PSWEB-L ResearchWeb

• Introduction
  • Important Features of ResearchWebs
  • Web Site Map
  • Web Site Authorship
    • Revision History
  • Guidelines for Participation
• A Brief History of Events Data Analysis
  • The Major Events Data Collections
    • The World Event-Interaction Survey (WEIS)
    • The Conflict and Peace Data Bank (COPDAB)
    • The Comparative Research on the Events of Nations (CREON)
    • The Global Event Data System (GEDS)
• Data Collection Issues
  • Sources and Source Bias
  • Coding schemes
  • Additional Event Characteristics or Variables
  • Machine Coding of Events Data
    •    The Kansas Events Data Project (KEDS)
• Related Events Data Projects
  • The Behavioral Correlates of War Project (BCOW)
  • The Computer Aided System for the Analysis of Local Conflicts (CASCON )
  • SHERFACS
• Issues in the Analysis of Events Data
  • Aggregation
  • Discrete Event Analysis
  • Crisis Monitoring and Early Warning Applications
• Events Data in Foreign Policy Analysis
  • Domestic Influences on Foreign Policy Behavior
    • The Case for Soviet Leadership Style (Chris Campbell and Robert D. Duval)
• References and Bibliography

Introduction
 
    This Web site is an experiment in developing the use of the World Wide Web as a vehicle for the publication of research.  The format for these materials is an interconnected set of Web pages produced by a number of authors working both individually and in concert within the larger design of a topical ResearchWeb.   ResearchWebs provide a substantial departure from the standard conference paper/journal article format of the print media.  The presentation capabilities of the Web, its easy of use, its capacity for rapid development and publication, and its cost-effectiveness combine to provide alternative ways to produce and encourage research activity.  As a result, this ResearchWeb seeks to provide a means for a broad collective of scholars to share and communicate research findings in a specific area - the use of foreign policy event-interaction data in the analysis of international politics.   It is a blind peer-review publication currently sponsored by PSWEB-L.

Important Features of ResearchWebs

ResearchWebs provide certain distinct advantages over conventional print media such as conference papers and journal articles.  Most prominently:

• Ease and Cost of Publication
  • Editing software is plentiful, easy to learn and use, and in its simplest form free.
  • Server configuration and maintenance is relatively easy, as are the mechanics of "publishing to the Web"  Every department should have access to one in the every near future.
  • The Web is exceptionally cost-effective, compared to any form of print media.
• Diversity of Presentation style
  • The Web readily incorporates text fonts, images, figures, color, photographs, graphic design, and even sound and video capability to provide an extremely versatile multimedia platform.
  • The use of hypertext links allows for intuitive flow through a complex discussion rather that constraining the reader to the linear flow of print media.
• Editorial Style
  • Publication within a ResearchWeb can constitute as little as a page or as much as a book.  Space constraints are of little direct concern.
  • Pages may be revised, correcting mistakes, enhancing analyses, broadening models, and in general providing for genuinely cumulative literature.
  • Competing paradigms may be developed in parallel within the same ResearchWeb providing for greater communication between theoretical perspectives.
  • Data Sets too large to print may be provided at the click of a mouse.
  • The research turn-around time, which can be over two years from original article submission to publication of a response, can be reduced to a few days (or even hours!)
  • Blind peer review can be shared by a community of scholars, instead of a small (2-4) number of randomly picked reviewers.  Publication can result from consensus in the readership.
  • All pages can share a common bibliography and set of references greatly reducing the duplication of effort inevitable in print media.
  • Future developments are likely to bring interactive research where the reader may alter, or even add to, the models presented.

Web Site Map

    A map of the Foreign Policy Events Data Web will be available as sections become available.

Web Site Authorship

As of October 1, 1997 the current Foreign Policy Events Data ResearchWeb Editor is:

        Robert D. Duval
        Dept. of Political Science
        West Virginia University
        Morgantown, WV  26506
        (304) 293-3811 x5299
         bduval@wvu.edu

The Editorial Board has not yet been formed.  Lengths of the terms of service for the Managing Editor and the Editorial Board will be determined by the initial Editorial Board.

The Editorial Board is responsible for the Introduction, Table of Contents, and Guidelines for Participation.  The Managing Editor maintains the Web Site Authorship and Revision History pages.

In addition, the Editorial Board and the Managing Editor will edit all pages for style and transitions as new pages are added.

Revision History

Authorship will be credited by URL (Title and Labeling Conventions will be developed by the Editorial Board)

It is anticipated that these Web pages will be revised, appended to, modified, and eventually superseded by newer versions.  This ResearchWeb will maintain a revision history which details the original authorship of each page, identifies the authors of substantive revisions and appended sections, and preserves acknowledgment of the contribution of earlier versions.  The format for attribution of authorship and revision will be developed as the need arises.   Authors who participate should anticipate that all pages accepted are available for revision.  The Managing Editor and Editorial Board will develop guidelines for acceptable standards for revision.   Opportunities for revision will be prioritized.  The following are tentative suggestions for handling revisions:

• The original author will have the highest priority for future revisions.
• Contributors will be encouraged to offer collaborative reviews developed in concert with the original author.
• Revisions submitted without collaboration will be submitted for review, with notification sent to the organized participating community of scholars, and the original page author.
• Extensions of existing pages are treated as new contributions, not as revisions.

The Web provides a dynamic environment, and ResearchWebs are a means of using that dynamic nature to foster and enhance the research process.  A research tool which rapidly incorporates the cumulative efforts of its scholastic community offers us much potential.  These ResearchWebs will seek to recognize the timely contributions of authors while fostering the evolution of the body of research.

Current Revision History

• Table of Contents: Revised February 11, 1999
  • Minor additions and changes to contents list.
• New Section added February 16, 1999 -
  • Events Data in Foreign Policy Analysis
    • Domestic Influences on Foreign Policy Behavior

Guidelines for Participation

The Foreign Policy Events Data ResearchWeb is open to any wishing to contribute to its development.  Authors desiring to participate should contact the Managing Editor to determine if current drafts or revisions are currently underway. Two or more authors submitting similar material may be asked to collaborate for joint publication.

The Basic procedure for Page submission is:

• Contact the Editor concerning page topic (Recommended, not required)
• Produce pages to be submitted in HTML format.  Authors are encouraged to integrate their work to the existing structure of the ResearchWeb.  The Editorial Board will anticipate the need to modify pages to provide for continuity.  Individuals are discouraged from simply submitting stand-alone conference papers that have been converted to HTML format.  While replication is a desirable form of research activity, duplication of literature review is to be avoided.
• Submit the Web pages by e-mail, diskette, or by posting the URL to the editor.
• Pages under review will be set up on the PSWEB-L server and indicated in the Table of Contents
• The Managing Editor will notify the Editorial board and interested parties of the submission.  Pages submitted for review will be available for comment for 30 days.
• Comments concerning the page(s) will be collected and provided by Web to the collective audience.
• Web pages may not be substantively altered while under review.
• The editorial board will be polled for acceptance/rejection/revision.
• Authors submitting revisions should utilize the existing Web page and use the Overstrike Tag to mark text to be omitted (i.e. Remove this line) and the Underscore to indicate text to be added (i.e. Add this line here).
• All data used in analysis for pages published in the ResearchWeb must be made available online.
• Pages approved for inclusion will be added by the Managing Editor.

We would be remiss in failing to caution contributors that, while this is a blind-peer-review publication,  many, or even most, departments of political science will be uncertain how to evaluate such research.   Contributors should be advised to ensure that their research efforts are diversified over the print media as well.  The only incentive we can offer for publication in this ResearchWeb is the satisfaction of participating in an innovative and hopefully exceptionally productive research endeavor.  If this is a good idea, than it is very, very good, and if it's bad, then it's...well, we'll know in a few years...

This ResearchWeb has been accessed  times since October 8, 1997.