BIBLIOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF DISCIPLINARY COMMUNICATION PATTERNS OF ANTHROPOLOGY IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (CITATION ANALYSIS, HALF-LIFE, CENTRIFUGAL TENDENCY) | Posted on:1987-02-14 | Degree:Ph.D | Type:Dissertation | University:Rutgers The State University of New Jersey - New Brunswick | Candidate:CHOI, JIN MOO | Full Text:PDF | GTID:1475390017958780 | Subject:Information Science | Abstract/Summary: | | Anthropology as a discipline is viewed as a communication system. Citation analysis and content analysis are used to assess the current state of Anthropology and the nature of its transformation over two decades (1963-1983) in terms of general characteristics of citations, intra- and inter-disciplinary communication patterns, author collaboration, and research orientations such as methodological, topical, areal, and temporal orientations. Two sets of samples for each period are selected from the core anthropology journals, and chi-square test and statistical test comparing the two binomial proportions are used.;Two plausible explanations for the phenomenon were provided; one attributes to the interdisciplinary nature of the discipline and the other to the institutional inertia.;Overall, no statistically significant changes were found in Anthropology between 1963 and 1983. Journals are the primary channel of formal communication, yet books hold about the same status as journals. Increased use of dissertations and conference papers is found. Half-life of anthropology literature was about 9 years and appeared to be stable for the last two decades. Analysis of intra-disciplinary communication revealed that bio-physical and archaeological anthropology are the most specialized among subdisciplines, and subdisciplines are mutually isolated from each other. Measures of Centrifugal/Centripetal tendency indicate that bio-physical and linguistic anthropology are least fragmented, while socio-cultural anthropology is most fragmented. Anthropology in the U.S. is dominated by academic professionals, 50% of the total articles is contributed by authors who are affiliated in other disciplines and this phenomenon is most acute in bio-physical anthropology. Empirical research orientation was found. While there is a dichotomy in research methods between physical and cultural anthropology, a trend toward quantitative analysis was found. Temporal and areal orientations displayed holistic concern of anthropology, yet, topical orientation revealed that there is no overlap from one subdiscipline to another. | Keywords/Search Tags: | Anthropology, Communication | | Related items |
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