Formal relationships

About: Formal relationships is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 86 publications have been published within this topic receiving 1706 citations.

Delineation of the social network and differences in network size

Abstract: There is a long-standing tradition in the field of gerontology of studying the social networks of the aged. Most studies focus on the support networks of the elderly and describe their personal networks by means of the supportive features of their relationships. Some studies define a social network as a set of persons with whom specific types of support are exchanged (Fischer, Jackson, Stueve, Gerson, Jones, & Baldassare, 1977; Wellman, 1981) or include relationships that are to some degree important to the focal person (Kahn & Antonucci, 1980). All these definitions narrow the study of social networks down to structures in which support is exchanged (Antonucci, 1985). However, individuals maintain many relationships in which very little if any support is exchanged. Social interaction can also be based on more or less institutionalized formal relationships, for example, those with relatives, coworkers, fellow members of organizations, and neighbours. Researchers who use these institutionalized relationships as their point of departure take living arrangements, household composition, marital status, and employment status as criteria for network membership (Berkman & Syme, 1979; Brody, Poulshock, and Masciocchi, 1978; Lin, 1982; Shanas, L979).

Natural and formal infinities

Abstract: Concepts of infinity usually arise by reflecting on finite experiences and imagining them extended to the infinite. This paper will refer to such personal conception as natural infinities.Research has shown that individuals' natural conceptions of infinity are `labile and self-contradictory' (Fischbein et al.,1979, p. 31). The formal approach to mathematics in the twentieth century attempted to rationalize these inconsistencies by selecting a finite list of specific properties (or axioms) from which the conception of a formal infinity is built by formal deduction. By beginning with different properties of finite numbers, such as counting,ordering or arithmetic,different formal systems may be developed. Counting and ordering lead to cardinal and ordinal number theory and the properties of arithmetic lead to ordered fields that may contain infinite and infinitesimalquantities. Cardinal and ordinal numbers can be added and multiplied but not divided or subtracted. The operations of cardinals are commutative, but the operations of ordinals are not. Meanwhile an ordered field has a full system of arithmetic in which the reciprocals of infinite elements are infinitesimals. Thus, while natural concepts of infinity may contain built-in contradictions, there are several different kinds of formal infinity, each with its own coherent properties, yet each system having properties that differ from the others. The construction of both natural and formal infinities are products of human thought and so may be considered in terms of embodied cognition' (Lakoff and Nunez,2000). The viewpoint forwarded here, however, is that formal deduction focuses as far as possible on formal logic in preference to perceptual imagery, developing a network of formal properties that do not depend on specific embodiments. Indeed, I shall show that formal theory can lead to structure theorems, whose formal properties may then be re-interpreted as a more subtle form of embodied imagery. Not only can natural embodied theory inspire theorems to be proved formally, but formal theory can also feed back into human embodiment, now subtly enhanced by the underlying network of formal relationships.

Bug Report Networks: Varieties, Strategies, and Impacts in a F/OSS Development Community.

Abstract: Our empirical research has shown that a predominant structural feature of defect tracking repositories is the evolving "bug report network" (BRN). Community members create BRNs by progressively asserting various formal and informal relationships between bug reports (BRs). In one F/OSS bug repository under study, participants assert two formal relationships (duplications and dependencies) and various informal relationships (like "see also" references). BRNs can be interpreted as (1) information ordering strategies that support collocation of related BRs, decreasing cognitive and organizational effort; (2) sense-making strategies wherein BRNs provide more refined representations of software and workorganization issues; (3) social ordering strategies that rearrange collective relationships among community members. This paper presents findings from an investigation of the nature, extent, and impact of BRNs in one large F/OSS development community. We investigate whether and how specific classes of BRNs influence problem management within the community, and identify several new research questions.

Context and Mentoring: Examining Formal and Informal Relationships in High Tech Firms and K-12 Schools:

Abstract: Mentoring relationships have been increasingly used as a means for leadership development across a range of contexts. However, it is unclear whether mentoring and its outcomes are a function of the type of mentoring provided within an organization 's context. To begin to address this issue, the present study examines the effects of mentoring relationship type (formal vs. informal) and organizational context (high tech carporate firms vs. K-12 schools) on proteges' perception of mentoring functions and outcomes using data from 88 working professionals. Results of MANCOVA indicated that mentoring relationship type and organizational context interacted to influence proteges' ratings of career development, role modeling and organizational commitment. Proteges in informal relationships reported higher levels of psychosocial support received than proteges in formal relationships. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.