Research institution
A research institution is an institution which has as knowledge production as the main purpose. Research institutions form part of the infrastructure of a society.
Research institutions may be public or private. Universities
as well as other institutions for higher learning is an essential kind of
research institutions. National centers for survey research is another kind of
research institutions (see Mohler, 2001). Bell Telephone Laboratories (inventor
of, among other things, in 1947 the transistor, in 1948 "A mathematical
theory of communication" and in 1958 the laser (cf., Wikipedia, 2005) an
important example of a private research institution.
The structure of research institutions are often formed by certain
implicit epistemologies, although this is seldom analyzed. One exceptional
case is Ljungstrøm (1985), who analyses the early functions of The Danish
National Institute for Educational Research. Mørch (1994,
p. 5) finds that The Danish National Institute of Social Research (the
Danish national center for survey research) is influenced by a Parsonian view of
science, but he does not describe this view further.
Turchetti, Capocci & Gagliasso (2002) describe the connection between developments in industrial production and in knowledge production. When production in industry moved from the model based on the assembly line (Fordian model of production) research institutions also changed their structures to a post-Fordian way of producing knowledge.
Literature:
Featherman, D. L. (2001). Infrastructure: Social/Behavioral Research (United States). IN: Smelser, N. J. & Baltes, P. B. (eds.). International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences. Oxford: Elsevier Science. (Pp.7503-7511).
Ljungstrøm, C. (1985). En kritisk skitse over Danmarks Pædagogiske Instituts tidlige arbejder. København: Danmarks pædagogiske Institut. (DPI nr. 1985.10). [The Danish National Institute for Educational Research].
Mohler, P.P. (2001). Survey Research: National Centers. IN:
Smelser, N. J. & Baltes, P. B. (eds.). International Encyclopedia of the
Social and Behavioral Sciences. Oxford: Elsevier Science. (Pp. 15311-15314).
Mørch, S. (1994). Handlingsteorien. Udkast. Dansk Tidsskrift for kritisk samfundsvidenskab, 22(1), 3-47.
Thurn, G. & Neidhardt, F. (2001). Infrastructure: Social/Behavioral Research (Western Europe). IN: Smelser, N. J. & Baltes, P. B. (eds.). International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences. Oxford: Elsevier Science. (Pp. 7511-7517).
Turchetti, S., Capocci, M. & Gagliasso, E. (2002). Production, Science and Epistemology. An overview on new models and scenarios. IN: Model-Based Reasoning: Science, technology, Values. Edited by L. Magnani & N. J. Nersessian (pp. 113-125). New York: Klüver Academic/Plenum Publishers.
Voss, T. R. (2001). Institutions. IN: Smelser, N. J. &
Baltes, P. B. (eds.). International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral
Sciences. Oxford: Elsevier Science. (Pp. 7561-7566).
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (2005) Bell Labs. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_Labs
See also: Science cities; Think tanks; University;
Birger Hjørland
Last edited: 15-07-2007