Addressing the Dearth of Scholarship: A Social Network Analysis of Research Collaboration in Educational Technology Leadership.
详细信息
文摘
From a social network perspective,this study looks at the persistent problem of the dearth of scholarship in educational technology leadership ETL). I uncovered social structure of the ETL research collaboration network from 1997 to 2012,investigated plausible significant predictors in the network formation,and examined network structural changes over the past 16 years. Co-authorship is the proxy of ETL research collaboration in this study. Using UCINET network analysis software,topological analysis was performed to detect the cumulative ETL co-authorship network structure from 1997 to 2012. Multiple Regression Quadratic Assignment Procedure MRQAP) was used to detect significant predictors of the ETL co-authorship network formation. Temporal social network analysis was conducted by dissecting the cumulative ETL co-authorship network into eight slices at different time points. The evolutional changes in topological structure of these eight ETL co-authorship networks were analyzed accordingly. The results indicate the ETL co-authorship network is severely fragmented,which may undermine ETL research development. Further,the network formation is significantly predicted by researchers geographic location,journal distribution,and institutional affiliation. In addition,the evolutional structural changes imply most ETL research collaborative relationships failed to sustain long enough to improve the connectivity in the network,which might perpetuate ETL research isolation. The findings present implications on ETL research collaboration practices,theoretical foundations,and research methods in educational leadership research. First,it is recommended the bulk of efforts to mitigate ETL research isolation are centered on building bridging ties across a host of areas e.g.,geographic location,knowledge dissemination channels,institutional affiliation,etc.). Second,this study introduces network theory as a theoretical thrust in educational leadership research. Finally,this study also exemplifies the value of analytic techniques of social network analysis in answering diverse research questions regarding educational leadership.