A mathematical approach to assess research diversity: operationalization and applicability in communication sciences, po
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A mathematical approach to assess research diversity: operationalization and applicability in communication sciences, political science, and beyond Manuel Goyanes1,2 · Márton Demeter3 · Aurea Grané4 · Irene Albarrán‑Lozano4 · Homero Gil de Zúñiga2,5,6 Received: 28 March 2020 © Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, Hungary 2020
Abstract With today’s research production and global dissemination, there is growing pressure to assess how academic fields foster diversity. Based on a mathematical problem/solve scheme, the aim of this study is twofold. First, the paper elaborates on how research diversity in scientific fields can be empirically gauged, proposing six working definitions. Second, drawing on these theoretical explanations, we introduce an original methodological protocol for research diversity evaluation. Third, the study puts this mathematical model to an empirical test by comparatively evaluating (1) communication research diversity in 2017, with respect to field’s diversity in 1997, and (2) communication research and political science diversity in 2017. Our results indicate that, contrasted to pattern diversity, communication research in 2017 is not a diverse field. However, throughout the years (1997–2017), there is a statistically significant improvement. Finally, the cross-comparison examination between political and communication sciences reveals the latter to be significantly more diverse. Keywords Research diversity · Diversity · Communication science · Political science · Diversity gaps In recent decades, research diversity has become a central element in shaping the form and content of scientific fields (Metz et al. 2016), mirroring the growing societal and economic demands and pressures of most democratic societies (Dhanani and Jones 2017). With the growing globalization of academia, diversity enables new opportunities to configure inclusive scientific fields (Waisbord and Mellado 2014; Waisbord 2016), build upon the development of plural approaches to scientific facts and knowledge progress (Stephan and Levin 1991). There is a general consensus that research diversity points to the matureness and
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s1119 2-020-03680-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Manuel Goyanes [email protected] Extended author information available on the last page of the article
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sophistication of most academic disciplines (Wasserman 2018), enriching empirical evidences with plural visions of the world (Livingstone 2007; Willems 2014), and challenging the taken-for-granted assumptions of academic elites (Demeter 2018). However, despite the importance of rigorously measuring the state in which different intellectual terrains are positioned regarding research diversity, little research has directly developed a reliable instrument to both evaluate diversity claims and infer the potential diversity gaps that exist in the academia. This paper seeks to
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