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Dissertation
Longitudinal cocited author mapping and intellectual structure: a test of congruence in two scientific literatures
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Drexel University
Jun 1985
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17918/00002061
Abstract
This research presents: (1) a description of the changing intellectual structure in two subject areas-macroeconomics and Drosophila genetics; (2) a validation of those observations using judgments collected directly from subsets of citing authors. Cocitation data on forty-one authors in macroeconomics and forty-nine authors in Drosophila genetics are collected over two consecutive time periods. The authors' names, representing cited bodies of work, are the units of analysis. Non-metric multidimensional scaling of cocitation profile data is used to create two-dimensional maps of authors in each time period. Authors with similar profiles are clustered using Johnson's "smallest diameter" method. Changes in structure are evaluated using canonical correlation of map coordinates and inspection of cluster membership. In the validation study, independent judgments of inter-author similarity are used as a metric of perceived intellectual structure. These data, collected from fourteen macroeconomists and fifteen Drosophila geneticists via a single card sort technique, are similarly mapped and clustered. In each field, congruence between a two-dimensional map of author clusters (deriving from the aggregate similarity judgments) and the more recent cocitation map and clusters is assessed using canonical correlation. Cocited author mapping is a valid representation of the intellectual structure in both macroeconomics and Drosophila genetics. In macroeconomics, differences between maps and clusters represent the influence, on judgments, of individual authors' perceived policy orientation. In Drosophila genetics, differences result from a time lag between the knowledge of authors' recent work and the incorporation of that work into the formal literature. The nature of author clusters is field-specific: author clusters in macroeconomics represent primarily schools of thought; almost all the author clusters in Drosophila genetics represent research specializations. Maps in both fields consistently display one dimension corresponding to subject orientation of authors. The other dimension corresponds to a field-specific aspect of scholarly "style". Cocited author structure is remarkably stable from one time period to the next. Movement of authors is interpretable: spatial relocation and cluster reassignment of individual authors represents "active migration" (resulting from authors' changed research interests) or "passive migration" (resulting from changes in the use of previously published work).
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Details
- Title
- Longitudinal cocited author mapping and intellectual structure
- Creators
- Katherine Wootton McCain
- Awarding Institution
- Drexel University
- Degree Awarded
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
- Publisher
- Drexel University; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Number of pages
- xii, 192 pages
- Resource Type
- Dissertation
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- College of Information Studies (1984-1995); Drexel University
- Other Identifier
- 991021889010204721