Some Comparative Googling

Discussion in 'Accreditation Discussions (RA, DETC, state approva' started by BillDayson, Oct 1, 2003.

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  1. BillDayson

    BillDayson New Member

    In the 'polite questions' thread, Henrik employed the KU astronomy program as an example. I was interested in what KU is doing in the field of astronomy, so I did a web search. Here are the complete results:

    Searched the web for "knightsbridge university" astronomy._ Results 1 - 7 of 7.

    Knightsbridge University - Distance Learning University with ...
    Return. BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN ASTRONOMY. Introduction. Thank you for your
    interest in the Knightsbridge University BSc Programme in Astronomy. ...
    www.knightsbridgeuniversity.com/courses/astromomy.html - 20k - Cached - Similar pages

    Knightsbridge University - Distance Learning University with ...
    ... higher education. DEPARTMENT OF ASTRONOMY Dr Chris Brindle, Phd. BSc
    Astronomy & Astrophysics, MSc Astrophysics, PhD Astronomy. Dr ...
    www.knightsbridgeuniversity.com/faculty.html - 29k - Cached - Similar pages

    Knightsbridge University - Distance Learning University with ...
    ... Title, Levels. Applied Mathematics, BSc. Arts - Medicine, BA/MA. Astronomy, BSc/MSc.
    Bilbliotherapy, MA. Business Administration, BBA/MBA/DBA. Specialist Option MBAs: ...
    www.knightsbridgeuniversity.com/taught.html - 20k - Cached - Similar pages

    Knightbridge University
    ... Knightsbridge University is a private, independent institution specialising in distance
    learning exclusively. ... BS Applied Mathematics. • BSc/MSc Astronomy. ...
    www.thedistancelearning.com/uk/of006.htm - 10k - Cached - Similar pages

    Astronomical Education Links
    ... of Astronomy program. Knightsbridge University (Denmark). Degree &
    Phd courses in Astronomy. Organization. Summary. Planet Earth Centre ...
    www.croydonastro.org.uk/educat.htm - 40k - Sep 30, 2003 - Cached - Similar pages

    Knightsbridge College - university external degrees. Astronomy to ...
    ... Bank Sort code. 7116. Account Number. 930024-2. Account Name. Knightsbridge University
    Inc. Bank. Sydbank A/S, Kirkegade 1, 8900 Randers, Denmark,. tel: +45 89135430. ...
    www.knightsbridgecollege.com/applicat.html - 11k - Supplemental Result - Cached - Similar pages

    Knightbridge University
    ... Knightsbridge University is a private, independent institution specialising in distance
    learning exclusively. ... BS Applied Mathematics. • BSc/MSc Astronomy. ...
    http://thedistancelearning.com/uk/of006.htm - 10k - Supplemental Result - Cached - Similar pages
    Search_within_results

    ***********************************

    Apart from six Knightsbridge pages (putting the university variously in England, Scotland and Denmark), all that turned up was a single listing by a London amateur astronomers group.
     
  2. BillDayson

    BillDayson New Member

    For purposes of comparison, an idential search for ["san francisco state university" astronomy] generated about 18,400 hits. Here's a small sampling of what they consisted of:

    Searched the web for "san francisco state university" astronomy._ Results 1 - 10 of about 18,400.

    SFSU Physics and Astronomy
    ... Web Page Designed by Candace Partridge Last Updated: 08-25-02, Department of Physics and Astronomy San Francisco State University 1600 Holloway San Francisco
    ...
    http://www.physics.sfsu.edu/ - 5k - Cached - Similar pages

    Tenure-Track Assistant Professor, Observational Astronomy/ ... ... The
    Department of Physics and Astronomy at San Francisco State University solicits
    applications for a tenure-track assistant professor position in astronomy. ...
    http://www.aas.org/jobreg/backissues/2001/october/no12232.html - 3k - Cached - Similar pages

    KU CredTran Data for San Francisco State University ... University. SAN FRANCISCO STATE UNIVERSITY, UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS. ... 3.00. ASTR, 115, INTRO TO ASTRONOMY, 3.00, ASTR, 0191, CONTEMPRY ASTRONMY,
    3.00. ...
    http://lark.cc.ukans.edu/~irdata/transequiv/CA/004684.html - 63k - Cached - Similar pages

    San Francisco State University Planet Search Project ... Since 1987 Geoff Marcy and Paul Butler have searched for extrasolar planets at San Francisco State University. ... Astronomy Magazine. ... http://oberwallis.astronomie.ch/volume6/page5/unix4100.html - 12k - Cached - Similar pages

    NSF - OLPA - PR 99-24: Astronomy Teams Find First Multi-Planet ... ... James P. Wright, who heads special programs in astronomy for NSF's ... NSF-. Editors:
    At San Francisco State University, media contact is: Blake Edgar, 415-338-6747 ...
    http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/news/press/99/pr9924.htm - 12k - Cached - Similar pages

    Scientific American: Ask the Experts: Astronomy: Astronomers have ... ... Geoffrey Marcy of San Francisco State University leads the team that has produced
    most of the new discoveries. ... more Astronomy questions back to Ask
    the Experts. ...
    http://www.sciam.com/askexpert_question.cfm?articleID=0008B997-75FC-1C72-9EB7809EC588F2D7 - 31k - Cached - Similar pages

    Bay Area Physics and Astronomy Colloquia ... Mt. Tamalpais State Park. Star Programs. San Francisco State University. Physics & Astronomy Colloquium. Sonoma State University. What Physicists Do. ...
    http://www.phys-astro.sonoma.edu/people/faculty/tenn/BayAreaLectures.html - 5k
    - Cached - Similar pages

    HEP Virtual Phonebook S
    ... for Energy Studies. San Francisco State University - Directory Physics and
    Astronomy Department - People. Santiago de Compostela, Universidade ... http://www.hep.net/sites/s.html - 17k - Cached - Similar pages

    AN Breaking News: Multiple planets found around a sun-like star ... Image: Lynette R. Cook, San Francisco State University. ... For more on the search for
    planets around other stars see the July 1998 issue of Astronomy Now magazine ...
    http://www.astronomynow.com/breaking/990415planetsx3/ - 14k - Cached -
    Similar
    pages

    OSETI III: Factors Affecting Calculation of L ... State University. Author Affiliation. Dept. of Physics and Astronomy San Francisco State University 1600 Holloway Ave. TH 334 San ... http://www.coseti.org/4273-17.htm - 12k - Cached - Similar pages

    Mathematics for Physicists
    ... Susan Lea, professor of Physics and Astronomy at San Francisco State University,
    has a BA and MA in mathematics from Cambridge University (with an emphasis in ...
    http://newtexts.com/newtexts/book.cfm?book_id=852 - 19k - Sep 29, 2003 - Cached
    - Similar pages

    Archive of Astronomy Questions and Answers ... The spectroscopic method, used by Paul Butler at San Francisco State University, and at the ... Virgo led Penn State professor of Astronomy Alexander Wolszczan to ...
    http://itss.raytheon.com/cafe/qadir/q1645.html - 6k - Cached - Similar pages

    Chandra Press Room :: 201st Meeting of the AAS ... Haggard, AD Fuller, JL Dorfman, AM Cool (San Francisco State University), J. Anderson ... Northwest
    AT Steffen, AJ Barger (Department of Astronomy, University of ... http://chandra.harvard.edu/press/aas/jan03/aas03_6.html - 22k - Cached - Similar pages

    New Planets! - Winter 1996 MIRA Newsletter ... Paul Butler of San Francisco State University gestures to explain planetary system
    theories. The year 1996 has been pretty exciting in astronomy: the discovery ...
    http://www.mira.org/newsletr/nlwint96/newplane.htm - 6k - Cached - Similar pages

    contents
    ... Cornell, University, Ithaca, NY; and Director, National Astronomy and Ionosphere
    Center ... Charles L. Seeger, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, Calif. ...
    http://history.nasa.gov/CP-2156/contents.htm - 15k - Cached - Similar pages

    Support Capabilites Workshop: Panel Members ... Optical Astronomy Observatories Heather Morrison Case Western Reserve University
    Mike Rich Columbia University Ata Sarajedini San Francisco State University 7 ...
    http://www.noao.edu/gateway/supcap_workshop/part.html - 6k - Cached - Similar pages

    Session Information
    ... OS, SA, PA) Presiding: CE Walker, National Optical Astronomy Observatory; SQ ... University
    of New Orleans; K Grove, San Francisco State University [ Details: (HTML
    ...
    http://www.agu.org/cgi-bin/sessionsf?meeting=fm02&sec=ED - 15k - Cached
    - Similar pages

    Observatoires et Instituts d´Astronomie dans le monde ... Space Physics and Astronomy Ritter Astrophysical Research Center ( ) San Francisco
    State University - Department of Physics and Astronomy ( SFSU ) Smithsonian ...
    http://www.bdl.fr/org.html - 39k - Cached - Similar pages

    Speakers
    ... a BA in Physics (1985) and BS in Chemistry (1986) and a MS in Physics (1989) from
    San Francisco State University. He received a Ph.D. in Astronomy (1993) from ...
    http://www.sc.eso.org/santiago/science/speakers2003.html - 10k - Cached
    - Similar pages

    News in Science - New Solar System Found - 16/04/1999 ... innermost planet in the system was already detected in 1996 by Swiss astronomers
    and later confirmed by members of a San Francisco State University team who ...
    http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s22139.htm - 29k - Cached - Similar pages

    First Extrasolar Planetary System Discovered at Lick Observatory ... Andromedae system was detected in 1996 by San Francisco State University (SFSU)
    astronomers ... formation." Robert Noyes, a professor of astronomy at
    Harvard ...
    http://www.ucolick.org/general/pressrelease/99/99-04-15.html - 12k - Cached - Similar pages
     
  3. oxpecker

    oxpecker New Member

    I appreciate the Google test. But SFSU is a large university. There should be some way to account for size.
     
  4. BillDayson

    BillDayson New Member

    SFSU has a relaively small astronomy program, offering its MS in astrophysics out of a combined Physics-Astronomy department. It doesn't offer a doctorate.

    Knightsbridge offers taught BSc and MSc degrees in astronomy. It may also offer a Ph.D. by research in that subject, though it isn't clear. (The Croyden astronomy club thinks that they do.) So the two schools are offering essentially the same product. If anything, KU is offering something more ambitious.

    When examining Google results, there are a number of things that we can look at.

    There's the raw volume of hits. In KU's case that was essentially one hit, since the other six hits were KU's own webpages. In the case of SFSU, it was more than 18,000 hits.

    I suppose that part of that difference is simply a function of size. Larger programs probably do generate more hits. But is SFSU's astromony program 18,000 times larger than KU's? Size obviously isn't the whole story here. The raw volume of hits is really an indicator of interest. Part of the reason that SFSU generates lots of hits is because it did some things in astronomy that people found interesting. Even small departments can generate a lot of talk. If a department generates no interest at all, that suggests that perhaps there is nothing there to be interested in.

    Another thing to look at is the source of the hits. Particularly in cases like Knightsbridge's, where formal external quality assessment is actively avoided, we can learn a lot by observing which outside parties take the program seriously.

    In just the few examples I posted, we see SFSU being taken seriously by the American Astronomical Society, the University of Kansas (the real 'KU'), the National Science Foundation, Scientific American, Raytheon, Harvard, NASA, the National Optical Astronomy Observatories, the European Southern Observatory and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, among others.

    In Knightsbridge's case, we see that a British amateur astronomers club links to them. Is it really credible to assume that a graduate program exists without anyone in its profession even noticing?

    A third thing to look at is the content of the hits. SFSU has produced research that other astronomers find significant. The details are announced publicly, published in peer-reviewed journals and presented before meetings of colleagues at professional conferences. (I believe that the Lick Observatory page has links to some of the papers and other research findings available on-line.)

    Knightsbridge, on the other hand, produces no scholarship that's visible outside the school, and any dissertations or theses that it might have produced internally are treated like state secrets.
     
  5. oxpecker

    oxpecker New Member

    I queried the Institution field in the ISI Current Contents database for the last 10 years. Here are my results for total number of scientific articles from five institutions:
    • Berkeley: 33,924
      Stanford: 31,730
      San Francisco State or SFSU: 759
      Unisa (filtered to include South Africa only): 37
      Knightsbridge: 0
    Of course, the Berzerkeley results seem to be somewhat inflated.

    Note that the Institution field includes all the author institutions: if a paper is published with multiple authors with different institutional affiliations, then all institutions will appear.

    So this does seem to confirm that Knightsbridge is not in any way part of the community of science.
     
  6. Tom57

    Tom57 Member

    Why would you say the Berkeley results are inflated? They seem in line with a top research university, and, as in everything else, slightly ahead of Stanfurd, as it should be. :D

    Or maybe your comment was tongue-in-cheek. Can't tell.

    Tom57
     
  7. Tom57

    Tom57 Member

    Why would you say the Berkeley results are inflated? They seem in line with a top research university, and, as in everything else, slightly ahead of Stanfurd, as it should be. :D

    Or maybe your comment was tongue-in-cheek. Can't tell.

    Tom57
     

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