The Strength in Numbers: The New Science of Team Science

by Barry Bozeman, Jan Youtie

Overview

Why collaborations in STEM fields succeed or fail and how to ensure success

Once upon a time, it was the lone scientist who achieved brilliant breakthroughs. No longer. Today, science is done in teams of as many as hundreds of researchers who may be scattered across continents. These collaborations can be powerful, but they also demand new ways of thinking. The Strength in Numbers illuminates the nascent science of team science by synthesizing the results of the most far-reaching study to date on collaboration among university scientists. Drawing on a national survey with responses from researchers at more than one hundred universities, archival data, and extensive interviews with scientists and engineers in over a dozen STEM disciplines, Barry Bozeman and Jan Youtie establish a framework for characterizing different collaborations and their outcomes, and lay out what they have found to be the gold-standard approach: consultative collaboration management. The Strength in Numbers is an indispensable guide for scientists interested in maximizing collaborative success.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691202624
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	07/14/2020
Pages:	248
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 8.80(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Barry Bozeman is the director of the Center for Organization Research and Design, and Arizona Centennial Professor of Technology Policy and Public Management at Arizona State University. Jan Youtie is the director of policy research services and principal research associate in the Economic Development Lab at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii

1 Research Collaboration and Team Science: Witnessing the Revolution 1

2 Routine and Not-So-Routine: Classifying Research Collaboration Outcomes 31

3 The Literature on Research Collaboration and Team Science 49

4 Thinking Systematically about Research Effectiveness 69

5 Research Collaboration Effectiveness: In Their Own Words 86

6 “Decision Making in Collaborative Research Teams” 106

7 Enhancing the Effectiveness of Research Teams: The “Consultative Collaboration” Strategy 125

Appendix 1. Data Sources, Methods, and Research Procedures 159

Appendix 2. Propositional Literature Table 173

Notes 195

References 199

Index 223

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"This book covers a fascinating piece of research . . . the ideas within it are ones which every researcher should be thinking about every time they embark on a new team effort."— Jonathan Shock, Mathemafrica

"A necessary corrective to the dominant myth of solitary creativity and its numerous, retrograde institutional manifestations."—David C. Krakauer, Santa Fe Institute

"Rich in evidence, analysis, and good sense, this book delivers on its promise to bring knowledge into practice."—Edward J. Hackett, Brandeis University

Editorial Reviews

"This book covers a fascinating piece of research and I truly believe that the ideas within it are ones which every researcher should be thinking about every time they embark on a new team effort."—-Jonathan Shock, Mathemafrica

"A helpful, well-structured reference point for university managers . . . reflecting on good practice in research collaboration. There is much sound advice, emerging from a synthesis of well-evidenced and diverse experience, that will provide an agenda for any research strategy committee."—-Jonathan Adams, Research Fortnight

From the Publisher