Research Articles (Centre for Research on Evaluation, Science and Technology (CREST))
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- ItemFact-checking role performances and problematic covid-19 vaccine content in Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa(Cogitatio Press, 2024-10-14) Riedlinger, Michelle; Montana‐Nino, Silvia; Watt, Ned; Garcia‐Perdomo, Victor; Joubert, MarinaThe move from political fact-checking to a “public health” or debunking model of fact-checking, sustained by policies and funding from platforms, highlights important tensions in the case of Covid-19. Building on findings from studies focused on journalistic role performance, we investigated how professional fact-checkers in Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa conceived of and performed their professional roles when addressing Covid-19 vaccination topics. Interviews with fact-checkers from six well-established, Meta-affiliated, International Fact-Checking Network-accredited organizations operating in these regions indicated that fact-checkers recognized the diversification of tasks and new roles associated with addressing problematic content from social media users. However, fact-checkers expressed unanimous commitment to prioritizing political and media watchdog activities in response to problematic Covid-19 vaccine information spreading from elite sources. To compare these role conceptions with role performance, we conducted a content analysis of Covid-19 vaccine content posted in 2021 to these fact-checkers’ Facebook accounts. We found that content was mostly associated with explainers or debunking content (addressing hoaxes or rumors about Covid-19 vaccines from non-elite social media users). In particular, the abundance of explainers, compared with other genres of fact-checking content, aligns fact-checkers with professional roles as civic service providers, educators, and “interpreters” of health information. Only a small proportion of the Covid-19 vaccine-related posts from each fact-checker contained verifications of claims from authoritative (elite “top-down”) sources (i.e., politicians, media, and health/science professionals). This study offers insights into a particularly tumultuous time of political activity in these regions and considers implications for practice innovation.
- ItemDo open access journal articles experience a citation advantage? Results and methodological refections of an application of multiple measures to an analysis by WoS subject areas(Springer, 2021) Basson, Isabel; Blanckenberg, Jaco P.; Prozesky, H. E. (Heidi Eileen)This study is one of the first that uses the recently introduced open access (OA) labels in the Web of Science (WoS) metadata to investigate whether OA articles published in Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) listed journals experience a citation advantage in comparison to subscription journal articles, specifically those of which no self-archived versions are available. Bibliometric data on all articles and reviews indexed in WoS, and published from 2013 to 2015, were analysed. In addition to normalised citation score (NCS), we used two additional measures of citation advantage: whether an article was cited at all; and whether an article is among the most frequently cited percentile of articles within its respective subject area (pptopX %). For each WoS subject area, the strength of the relationship between access status (whether an article was published in an OA journal) and each of these three measures was calculated. We found that OA journal articles experience a citation advantage in very few subject areas and, in most of these subject areas, the citation advantage was found on only a single measure of citation advantage, namely whether the article was cited at all. Our results lead us to conclude that access status accounts for little of the variability in the number of citations an article accumulates. The methodology and the calculations that were used in this study are described in detail and we believe that the lessons we learnt, and the recommendations we make, will be of much use to future researchers interested in using the WoS OA labels, and to the field of citation advantage in general.
- ItemReflections from emerging evaluators in shaping Voluntary Organizations for Professional Evaluation capacity-building initiatives(AOSIS, 2020) Ngwabi, Nozipho T.; Mpyana, Obakeng G.; Mapatwana, AmkelwaVoluntary Organizations for Professional Evaluation (VOPEs) are increasingly realising the importance of ‘mainstreaming’ emerging evaluators (EEs) in capacity-building initiatives for sustaining the evaluation profession. This article aimed to address the importance and role of VOPEs in developing EEs. The article describes the global key issues shaping VOPEs’ interventions for EEs, South African Monitoring and Evaluation Association’s Emerging Evaluators Programme and reflections by two EEs from different sectors on the future of Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) in South Africa. The views from the EEs’ reflections show the differences and similarities across their different sectors. Recommendations are proposed on the importance of developing EE programmes that are contextually relevant. This article is valuable for all VOPEs and stakeholders with the intent of supporting emerging evaluators.
- ItemEvaluation education in South Africa : characteristics and challenges in a changing world(AOSIS, 2020) Wildschut, Lauren; Silubonde, Tikwiza R.Background: South Africa and other developing countries are facing an ever-increasing demand for competent evaluators. In addition, increasing demands are being placed on those who become evaluators. What does this mean for evaluation education in its current form and state in South Africa? In addition, what possible responses can be there to the diverse drivers of change within the dynamic social context in which evaluators operate? Objectives: This article aims to address some of the questions related to the supply and demand profile of evaluation in South Africa, which may be useful for other developing countries. Method: A literature review and key informant interviews were carried out to answer the key research questions. Results: The article describes the provision of formal evaluation education and the challenges currently facing university-based offerings. The study provides a framework for considering the interaction between the supply and demand elements in the field of evaluation. Strategies are proposed for strengthening the supply of evaluators and ensuring that these evaluators can respond to the growing demands being placed on them. Conclusion: This article is valuable for all evaluation stakeholders as it provides insight into the academic landscape of evaluation in a developing context and explores practical ways to support and strengthen capacity building efforts in similar contexts.
- ItemPublic engagement with science : origins, motives and impact in academic literature and science policy(Public Library of Science, 2021-07-07) Weingart, Peter; Joubert, Marina; Connoway, Karien‘Public engagement with science’ has become a ‘buzzword’ reflecting a concern about the widening gap between science and society and efforts to bridge this gap. This study is a comprehensive analysis of the development of the ‘engagement’ rhetoric in the pertinent academic literature on science communication and in science policy documents. By way of a content analysis of articles published in three leading science communication journals and a selection of science policy documents from the United Kingdom (UK), the United States of America (USA), the European Union (EU), and South Africa (SA), the variety of motives underlying this rhetoric, as well as the impact it has on science policies, are analyzed. The analysis of the science communication journals reveals an increasingly vague and inclusive definition of ‘engagement’ as well as of the ‘public’ being addressed, and a diverse range of motives driving the rhetoric. Similar observations can be made about the science policy documents. This study corroborates an earlier diagnosis that rhetoric is running ahead of practice and suggests that communication and engagement with clearly defined stakeholder groups about specific problems and the pertinent scientific knowledge will be a more successful manner of ‘engagement’.