Institutional Collaboration in Science: A Typology of Technological Practice

An increase in the scale of modern science is associated with the proliferation of a new kind of research formation: collaborations involving teams of researchers from several organizations. Historical and sociological studies indicate substantial variation in such formations, but no general classification scheme exists. The authors provide the outline of a scheme through a systematic analysis of multi-institutional collaborations that span a variety of fields in physical science. First, general dimensions of scientific collaborations were identified through a qualitative, historical analysis of collaborations in high energy physics, space science, and geophysics. Next, the authors used informants in five new areas to collect systematic information on twenty-three recent collaborations. Finally, cluster analysis was employed to develop a variety of classification schemes and examine their relationships with outcome dimensions. Results show that a classification based on a broad conception of technological practice is superior to others in its ability to predict perceived success, trust, stress, conflict, and documentary routines.

[1]  D. Pugh.  An Empirical Taxonomy of Structures of Work Organizations. , 1969 .

[2]  Amitai Etzioni,et al.  A Comparative Analysis of Complex Organizations. , 1962 .

[3]  Ben R. Martin,et al.  Basic Research in the East and West: A Comparison of the Scientific Performance of High-Energy Physics Accelerators , 1985 .

[4]  Karin D. Knorr-Cetina,et al.  How Superorganisms Change: Consensus Formation and the Social Ontology of High-Energy Physics Experiments , 1995 .

[5]  P. Sopp.  Cluster analysis. , 1996, Veterinary immunology and immunopathology.

[6]  J. Fleck.  Trust in organizations , 1982 .

[7]  J. Warnow-Blewett,et al.  AIP study of multi-institutional collaborations: Phase 1, high-energy physics , 1992 .

[8]  Catherine Westfall,et al.  Big Science: The Growth of Large-Scale Research ed. by Peter Galison, Bruce Hevly (review) , 1992, Technology and Culture.

[9]  P. Ring,et al.  Developmental Processes of Cooperative Interorganizational Relationships , 1994 .

[10]  Wiebe E. Bijker,et al.  Science in action : how to follow scientists and engineers through society , 1989 .

[11]  Stacia E. Zabusky.  Launching Europe: An Ethnography of European Cooperation in Space Science , 1995 .

[12]  L. Lomnitz.  Formal Organizations , 1982, Current Anthropology.

[13]  R. Whitley.  The Intellectual and Social Organization of the Sciences (Second Edition: with new introductory chapter entitled 'Science Transformed? The Changing Nature of Knowledge Production at the End of the Twentieth Century') , 1984 .

[14]  S. Traweek,et al.  Beamtimes and Lifetimes: The World of High Energy Physicists , 1988 .

[15]  T. Orbuch,et al.  People's Accounts Count: The Sociology of Accounts , 1997 .

[16]  Catherine Foster Alter,et al.  An Exploratory Study of Conflict and Coordination in Interorganizational Service Delivery System , 1990 .

[17]  Thomas DiStefano,et al.  Interorganizational Conflict: A Review of an Emerging Field , 1984 .

[18]  Judy C. Shetler,et al.  Building Cooperation in a Competitive Industry: Sematech and the Semiconductor Industry , 1995 .

[19]  Daryl E. Chubin,et al.  Scientists in Organizations: Productive Climates for Research and Development , 1967 .

[20]  Henry Assael,et al.  Constructive Role of Interorganizational Conflict. , 1969 .

[21]  Donald C. Pelz,et al.  Scientists in Organizations: Productive Climates for Research and Development. , 1968 .

[22]  Barry Bozeman,et al.  A new typology for R&D laboratories: Implications for policy analysts , 1987 .

[23]  R. Gulati.  Does Familiarity Breed Trust? The Implications of Repeated Ties for Contractual Choice in Alliances , 1995 .

[24]  Richard H. Hall,et al.  Organizations: Structure and process , 1977 .

[25]  S. Shapin.  HERE AND EVERYWHERE: Sociology of Scientific Knowledge , 1995 .