Understanding the Societal Context of the Research

Who did the research reported in your research article, where, why and with what support?  

The answers to these questions will help you to better understand researchers and the social conditions within which they work.  These questions also assume increasing prominence as citizens become aware of the many ethical issues that face scientific researchers.  

The book On Being a Scientist: Responsible Conduct in Research, published by the US National Academy of Sciences, provides an excellent introduction to this topic.  Pay particular attention to the sections on Conflict of Interest and Publication and Openness which will be discussed in class.  

This week you will seek answers to the questions listed above using the information sources listed below. By using all of these sources, you will create a picture of the societal context for the research that you are analyzing. That picture will be included in Report 1.

Follow the path outlined below and record your steps, even if all of them don't immediately yield the information that you're seeking.  In that way, the Instructors will find it easier to help you and, even if you don't retrieve a lot of information at every step, you can show that you understood how to seek it!  

Click here to print the following checklist!

Who were the researchers, what are their interests and where are they now?

The researchers' names are usually listed after the title, on the first page of the article (occasionally the authors are listed at the end of the article).  The authors may include undergraduate students, postgraduate (M.Sc. or Ph.D.) students, postdoctoral fellows, research assistants and associates, university faculty members, research institute staff members and/or industrial scientists. The order of the authors’ names usually indicates the magnitude of their contributions to the work (greatest contribution first).  In practice, it can be difficult to differentiate contributions if many people are involved.  Often the last author listed is the director of the research group (the "PI or Principal Investigator"). Often this person is listed by footnote as the "corresponding author" to whom "requests for reprints should be sent".  

Follow the steps below (either here or in print) to learn more about your researchers.  

1. Perform an author name search, using an electronic journal index to find other articles published by each author of your article.  Pubmed is the index used by most biomedical science professionals, but alternatives include Biological Sciences (a collection of databases including Genetics Abstracts, Human Genome Abstracts, Immunology Abstracts, Nucleic Acids Abstracts), BioOne, BioMed Central, Science Citation Index (part of Web of Science) and Google Scholar.  Take care to look for work by the authors of your article – not other people with similar names!  This can be done by paying attention to the subjects of the retrieved references and the authors' affiliations.  For example, if your author has a common name, you can search by name and affiliation (e.g. in PubMed the search format would be: Wood JM AND Guelph [affiliation]).  Consult the instructors if you are not sure which datase(s) to use or if you are having trouble finding articles by your authors. Remember that some may have published many other papers whereas, for others, this may be a first publication. 

Scan the listed references and a few abstracts of those articles (accessible through PubMed) to assess the path of your author's research.  Has (s)he published many articles, or only a few?  Are they all on the same topic? By tracking each author’s publications over time, you can determine whether that author participated in the published work early or late in his or her career. You can also determine how frequently each author publishes, whether s/he has moved around, with whom s/he collaborates, etc.  Submit a report on your findings via the Courselink Dropbox (see Courselink for a sample report and grading of this item).

2. Perform an author name search of Dissertations and Theses -- Proquest Full Text to look for an MSc or PhD thesis abstract published by each of your authors.  If one of these abstracts describes research very similar to that reported in your article, completed at the same time, the article reported part or all of the author’s graduate thesis research.  Save such thesis references for Report 1.

3. Perform an author name search of Primo to find books published by each of your authors (and held by our library). Books often contain biographical sketches of authors.  This can give you a broader picture of that author's research interests and career progress.  Record the references for books found in this way.

4. Perform a name search of the biographical reference books. Who’s Who in Science and Engineering (Q 141.W576), Who’s Who in Science in Europe (Q 141.W5), The Hutchinson Dictionary of Scientific Biography (Q 141.H87 1994), and American Men and Women of Science (Q141.A47) for a listing of each of your authors (or at least the ones you think may be the PI). Such a listing will give you a broader picture of that author's research interests and career progress.  

5. In addition to these resources the Library has several specialized biographical books which can be found by clicking on the Advanced search tab in TRELLIS.  In the 1st search box type bibliograph?. In the 2nd search box type scientist? and then using the drop down menu on to the right, select title.

   You may also wish to search any one of the biographic databases available on the Library's Electronic Reference web page.

6. Search the Internet, using an appropriate search engine.  (In this case, Google is appropriate.)  Many individual researchers, academic departments, government labs and industrial enterprises have their own web sites... but not all.  Many sites are in languages other than English!  It will be a bonus if you can find such a web site, but it will not replace the information sources listed above (1-4).  If you do plan to use and cite information obtained from a web site, make sure that you use the appropriate citation format.

7. You can contact your authors directly to obtain information about their research.  However, personal communications (information received in person, by telephone or by email) cannot be substantiated by other people, so they must not be cited in your reports. 

Where was the research conducted? Within what sort of organisation(s) (universities, commercial enterprises, government laboratories, non-governmental and not-for-profit research centres)? 

What was/is the mandate of each organisation? What sort of research did/does it foster? 

The names of the organizations within which the research was completed are usually listed on the title page, immediately after the list of authors. In a few journals, they are provided at the very end of the article.  These resources can help you answer the questions above:

1. If the work you are analyzing was done in a University, a government research institute or a not-for profit research centre, search for the web site of that organization.  If you don't find a web site that answers the questions above, consult The Europa World of Learning (AS2.W6) which lists information about universities by country and state.

2. If the work you are analyzing was done in industry, search the library’s CD-ROM database of corporations.  If you are having difficulty obtaining information about a company, you may wish to consult the library staff with expertise in the area of business administration. ABI/Inform is a business related database available through the TUG libraries.

 What other funding source(s) met the costs of the research? 

What was/is the mandate of each funder (why did they sponsor such research)?

Most research is performed and funded in part by a corporation, not-for-profit organization, university or government agency. Canadian universities, for example, support research by providing suitable buildings (including heat, light, electricity etc.), minimal secretarial support, an administrative structure for the management of research funds and the satisfaction of regulatory requirements (e.g. for animal care, environmental health and safety), an office which maintains lists of funders and facilitates interactions between University researchers and private industry, and a public relations office.

Most research is also funded partly by research grants or contracts.  These funds, which are raised by the researchers, include grants, contracts, scholarships and fellowships. They may be provided by government, by private foundations or by corporations. Researchers submit research proposals which are reviewed in a similar manner to research publications. 

Usually the funders of a particular research project are listed in a footnote to the list of authors/organizations or in the Acknowledgements, which are usually placed immediately before the list of references.  These resources can help you to answer the questions above about the funders of the research you are analyzing: 

1. The Canadian and American governments support biological and medical research in Canada and the United States via specific funding agencies.  If the paper you are analyzing was supported in this way, information about each agency can be obtained from its web site (e.g. the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the National Institutes of Health (USA) and the National Science Foundation (USA)).

2. The internet is now an excellent source of information about other research funders and their mandates.  Ask your Instructor to help you find information about a particular funder.  You may also wish to consult the staff in the University’s Office of Research (located on the 4th floor of the University Centre).

What was/is the editorial policy of the journal in which the research was published? 

What sort of research does this journal choose to publish?

Each journal has an editorial policy.  To find this information:

1. Look at a paper or online copy of the journal in which your article was published.  Most journals state their editorial policies in each issue – or at least in the first issue published each year, as part of their "Instructions to Authors". 

2. Look at Ulrich’s International Periodicals Directory (Z 6941.U5). Ulrich’s will tell you how long a journal has been publishing, how many subscribers there are, the cost of subscription, where the journal is indexed and whether the articles published in the journal are refereed. The Library has one subscription to this database. Please be sure to click on Logout before leaving this database otherwise it will hang and no one will be able to use it until it refreshes [and that can take a long time!].  To be reminded about the referee (or peer review) system, see Lab 1.

Lab Guide

Orientation

Lab 1

Lab 2

Lab 3

Lab 4

Lab 5

Report 1

Winter Break

Lab 6

Lab 7

Lab 8

Report 2

Assignment:

1. Read relevant parts of On Being a Scientist: Responsible Conduct in Research.

2. Follow the steps outlined above to understand the societal context of the research reported in your article.   

3. Write your description of the societal context of the research for Report 1.

Before lab 5:

Put your Report (links to the lists of articles published by your authors) in the Courselink Dropbox before Lab 5. (See Courselink for a sample report and grading.)