Characterizations of Psychometrics

Psychometrics is a mostly technical and model-based discipline that is concerned with (quantitative) psychological measurement. This dissertation aims to uncover the intricacies of this discipline by drawing up three characterizations of psychometrics: a historical characterization, an ethnographic characterization, and a philosophical characterization. The historical characterization involves an academic genealogy of psychometrics, in which the history of psychometrics is visualized by tracing back the doctoral advisors of prominent psychometricians. In the ethnographic characterization, psychometricians are interviewed on the history and future of their discipline, as well as the dealings of contemporary psychometrics. The philosophical characterization offers a realist reading of psychometric models and an analysis of the use of values in psychometric research. Though each characterization certainly has its own distinct methodological features, together the characterizations paint a multidimensional and nuanced portrait of psychometrics. Psychometrics turns out to be a diverse discipline that incorporates a number of tensions: 1) psychometrics seems to be a subfield of psychology but also a discipline that can be characterized as a subdiscipline of statistics; 2) psychometricians use models that imply a realist philosophy (useful for formulating hypotheses), but at the same time engage in mostly building useful applications; and 3) though psychometrics has played a considerable role in historical and modern-day society, the discipline also seems quite isolated from real social involvement. All in all, I hope that this dissertation unlocks some of the complexities of psychometrics, and specifically, makes psychometrics a more accessible research area for fellow historians, philosophers, and sociologists of science.

On the evolution of library and information science doctoral dissertation topics in China

Previous studies have presented a radical change in library and information science research topics in North America. This article investigates library and information science doctoral dissertations in China in terms of their topics and interdisciplinarity in the past 20 years. The results do not find a significant change in library and information science dissertation topics in China but reveal that the increase of library and information science doctoral research in the area of information science is attributed to an increase in admissions to Information Science majors compared to other majors (Library Science and Archive Studies). This study also shows that the academic background of library and information science doctoral advisors does not affect the interdisciplinarity of their students’ doctoral dissertations in China.

On the Evolution of Library and Information Science Doctoral Dissertation Topics in China

Previous Studies presented a radical change in Libray and Information Science (LIS) research topics in North America. This paper investigates LIS doctoral dissertations in China in terms of their topics and interdisciplinarity in the past 20 years. Results don’t find the significant change of LIS dissertation topics in China but reveal that the increase of LIS doctoral research on Information Science is attributed to the increase of admissions to the major Information Science comparing with other majors (Library Science and Archive Studies). This study also shows that the academic background of LIS doctoral advisors does not affect the interdisciplinarity of their student’s doctoral dissertations in China.

Does advisors’ disciplinary background affect LIS doctoral students’ publishing productivity and quality?

The purpose of this study is to investigate LIS doctoral students’ publication since the 1960s and measure the impact of LIS doctoral advisors’ disciplinary background on their publication productivity and quality. After analyzing the LIS doctoral graduates’ publications since the 1960s, we found that LIS doctoral students supervised by advisors with non-LIS background publish more research that is cited more often.

DocGenealogy – Visualizing the doctoral advisors and mentors genealogic tree

DocGenealogy is a data mining project that allows the visualization and exploration of the doctoral advisement/mentoring relationship through an interactive graph chart. Wikipedia is known for its informal collaborative nature, based on a somewhat loose and non-structural way of producing information, and one of its strengths is, in fact, the openness to all sorts of collaborations. DocGenealogy uses the Wikipedia available data on doctoral advisement and mentoring to find out and track the existing relationships between advisors or mentors and their students. The data mining process starting point is always some well-known scientist. This process continues until finding all the ultimate reputed co-related advisors and mentors, and builds iteratively the relationship graph. Besides this, DocGenealogy also visually shows how people are distributed by alma mater and field of knowledge. The main objective of the work is to evaluate the effectiveness of the graph-oriented techniques in the interpretation of data from Wilipedia infoboxes.

Scholarly Writing and Collaboration: A Book Review on Writing Groups for Doctoral Education and Beyond

Writing Groups for Doctoral Education and Beyond is a detailed text outlining collaborative writing pedagogies suitable for academics, doctoral students, and doctoral advisors. The text is broken into 3 sections with a total of 15 chapters. A variety of different paradigms are critically interpreted within the writing group setting, which offers the reader a look inside the pedagogy and practice of writing. In particular, the text supports qualitative thesis or dissertation writing and offers guidelines to help increase writing productivity.

The Hidden Curriculum of Doctoral Advising

We examined the hidden curriculum of doctoral advising by conceptualizing the advisor as a teacher. Using autoethnographic methods in this case study, we simultaneously explored both sides of the advisor-student relationship. The constructivist paradigm permeated all aspects of the research: data collection, analysis, and interpretation. The significance of this study lies in new understanding of the zone of proximal doctoral development and the exploration of barriers to building positive multiyear advising relationships. Findings and implications resulted in new understandings of how doctoral advisors can minimize obstacles by making expectations explicit, listening by hearing, creating relationships of trust, and judiciously negotiating power. Making the hidden curriculum explicit can be accomplished with purposefully scheduled meetings, supportive caring relationships, and ethical practices.

The Nature of Exemplary Doctoral Advisors' Expectations and the Ways They May Influence Doctoral Persistence

The high attrition rate from doctoral programs has been called a “hidden crisis” in graduate education (Lovitts & Nelson, 2000). Previous research has identified a constellation of factors that may contribute to doctoral attrition. However, the literature suggests that one of the most powerful influences on doctoral persistence is the relationship doctoral students develop with their advisors (Berg & Ferber, 1983; Ferrer de Valero, 2001; Girves & Wemmerus, 1988). Although there is a growing body of literature that has explored the advisor-advisee relationship with respect to persistence, little attention has been given to the examination of the expectations that advisors have of their advisees and how these expectations might impact degree completion. Therefore, this exploratory qualitative study examined the expectations that 25 exemplary advisors have of their doctoral advisees. Findings revealed 5 specific expectations advisors hold that, if met, could lead to improved doctoral student retention.