Table_7_How do researchers perceive problems in research collaboration? Results from a large-scale study of German scientists.docx

In recent years, collaboration has become the norm in scientific knowledge production. Like other forms of collaboration, research collaborations (RCs) face specific problems that can jeopardize success. Against this background, the present study sought to gain a deeper understanding of the relevance of different collaboration problems and the interconnections among these problems. Building on previous insights into the most current problems, we addressed four major issues: (1) researchers' perceived relative relevance of collaboration problems in their projects (in terms of their occurrence), (2) differences in these perceptions based on the type of RC (e.g., number of subprojects and collaboration mode) and (3) on the characteristics of researchers, and (4) the co-occurrence of collaboration problems. Based on a representative survey of leading participants of RCs funded by the German Research Foundation (n = 5,326), we found that researchers experienced collaboration problems (e.g., fairness and communication problem) only to a small degree, and there were almost no differences regarding their perceived relevance. Furthermore, there were almost no significant differences concerning the perceived relevance of these problems depending on the type of RC or the individual researchers. However, the findings did reveal specific patterns of co-occurrence (e.g., relationship and difference problem). The results suggest that previous research may have overstated the relevance of collaboration problems in RCs. Instead, it seems that at least in Germany, collaborative research works better than one might assume.

近年来，协作已成为科学知识生产的主流模式。与其他形式的协作一致，研究协作（Research Collaborations，RCs）会面临一系列特定问题，这些问题可能危及项目的成功推进。在此背景下，本研究旨在深入探析不同协作问题的相关性及其相互关联。基于学界对当前主流协作问题的既有认知，本研究聚焦四大核心议题：（1）研究者对其参与项目中各类协作问题（按发生频率维度）的相对感知重要性；（2）基于研究协作类型（如子项目数量、协作模式）的感知差异；（3）基于研究者个体特征的感知差异；以及（4）协作问题的共现特征。依托对德国研究基金会（German Research Foundation）资助的研究协作项目领军参与者开展的代表性调研（有效样本量n=5326），本研究发现：研究者所遭遇的协作问题（如公平性问题、沟通问题）程度较轻，且各类问题的感知重要性几乎不存在显著差异。此外，无论研究协作类型或是研究者个体特征如何，上述协作问题的感知重要性均未出现显著差异。不过，本研究确实揭示了特定的协作问题共现模式（如关系冲突问题与观点分歧问题）。研究结果表明，过往研究或已高估了研究协作中协作问题的重要性；至少在德国语境下，协作研究的实际开展效果或优于此前的学界预期。