Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2002. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Available also from UMI Company.

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, Dept. of Psychology, 1979.

This dissertation studies the relationship between collaboration networks and scientific creativity. It finds significant knowledge spillover from new collaborations to repeated collaborations, and proposes a network approach to understand scientific creativity at the egocentric network level beyond the boundary of teams. To understand the network effect (specifically, effects of tie strength) on creativity, it integrates literature on small groups and social networks and adopts a creative-process model. An inverted U-shaped relationship between tie strength and creativity is observed, because of the mixed impacts of tie strength at different stages of the creative process. Furthermore, it explores the effect of tie configurations and finds that the skewness of tie strength distribution moderates the effect of tie strength. In addition, it also tests two competing explanations for the association between strong tie and low creativity: creativity-decline hypothesis versus cost-reduction hypothesis. Finally, there is no evidence that collaboration networks would raise the visibility of previously published papers, but there is a significant prestige effect in gaining citations.

D.Ed. / Please refer to full text to view abstract

The current study set out to determine the relationship between student gradelevel, implicit views of science ability, science achievement and science interest.Differences by grade level were also explored. The study also considered the differences in male and female implicit theories of science ability, science interest, and science achievement. Participants in the current study consisted of a total of 1910 students from six elementary schools from one south-central Kentucky district that participate in Project GEMS (Gifted Education in Math and Science). Data were analyzed by means of analysis of variance and Pearson correlations. Younger students evidenced lower scores on the implicit theories measure. No gender differences were observed in implicit theories of science ability or science interest. Females did evidence lower achievement in science than males. Implicit theories of science ability were significantly and positively correlated with science achievement. Conversely, no such relationship existed between implicit theories of science ability and interest. Limitations of the current study are discussed and possible future directions are offered. Findings from the current study underscore the importance of considering domain-specific views of ability when addressing poor science performance and when considering gender gaps in science achievement.