journal article
LitStream Collection
Home
Thelwall, Mike; Kousha, Kayvan; Abdoli, Mahshid; Stuart, Emma; Makita, Meiko; Wilson, Paul; Levitt, Jonathan
doi: 10.1002/asi.24881pmid: N/A
International collaboration is sometimes encouraged in the belief that it generates higher quality research or is more capable of addressing societal problems. Nevertheless, while there is evidence that the journal articles of international teams tend to be more cited than average, perhaps from increased international audiences, there is no science‐wide direct academic evidence of a connection between international collaboration and research quality. This article empirically investigates the connection between international collaboration and research quality for the first time, with 148,977 UK‐based journal articles with post publication expert review scores from the 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF). Using an ordinal regression model controlling for collaboration, international partners increased the odds of higher quality scores in 27 out of 34 Units of Assessment (UoAs) and all Main Panels. The results therefore give the first large scale evidence of the fields in which international co‐authorship for articles is usually apparently beneficial. At the country level, the results suggests that UK collaboration with other high research‐expenditure economies generates higher quality research, even when the countries produce lower citation impact journal articles than the United Kingdom. Worryingly, collaborations with lower research‐expenditure economies tend to be judged lower quality, possibly through misunderstanding Global South research goals.
Urban, Alex; Bossaller, Jenny Simpson
doi: 10.1002/asi.24882pmid: N/A
Because of awe's properties as a knowledge emotion, awe elicitors can increase awareness of knowledge gaps, boost scientific interest, and promote inquiry. However, the relationship between awe and exploratory behavior, such as information seeking, remains unclear. Using a multi‐method approach, this study asked how and to what extent awe fosters information seeking. This question was examined through a two‐pronged approach. First, in a laboratory setting, participants (n = 32) were exposed to a variety of awe elicitors through a virtual reality (VR) head‐mounted display. Participants' quantitative and qualitative responses were gathered immediately after exposure in the laboratory as well as 24 h later through questionnaires. Second, after establishing a stratified sample of participants who voluntarily conducted information seeking (n = 8), the study shifted to phenomenologically‐informed interviews. This study found that exposure to specific VR scenes piqued participants' curiosity, especially toward representations of phenomena with unknown or unexplained origins. However, self‐motivated exploration only occurred in limited circumstances, particularly toward awe elicitors tinged with supernatural causality. In sum, this study introduces a new research direction within information science, illustrates how understudied awe elicitors pique curiosity, and provides a nuanced, qualitative report on the phenomenon of technology‐induced awe.
Chen, Kejun; Zhao, Yuehua; Song, Ningyuan; Han, Yufei; Peng, Jiaer; Wang, Jiaqing
doi: 10.1002/asi.24883pmid: N/A
Online health communities (OHCs) function as significant platforms that people use to obtain information and emotional support. Despite many studies on user behavior and relationships, little attention has been paid to user identities and how different layers of identities are interwoven. To address this potential research gap, this study examined users' relationship‐layer identities and their evolution by elaborating on the communication theory of identity (CTI) and social support theory. Additionally, based on our previous study on users' personal‐layer identities in OHCs, we investigated how users' relationship‐layer identities interacted with their personal‐layer identities. This study classified users' posts and replies into providing informational support, seeking informational support, providing emotional support, seeking emotional support, and companionship using the bidirectional encoder representation from transformers (BERT), with F1‐scores above 0.848. Through social network analysis, this study found that users of OHCs constructed their relationship‐layer identities more through informational interactions than through emotional interactions. Users with various personal‐layer identities presented different relationship‐layer identities. Users' relationships were more initiated by information exchange, and users with more interactions had more companionship activities. OHCs provided efficient communication channels for people to exchange social support.
Van der Sluis, Frans; Faure, Julien; Homnual, Sofie Phutachard
doi: 10.1002/asi.24884pmid: N/A
Information qualities such as usefulness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness are to some extent subjective. Information resources have different meanings to different people and at different moments. This apparent subjectivity hinders indexing based on qualities for retrieval and filtering purposes. We conceptualize this as the subjectivity problem and address it through two studies. Study One explores whether, on public fora, people consider qualities as claims they should agree upon. Study Two explores, through a vignettes study, which conditions foster this inter‐subjective validity of quality claims. We conclude that information qualities become agreeable given the right set of conditions. We discuss the need for transparency about information qualities and quality considerations in order to offer these conditions to end users.
McKay, Dana; Makri, Stephann; Gutierrez‐Lopez, Marisela; Porlezza, Colin; Macfarlane, Andrew; Cooper, Glenda; Missaoui, Sondess
doi: 10.1002/asi.24885pmid: N/A
Information is powerful; it can influence peoples' views and, in turn, their behavior. Much recent research and discussion on the role information plays in view change has focused on filter bubbles, echo chambers and misinformation and how they might influence what people think and how they act. However, no prior work has focused specifically on understanding the human information behavior (HIB) that drives and facilitates view change. We report findings from interviews with 18 people who recently changed views on issues they considered important. We found a tight symbiotic relationship between HIB and view change; passive information encountering sparked change, often spurring follow‐up active seeking and verification which progressed the change to a “point of no return,” supported making the change and reinforced the decision to change. When shared, information that contributed to the change sometimes sparked changes in others (as did expressing or debating the change), serving as an information encounter that perpetuated a cycle of HIB and view change. This understanding of the integral role of HIB in view change can inform policy and systems design to promote view change autonomy and a broader research agenda of understanding HIB to support democratic principles and values.
Showing 1 to 8 of 8 Articles