Collusion or Cooperation?: What Begets Joint Research in Academia

• In Event: 4451 - Section on Sociology of Education Refereed Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 min): Table 16: Social Patterns, Problems, and Change in Academia

Abstract

This paper aims to identify the factors that most greatly affect a prominent change in research patterns: collaborative research. To fulfill this purpose, the shifting trends in research collaboration were investigated, characteristics of researchers were identified and then the most impactful traits on either individual or joint research were analyzed for. Throughout this process, the traits of researchers were the independent variables and the type of research (individual or joint) was the dependent variable. Papers from the three most prominent sociology journals in Korea over a span of nearly two decades were considered and various methods of statistical analysis were utilized to establish a firm understanding of the most important factors. The results indicated that all independent variables influenced collaborative research, but the most significant pattern regarding the independent variables was that a greater number of peripheral attributes of researchers generally resulted in a higher likelihood of participation in joint research over individual work. Although the impact of each independent variable was not identical, it is clear that different independent variables had some impact on the dependent variable, the nature of the research, in a systematic fashion. The authors of this paper anticipate that the findings of this paper will further our understanding of the fundamental mechanisms that promote research collaboration.

Authors

• Ho-Dae Chong, Duksung Women's University

• Jong-Kil Kim, Duksung Women's University