Connections: STEM Educational Research Communities and Knowledge Transfer

Georgia
Descriptive
Research Methods
Other
Higher Education
Principal Investigator: 
Alan Porter
Project Overview
Background & Purpose: 

This project examines Science, Technology, Engineering & Math Education ("STEM-ED") and Cognitive & Learning Science ("CogSci") research communities. We study research literature "connections," as evidenced by citations (cross-references), seeking to understand how knowledge is, or is not, transferred among these research communities. The interest is to then offer ideas on how to facilitate effective cross-disciplinary knowledge sharing.

Setting: 

N/A

Research Design: 

The project uses longitudinal, cross-sectional, and comparative research designs and will generate empirical analyses of large samples of research literature. Original data are being collected by compiling STEM-ED and Cog-Sci research abstracts, mainly from established databases such as the Web of Science.

We will analyze literature citations -- i.e., the referencing patterns of STEM-ED and Cog-Sci research publications – using text analysis software (VantagePoint) and general analytical desktop software (e.g., MS Excel). These will be aggregated into categories based on Web of Science Categories, tailored to distinguish STEM-ED and Cog-Sci research community knowledge diffusion patterns. Results will be presented using data visualization techniques, such as network analyses.

Findings: 

Prior projects upon which this project builds have generated findings that focus on much narrower data subsets. Those have keyed on publications supported by NSF-funded research in the ROLE and REESE programs, and their patterns of influence. Additional findings will be posted as they become available.

Publications & Presentations: 

Porter, A.L., Schoeneck, D.J., Roessner, D., and Garner, J. (2010). Practical research proposal and publication profiling, Research Evaluation, 19(1), 29-44.

Porter, A.L., Schoeneck, D.J., Solomon, G., Lakhani, H., and Dietz, J. (2013), Measuring and mapping interdisciplinarity: Research & evaluation on education in science & engineering (“REESE”) and STEM, American Education Research Association Annual Meeting, San Francisco.