Since our last update, we have submitted a paper based on our second quantitative analysis, examining the quality and impact of Mag Lab team publications and the relationships between seniority, affiliation, and impact; we are now revising the paper based on the feedback of the peer reviewers. Led by senior personnel Chris Hinnant and assisted by co-PI Besiki Stvilia and new graduate research assistant Shuheng Wu, our work on the paper has also helped inform our observations, interviews, and further planned research efforts. In particular, Hinnant, Stvilia, and Wu are working on a survey of Mag Lab scientists, exploring the topics of data quality and the data lifecycle, which we hope will further inform our current and future research efforts. If we contact you as part of this survey, we would greatly appreciate your participation and thank you in advance for your help!
Our major focus during the last two months has been interviewing members of teams who have conducted work at the Mag Lab. PI Kathy Burnett and co-PI Michelle Kazmer continue to conduct interviews with scientists, students, and Mag Lab staff, with the scheduling assistance of graduate intern Wilhelmina Randtke. All of our undergraduate and graduate interns and research assistants are providing assistance in transcribing interviews and taking notes during each session. If we contact you with a request for an interview, we would greatly appreciate your participation and help with our research on collaboration by teams at the Mag Lab, and thank you in advance for your enthusiasm and willingness to be interviewed!
We have also continued to observe teams working at the Mag Lab, under the direction of co-PI Paul Marty and graduate research assistant Adam Worrall and with help from our undergraduate and graduate interns. The observations have shifted purpose to help inform our interview process, with sessions focusing on teams we are interested in interviewing. Analysis of these observations and the interviews is also continuing, with most faculty and student members of the team involved in coding within the framework of our study: the theory of information worlds, team lifecycles, types of communicative activity, and types of research.
Our senior undergraduate intern, Jessica Roberts, attended the international Science of Team Science (SciTS) conference in Chicago with senior personnel Chris Hinnant in April, presenting our project to the audience there. We received good feedback from the conference that we will be able to incorporate into our continuing work, and were able to spread the word further about our ongoing research. Jessica has now graduated; we thank her greatly for her excellent work with the project, congratulate her on her graduation, and wish her luck in graduate school at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro!
Finally, our external evaluator, Ken Fleischmann from the University of Maryland, visited us in April, extensively discussing our project and our progress so far with all faculty and students on the research team. He provided substantial feedback to us during his time here and is hard at work writing an evaluation report on our progress, which we look forward to receiving soon.
As always, we thank everyone who has aided us with our project so far, be it with quantitative data collection, observations, interviews, or otherwise. We welcome questions, comments, and feedback from anyone who might be interested in our project; please feel free to leave a comment below or contact us directly using the information at the bottom left of this page.