民国时期的学术研究及其研究现状

民国时期是人类历史上最大规模的中西古今学术的整合、调适、创新时期,学术研究方法上的交流渗透和融合创新亦可谓“于斯为盛”。一枝独秀的科学实证方法、异军突起的唯物辩证方法、枯树新芽的义理阐释方法和直觉方法构成了民国时期学术方法论的主流。在决定学术真假、关涉学术价值的学术研究方法问题和决定学术价值、关涉学术规范的融合创新问题上,民国学术都具有典型的个案研究价值,但目前的学术界对此尚缺乏应有的认识,对此一问题的整体系统研究尚付阙如。     

Nurture net of nature: Re-evaluating the role of shared environments in academic achievement and verbal intelligence

Prominent authors in the behavioral genetics tradition have long argued that shared environments do not meaningfully shape intelligence and academic achievement. However, we argue that these conclusions are erroneous due to large violations of the additivity assumption underlying behavioral genetics methods – that sources of genetic and shared and nonshared environmental variance are independent and non-interactive. This is compounded in some cases by the theoretical equation of the effective and objective environments, where the former is defined by whether siblings are made more or less similar, and the latter by whether siblings are equally subject to the environmental characteristic in question. Using monozygotic twin fixed effects models, which compare outcomes among genetically identical pairs, we show that many characteristics of objectively shared environments significantly moderate the effects of nonshared environments on adolescent academic achievement and verbal intelligence, violating the additivity assumption of behavioral genetic methods. Importantly, these effects would be categorized as nonshared environmental influences in standard twin models despite their roots in shared environments. These findings should encourage caution among those who claim that the frequently trivial variance attributed to shared environments in behavioral genetic models means that families, schools, and neighborhoods do not meaningfully influence these outcomes.     

Parental income and the fruits of labor: Variability in homework efficacy in secondary school

Research in the sociology of education has shown that noncognitive traits are important predictors of educational outcomes and a mechanism of the intergenerational transmission of status. However, previous research on this topic typically posits that there is a constant effect of these traits with variable prevalences of these traits by socioeconomic status. Using time spent on homework as an example, I analyze income-based heterogeneity in homework efficacy, defined as the individual effect of study time on academic achievement, using a national U.S. probability sample of secondary students. Higher income students gain more knowledge from their homework time than their counterparts in all grades and all subjects except history, with greater group differences for math than for science and reading. These results are confirmed by models accounting for time-invariant unobserved heterogeneity in the 8th–10th, but not 10th–12th, grade windows. These results imply that increases in the amount of homework assigned may increase the socioeconomic achievement gap in math, science, and reading in secondary school.     

Mobility and Professional Networks in Academia: An Exploration of the Obligations of Presence

This article explores the obligations of presence behind work-related mobility for academics in internationalizing higher education systems. By further developing John Urry’s concept of ‘meetingness’, the article reveals how academics depend on corporeal and virtual mobility to create and maintain a networked professional life outside their own institution, which is crucial in the context of changing work conditions. Our insights are drawn from original qualitative research (42 interviews) in a Flemish and Danish context. The data reveal obligations of presence associated with an interrelated mix of functionality, and the construction of dense and sparse social networks that together support career success and work at the frontiers of academic knowledge. Despite the now well-recognized costs of corporeal mobility, obligations of presence result in virtual and corporeal mobility coexisting, rather than the former substituting for the latter. Virtual mobility is mainly used when conflicting obligations of presence exist, and as a means of sustaining networks over time given the processual nature of meetingness, rather than as a means to reduce levels of corporeal mobility.     

Social network effects on academic achievement

How peer groups contribute to educational outcomes has long interested researchers. However, the possibility that peer groups dominated by either low- or high-achieving youth can have substantively different effects on achievement has been largely ignored. In this paper, we show that while being embedded in a high-achieving network of friends is not associated with increased own achievement, being embedded in a low-achieving network is associated with decreased own achievement. In additional analyses, we present evidence that these associations are at least in part due to influence, as opposed to only selection effects or shared environment. We also examine whether the structure of the network in which a student is embedded might affect their educational achievement. We show that achieving at higher levels positively predicts how centrally located a student is in their network, but being more centrally located does not predict concurrent achievement. This finding suggests that the behavior of individuals is affecting the formation of network structure and not the reverse.     

Academic Affiliations of Social Work Journal Article Authors from 1999–2003

Abstract

The academic affiliations of the authors of all articles published between 1999 and 2003 in six major social work journals were tabulated to produce a ranking of the colleges and universities whose faculty made the most substantive contributions to the social work literature. The results of this analysis are compared with findings of four identical, previously published studies, which cover the five-year periods of 197–1983, 1984–1988, 1989–1993, and 1994–1998. The limitations of this method of analysis are discussed, as are its merits.     

Coalition for a Healthier Community: Lessons learned and implications for future work

The Coalition for a Healthier Community (CHC) initiative was implemented to improve the health and well-being of women and girls. Underpinning CHC is a gender-based focus that uses a network of community partners working collaboratively to generate relevant behavior change and improved health outcomes. Ten programs are trying to determine whether gender-focused system approaches are cost-effective ways to address health disparities in women and girls. Programs implemented through coalitions made up of academic institutions, public health departments, community-based organizations, and local, regional, and national organizations, are addressing health issues such as domestic violence, cardiovascular disease prevention, physical activity, and healthy eating. Although these programs are ongoing, they have made significant progress. Key factors contributing to their early success include a comprehensive needs assessment, robust coalitions, the diversity of populations targeted, programs based on findings of the needs assessments, evaluations taking into consideration the effect of gender, and strong academic–community partnerships. A noteworthy impact of these programs has been their ability to shape and impact public, social, and health policies at the state and local levels. However, there have been challenges associated with the implementation of such a complex program. Lessons learned are discussed in this paper.     

Duality of departmental specializations and PhD exchange: A Weberian analysis of status in interaction using multilevel exponential random graph models (mERGM)

Weber proposes that lifestyle similarities preserve status by producing interactional closure between status similar actors. I investigate this theory on academic status hierarchies by conceptualizing sub-disciplinary specializations as departmental lifestyles and PhD exchange networks as interdepartmental interactions. Multilevel exponential random graph models (mERGM) reveal that the more specializations departments share, the more likely they are to exchange personnel. On the flip side, departments that do not share specializations are less likely to exchange doctoral candidates. Moreover, shared specializations are key determinants of closure between elite departments. These results support Weber’s theory and suggest that shared specializations preserve existing patterns of inequality between elite and non-elite departments.     

清末新政时期湖南官绅对书院改制政策的不同思考——以俞廉三、王先谦、赵尔巽的教育改革活动为例

清末新政时期湖南官绅对书院改制政策所持的不同观点,反映了他们对于教育改革的不同思考。通过俞廉三、王先谦、赵尔巽的教育改革活动可见,虽然思考的侧重点相异,但主流官绅延续了湖南自甲午战争以来积极兴办近代教育的潮流。他们以自己理解的方式推动或参与教育改革,使清末湖南教育在整体上表现出了转变革新的强劲张力。     

A MATHEMATICAL PROGRAMMING MODEL FOR FACULTY COURSE ASSIGNMENTS

This paper describes an integer programming model that we believe has advantages over other models for determining faculty teaching assignments. Unlike previously proposed models, in this model the decision variables represent the assignment of complete teaching schedules rather than courses to faculty members. The paper compares the proposed model with previous models for application in an academic department.