(Research in progress paper, presented at STI2014) Exploring the effects of the motivation of a...

Exploring the effects of the motivation of a research project on the research team

composition, management, and outputs (Research in progress paper)

Masatsura IGAMI (NISTEP, National Institute of Science and Technology Policy)

Sadao NAGAOKA (IIR, Hitotsubashi University)

1 JSPS KAKENHI 21243020

Supported by

STI 2014 Leiden, 4 September 2014

Current situation in Japanese S&T

Japanese Universities

Unstable positions of

young scholars

Increasing weight of

competitive funding

Internationalization

Regional issues

Inter-/multi-disciplinary

research

Commercialization

/Society

• Increasing demands to accountability and economic/social contribution

• Various issues are raised and policy measures are being taken place.

• But, weak (no) coordination among policy measures.

• Decreasing of time allocated to research (Kanda, 2011)

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(Inevitable social trends) • Aging society • Rising of emerging countries • Financial problem

<Background and research questions>

Research question

• Is it possible to tackle all issues in parallel? • Some policy measure would have negative impact on other

policy measure. • Proper coordination among policy measures would maximize

the effects of policy.

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This study tries to demonstrate how the motivations (contexts) of research characterize activities of a research team.

Provision of an evidence for discussions of policy planning.

Hitotsubashi-NISTEP-Georgia Tech scientist survey

Questionnaire • Inputs • Research team • Motivation and process • Knowledge source and management • Research Environment • Personal Environment • Outputs • Commercialization

Response rate

Survey was conducted in JPN and USA

• JPN: 27.2 % (2,081/7,652) • USA: 26.3 % (2,329/8,864)

Population of the survey • Articles and letters in the Science Citation

Indexes-Expanded (Thomson Reuters) • Time window: 2001 – 2006 (database year) • 22 fields in the ESI • The papers of multidisciplinary field were

reclassified based on the backward citations.

Identification of possible focal papers

• Highly Cited Papers – Top 1 % highly cited papers in each

journal field and in each database year (approximately 3,000 in total).

• Normal Papers – Randomly selected papers in each

journal field and in each database year from the population of the survey (approximately 7,000).

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• Our survey asked respondents importance of the following two basic motivations for initiating the research project.

1) Pursuit of fundamental principles/understandings • Gaining a new knowledge of the principles, underlying natural

phenomenon and observed facts, through experiments and/or theoretical analyses

2) Solving specific issues in real life • Solving practical and specific problems such as for industrial

applications

Motivations for initiating research projects

5


• Pursuit of fundamental principles/understandings • Solving specific issues in real life

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Classification of research motivation by Stokes’s Quadrant Model


Sources：Donald E. Stokes, Pasteur's Quadrant - Basic Science and Technological Innovation, Brookings Institution Press, 1997.

No YesYe

s

Pure basicresearch

(Bohr)

Use-inspiredbasic research

(Pasteur)

No

Pure appliedresearch(Edions)

Solving specific issues in real lifePu

rsui

t of f

unda

men

tal

prin

ciple

s/un

ders

tand

ing

Quadrant types by field (Broad definition, H+N)

7

US

A

JPN

Pasteur Bohr Edison Pasteur Bohr Edison

7_1_Clinical Medicine

8_1_Agricultural Sciences

8_7_Pharmacology & Toxicology

8_4_Microbiology

8_3_Immunology

5_Engineering

6_1_Environment/Ecology

2_Materials Science

7_2_Psychiatry/Psychology

4_1_Computer Science

8_8_Plant & Animal Science

8_2_Biology & Biochemistry

1_Chemistry

8_6_Neuroscience & Behavior

6_2_Geosciences

8_5_Molecular Biology & Genetics

4_2_Mathematics

3_1_Physics

3_2_Space Science

1 18 6

2 19 1

3 15 9

4 14 11

5 9 16

6 17 3

7 16 2

8 12 8

9 13 5

10 10 7

11 11 4

12 6 15

13 8 10

14 5 13

15 7 12

16 3 17

17 2 18

18 4 14

19 1 18

1 17 6

7 14 4

6 19 1

10 12 8

3 9 16

9 15 3

14 11 7

2 16 5

4 13 9

5 18 2

8 10 11

15 5 15

12 8 10

17 4 13

13 7 12

16 3 18

18 1 19

11 6 14

19 2 17


Process from conception of research project to research output

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Conception of a research project (RP)

Formation of a research team

Conduct research

Creation of new knowledge

Management of research

Research outputs

PI

CO-PI Intrinsic /External

motivation

Motivation of the projects

(Direction)

Framework of this study

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Conception of a research project (RP)

Formation of a research team

Conduct research

Creation of new knowledge

Management of research

PI

CO-PI Intrinsic /External

motivation

Motivation of the projects

(Direction)

Research outputs

2) Motivation of a RP and research team composition

3) Motivation of a RP and research outputs

1) Motivation of a RP and research management

Regression analyses

10

<Regression analyses>

Solving specific issues in real life

Research management

Composition of a research team

Research outputs

Pursuit of fundamental principles/understandings

Independent variables

Dependent variables

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Regression analyses (dependent variables)


Variables Explanation

Rese

arch

man

agem

ent Setting of ambitious goal

(goal setting)

1: If the management was implemented 0: Otherwise

Formation of a network of researchers (networking)

Information sharing in research team

Discussion with a leader of a research team

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Regression analyses (dependent variables)



Com

posit

ion

of re

sear

ch te

am

Heterogeneity in fields 1: If a research team covers two or more fields of expertise 0: Otherwise

Heterogeneity in skills 1: If a research team covers two or more skills 0: Otherwise

University-industry collaboration 1: If one of the authors of the focal paper is from the industrial sector 0: Otherwise

International co-authorship 1: If the focal paper is an internationally co-authored paper 0: Otherwise

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Regression analyses (dependent variables), cont.


Rese

arch

out

puts

Patent application 1: If a research project resulted in a patent application 0: Otherwise

Start-up company 1: If a research project resulted in a start-up company 0: Otherwise

Percentrank of forward citations (by field and by year)

Percentrank of the focal paper in forward citations in the world as of end of 2011. 1: Top 41 % – 2: Top 21 % – 40 % 3: Top 11 % – 20 % 4: – Top 10 %


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Regression analyses (Independent and control variables)


Inde

pend

ent

varia

bles


Subjective evaluation of importance of the motivation for initiating the research project

1: Not important – 5: Very important

Pursuit of fundamental principles/understandings

Subjective evaluation of importance of the motivation for initiating the research project

1: Not important – 5: Very important

Cont

rol v

aria

bles

The number of authors (Log) The number of authors of the focal paper in logarithmic scale

Research expense Amount of money spent to conduct the research project (Categorized value)

Sample dummy 1: Top 1 % highly cited papers (as of end of 2006) 0: Randomly selected papers (except for top 1 % highly cited papers)

Field dummy Field dummy (3 or 8 fields)


Overview of regression

• Logistic regression • Percentrank of forward citations : Ordered logistic regression

• Research projects of natural sciences and universities.

– Responses from respondents affiliated with universities when the focal paper was submitted.

• Single author papers were not included to analyze characteristics of research teams.

• Answers of young scholars, students and postdoctoral fellows, were not included. – We hypothesize that decisions of research management and composition

of research team were made by senior scholars.

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16

Results of regression (Research management)


Setting of ambitious goal

Formation of a network of researchers

Information sharing in research team

Discussion with a leader of a research

team

Pursuit of fundamental

principles/understandings

+JPN, USA

+JPN, USA

+JPN, USA

+JPN, USA

+JPN, USA

+JPN, USA

+JPN, USA

+JPN, USA


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Results of regression (Research team)


Heterogeneity in fields

Heterogeneity in skills

University-industry collaboration

International co-authorship



+JPN, USA

+JPN

+JPN

− JPN, USA

− USA

− USA

+ USA

+ JPN


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Results of regression (Research outputs)


Patent application

Start-up company

Percentrank of forward citations



+JPN, USA

+JPN, USA

+JPN, USA

No correlation with the incidence of patent application

and start-up company.

No correlation with the percentrank of forward citations.


Summary (tentative)

(Research management) • Research projects that had a stronger motivation were more

actively managed.

(Research team composition) • Strong association between the type of motivation and the

composition of a research team was found. • The heterogeneity of research team in terms of fields and skills

were higher in the research projects that had higher motivation for "solving specific issues in real life.”

• The likelihood of international co-authorship is negatively correlation with motivation for "solving specific issues in real life.”

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<Summary and discussions>

Summary (tentative)

(Research outputs) • Type of outputs of the research project is correlated with the type

of motivation. • No correlation between the strength of the motivation for "pursuit

of fundamental understandings" and the incidence of the commercialization of the research outcomes.

• Similarly, the strength of the motivation for "solving specific issues in real life" is not correlated with the citation counts.

• This finding indicates the importance of “Pasteur’s quadrant” in research (Stokes, 1997).

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Implication to S&T policy especially in Japan (tentative)

• Incentive system that increase motivation of research projects is needed. – Satisfaction rating of Japanese scientists is the lowest among major

countries (Naturejobs, 2010) – Japanese researchers express their concern about declining of “Long-

term Research” and “Challenging research that may result in a new research area.” (NISTEP, 2011)

– Declining Japan’s presence in hot research (NISTEP, 2014)

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Declining Japan’s presence in hot research

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41%36%

33%

60%64%

61%

57% 58%55%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Science Map 2008

Science Map 2010

Science Map 2012

Cove

rage

of r

esea

rch

area

s

Japan

UK

Germany

Saka, A. and Igami, M.(2014) Science Map 2010&2012, NISTEP REPORT No.159, July 2014 (Highlights in English is available at http://www.nistep.go.jp/en/)

Implication to S&T policy especially in Japan (tentative)

• Support of research projects (and researchers) should be made in consistent with the motivation of research. – Primary target of internationalization of research would be Bohr-type

research, not Edison-type research.

• Various indicators should be used for monitoring of research projects. – Putting to too much weight on the indicators of papers and citations

would discourage Edison-type research.

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THANK YOU FOR YOUR KIND ATTENTION.

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