial indicators, originally applied to radio astronomy, provides a more general policy tool that can b...
58 citations
TL;DR: Seventy-two scientists (psychologists, biologists, and physicists) from a large US midwestern state university completed a questionnaire designed to assess understanding of the principles of formalism.
Abstract: Seventy-two scientists (psychologists, biologists, and physicists) from a large US midwestern state university completed a questionnaire designed to assess understanding of the principles of formal
53 citations
TL;DR: An attempt is made to confront the problem of disciplines, starting within the theoretical framework of Bourdieu's `scientific field', and the conquest of the disciplinary form appears as a kind of struggle in the `field'.
Abstract: The differentiation of knowledge is a problem that in the sociology of science has mainly been treated in terms of units of innovation known as `scientific specialties' or `research networks'. These units have thus achieved the status of sociologically constructed concepts. Disciplines, on the contrary, have been relatively ignored and their conceptualization has, for the most part, remained at the level of common sense. In this paper, an attempt is made, with the aid of the quite particular case of chronobiology, to confront the problem of disciplines, starting within the theoretical framework of Bourdieu's `scientific field'. In this light, the conquest of the disciplinary form appears as a kind of struggle in the `field'. The derivative institutional frontiers can then be understood as the consequence of the reification of what one may call the `disciplinary stake', which corresponds to an attempt to exercise a professional mode of control in a particular domain of knowledge. The `disciplinary stake' i...
39 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the mathematical assumptions underlying the Poisson distribution, and their correspondence to the theories, and they find that a negatively contagious poisson distribution is equally consistent with the observed distribution of grade of multiples, since its basic assumptions are more consistent with our understanding of the discovery process.
Abstract: After discussing the issues of validity and reliability in the measurement of multiple discoveries and their implications for testing alternative theories, we examine the mathematical assumptions underlying the Poisson distribution, and their correspondence to the theories. We find that a negatively contagious Poisson distribution is equally consistent with the observed distribution of grade of multiples, and since its basic assumptions are more consistent with our understanding of the discovery process, there are ample grounds for rejecting the alternative `chance' theory advanced by Simonton, among others. Lastly, we explore some elements of the Zeitgeist theory which appear to provide a more plausible interpretation of the phenomena, particularly regarding the role of communication in modern science, and report some findings in support of this approach.
35 citations
TL;DR: The previously unaccounted activities of the Munitions Inventions Department of the UK Ministry of Munitions were examined in this paper, one of the largest and most productive departments of several government agencies.
Abstract: This paper examines the previously unaccounted activities of the Munitions Inventions Department of the UK Ministry of Munitions — one of the largest and most productive of several government advis...
31 citations
TL;DR: The relativists in the history and sociology of science have recently claimed that whatever the status of the philosophical debate, their empirical programme is very successful: relativistic case studies meet little criticism on the empirical level as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Relativists in the history and sociology of science have recently claimed that whatever the status of the philosophical debate, their empirical programme is very successful: relativistic case studies meet little criticism on the empirical level. In this paper I try to redress the balance, a little, by repeating and elaborating some objections to two cases which relativists have frequently used to support their general claims about the nature of science. A crucial objection to the relativist interpretations of the Pasteur-Pouchet debate over spontaneous generation, and of the biometrician-Mendelian debate over the nature of heredity, is that they are based on inadequate understanding of the scientific issues. When these misunderstandings are cleared up, interpretations in the rationalist tradition become much easier to uphold.
20 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a content analysis of testimony of pro-and anti-nuclear witnesses speaking on nuclear reactor safety before the US Congressional Joint Committee on Atomic Energy in 1973-74 is presented.
Abstract: This paper addresses some sociological and political factors related to the creation, use, and control of knowledge and information in technical disputes. This is accomplished by way of a content analysis of testimony of pro- and anti-nuclear witnesses speaking on nuclear reactor safety before the US Congressional Joint Committee on Atomic Energy in 1973-74. The analysis attempts to show how competing social groups impose their `world views' as cognitive, non-evaluative definitions of reality, and that some groups are in a better political position to achieve this through the use of influence and power. The findings suggest that the use of evaluative intelligence in the hearings is a function of location in the political process rather than simply a function of group affiliation as such. It is concluded that the state of cognitive knowledge itself may play a more limited role than we think in determining the kinds of informational inputs to the policy process. Future research should concentrate on the way...
TL;DR: The authors compare the prehistories of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) in the US, and Kō Enerugii Butsurigaku Kenkyusho (KEK) in Japan, revealing the working of both internationalism and nationalism in high energy physics.
Abstract: Comparison of the prehistories of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) in the US, and Kō Enerugii Butsurigaku Kenkyusho (KEK) in Japan, reveals the working of both internationalism and nationalism in high energy physics. International communication and competition helped to create a number of structural parallels from the 1930s to the 1960s; for example, in the postwar period both countries formed their first inter-university government-supported accelerator laboratories; at the turn of the 1960s nuclear physicists in both countries debated about the choice of design for their next higher energy accelerator; and both chose proton synchrotron designs traceable to a common conceptual root. Although Fermilab and KEK progressed through analogous stages in 1960-65, national circumstances caused these developments to diverge in the late 1960s, resulting in a sizeable cut in scale and costly delays in the establishment of KEK.
TL;DR: In this article, the bibliometric methodology of citation tabulation is applied to the problem of identifying highly cited Soviet scientific areas, and the consensus was that these lists were indicative of areas of strong Soviet research and that lists of institutions producing these papers included the important Soviet labs.
Abstract: The bibliometric methodology of citation tabulation is applied to the problem of identifying highly cited Soviet scientific areas. A general lack of highly cited Soviet papers is apparent. A further indication of the isolation of Soviet science is the existence of two discrete sets of highly cited Soviet papers, one set published in Soviet journals and cited by Soviet scientists, and a second set published in international journals and cited by non-Soviet scientists. The lists of highly cited papers were reviewed by experts in the field. The consensus was that these lists were indicative of areas of strong Soviet research and that lists of institutions producing these papers included the important Soviet labs.
TL;DR: In this article, three models of secondary school science, namely ''product, inquiry and relevance'' are considered, and suggestions are made about how STS teaching can be developed in each model.
Abstract: STS teaching is at present underdeveloped at the level of secondary education in Britain. This paper suggests that while integrated curricula undeniably present the best opportunity for future STS curriculum design, other possibilities exist which remain substantially unexploited. These possibilities can be ascertained from an analysis of models of secondary school science. Three models — `product', `inquiry' and `relevance' — are considered, and suggestions are made about how STS teaching can be developed in each.
TL;DR: In this article, the consequences of incommensurability for citation practice are operationalized for two case studies of theory competition in physics, and it is argued that positive co-citation will be observed if theories are commensurable.
Abstract: The consequences of incommensurability for citation practice are operationalized for two case studies of theory competition in physics. It is argued that positive co-citation will be observed if theories are commensurable, but a lack of co-citation among competitors will be observed if theories are incommensurable. Incommensurable theories should be cited with supporting empirical and methodological articles, but not with each other. The operational indicator is applied to a case of theory competition in superconductivity and to a re-analysis of longitudinal co-citation data among theories of weak-electromagnetic unification. It is also shown that the operational definition breaks down in competition at the hypothesis level.
TL;DR: The paradox that a radical movement like the Labour Movement is prepared to acknowledge the authority of the natural sciences, produced and applied by their political opponents, can be partially explained by noting that the sciences are not just a weapon in, but also the object of, its political struggles.
Abstract: This paper deals with the relationships between the German Labour Movement of the late nineteenth century and the contemporary natural sciences. The view of the natural sciences and of their role in society, developed by the Labour Movement, is sketched: they are considered to be an important driving force of social progress, in their technical/economic aspects, as well as in their ideological/political aspects. The relationship between natural sciences and socialist theory of the time is analyzed — particularly the attempts made to model socialist theory after the example of the sciences, in order to confer on it a comparable objectivity. In the third section, the similarities and differences between the contemporary bourgeois understanding of science and the view of science developed by the Labour Movement are discussed. The paradox that a radical movement like the Labour Movement is prepared to acknowledge the authority of the natural sciences, produced and applied by their political opponents, can be ...
TL;DR: A study of women university teachers of natural science in England and Wales was undertaken, by mail questionnaire, during the academic year 1971-72 as discussed by the authors, which was designed to examine women scientists' preference for the life sciences, and to test the hypothesis that they tend to have atypical family and educational backgrounds.
Abstract: A study of women university teachers of natural science in England and Wales was undertaken, by mail questionnaire, during the academic year 1971-72. It was designed to examine women scientists' preference for the life sciences, and to test the hypothesis that they tend to have atypical family and educational backgrounds. The findings support the primary hypothesis that certain social and educational factors may pre-dispose women to become scientists, despite the wider consensus that science is a `masculine' field. Respondents were often found to have those familial features generally associated with high-ranking men, to be related to other older scientists, and to have been to single-sex schools. One third were unmarried, and a further third had no children. A secondary hypothesis, in terms of nurturance and role-consonance, to explain women scientists' preference for biological disciplines, was not confirmed. This Note presents the survey data. A bibliography is added to facilitate an understanding of t...
TL;DR: In this article, the attitudes of scientists of different cultural backgrounds towards work were examined in two samples of scientists who have recently emigrated to Israel, from the USSR and USA, and the findings showed considerable transnational similarity in respondents' importance rankings of a set of work characteristics pertaining to the professional role per se.
Abstract: This study examines the attitudes of scientists of different cultural backgrounds towards work. Two samples of scientists who have recently emigrated to Israel, from the USSR and USA, are investigated. The findings show considerable transnational similarity in respondents' importance rankings of a set of work characteristics pertaining to the professional role per se. However, the meanings that scientists attach to particular work characteristics - namely, the 'opportunity to contribute to society' - are conceived within different frameworks and contexts of meaning by the two national groups. The effect of other contextual factors on work orientation, such as academic degree, discipline, and organizational setting, are also investigated.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors draw a line of demarcation between men like Coleridge and those like his friend Sir Humphry Davy who were, we are in no doubt, really scientists.
Abstract: In 1840 J.S. Mill surveyed the intellectual landscape around him and reported that it was dominated by two great figures: Jeremy Bentham and Samuel Taylor Coleridge.' Between them, he said, they defined the terms of reflective thought, embodying the choices that had to be made and the dilemmas that had to be resolved. Cold calculation or warm sentiment? Individualism or community? Utilitarianism or Romanticism? If Mill was right then we should expect to find these two currents of thought flowing through all the cultural products of that time. This seems plausible if we are dealing with philosophy or economic theory or political rhetoric, but what about science? While there may seem to be a natural affinity between science and utilitarianism, the link with the romantic tradition is less easy to grasp. The temptation is to say that the idealist metaphysicians, and nature-philosophers who belonged to this tradition, were not contributing to science so much as perverting it. They might be using it, or extrapolating it, but they were not doing it. In short, we draw a line of demarcation between men like Coleridge and those like his friend Sir Humphry Davy who were, we are in no doubt, really scientists. Trevor Levere's fascinating book, Poetry Realized in Nature: Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Early Nineteenth-Century Science, is one of a number of recent works that are helping to challenge our
TL;DR: In this article, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (CLOS) has been studied for the effect of international law on marine science and the patterns of interaction among scientists.
Abstract: The sociology of science has remained silent on the manner in which international law transforms the structure of scientific communities and the patterns of interaction among scientists. The effect of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on marine science provides an opportunity for exploring the impact of international law on science. The history of the Law of the Sea treaty negotiations and the on-going knowledge generating processes of marine scientific research clearly reveal the political-economic context of international science and provide a basis for future studies in the sociology of science.
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TL;DR: For a while during the 1970s the race-intelligence controversy made Jensen and Eysenck household names on many British and American campuses, but from the mid-1970s more detached perspectives on the controversy began to emerge, produced by academics writing in relative safety from behind the front lines.
Abstract: For a while during the 1970s the race-intelligence controversy made Jensen and Eysenck household names on many British and American campuses. The extent of their political impact offcampus is difficult to judge, but the academic literature which they provoked is enormous. Initially it consisted of hundreds of technical discussions, largely confined to journals of psychology and education. From the mid-1970s, however, more detached perspectives on the controversy began to emerge, produced by academics writing in relative safety from behind the front lines; in