Exploring Concepts of Population in Human Genetic Variation Studies

探索人类遗传变异研究中的群体概念

• 批准号: 0621022
• 负责人: Joan Fujimura
• 金额: $ 35万
• 依托单位: University of Wisconsin-Madison
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2006
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2006-09-01 至 2010-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0621022&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Exploring; Concepts; Population; Human; Genetic

This project, funded by the Ethics and Values Studies in Science, Engineering and Technology component of the Science and Society Program, will document and analyze the practices through which human genetic variation researchers operationalize the concept of "a human population." The study will also map the various practical and ethical implications of current practices for designating and operationalizing "population." It will employ ethnographic field observations and interviews in leading laboratories where researchers study human genetic variation. The study will also draw on participant observation at scientific conferences and an analysis of primary scientific literature and government reports and guidelines. Human genetics research employs notions of "population" which are critical to these projects. However, notions of human populations are often not clearly defined, nor are they standardized across or within projects. Further, it is impossible to specify notions of human populations that do not overlap with one another. The proposed project will investigate how populations and population variations are conceived and constructed. More specifically, this research will examine the conceptualization and operationalization of the notion of population inthe design, data collection, and analysis processes of basic human genetic variation research studies. The project has two primary aims: to create new knowledge about how scientists choose and institute categorization schemes and about how different concepts of population influence the design, data collection, and analysis of human genetic variation research projects; and, to create new knowledge about the social, ethical, political-economic, and institutional dimensions of scientific research that incorporate concepts of population in their studies. This investigation will result in journal articles and a book, and will contribute to the literature on human genetic variation as well as on bioethics, social studies of genetics, science policy, and statistical and linkage methods. It will also add to the literature on specific fields of research including standardization in science, scientific classification and categories, the effects of values in science, the practices of knowledge production, the shape and effect of scientific work organization and especially interdisciplinary collaboration in science. The study's findings will be disseminated to researchers at academic and policy-oriented conferences as well as to public groups interested in social and ethical issues related to new genetic technologies. It will also provide a description of differences and similarities between the statistical procedures used by different researchers together with an analysis of how researchers incorporate the concept of population as a research variable.

该项目由科学与社会计划的科学、工程和技术伦理与价值研究部分资助，将记录和分析人类遗传变异研究人员实施“人类种群”概念的实践。这项研究还将描绘目前指定和实施“人口”的各种实际和伦理问题。它将采用人种学的实地观察和在研究人类遗传变异的主要实验室的访谈。这项研究还将利用科学会议上的参与者观察和对主要科学文献、政府报告和指导方针的分析。人类遗传学研究使用“人口”的概念，这对这些项目至关重要。然而，人口的概念通常没有明确定义，也没有在项目之间或项目内部进行标准化。此外，不可能具体说明不相互重叠的人口概念。拟议的项目将调查人口和人口变化是如何构思和构建的。更具体地说，本研究将在基本人类遗传变异研究的设计、数据收集和分析过程中检查种群概念的概念化和操作化。该项目有两个主要目标：创造关于科学家如何选择和制定分类方案的新知识，以及关于人口的不同概念如何影响人类遗传变异研究项目的设计、数据收集和分析；并且，创造关于社会、伦理、政治经济和制度维度的科学研究的新知识，将人口概念纳入他们的研究。这项调查将会产生期刊文章和一本书，并将对人类遗传变异、生物伦理学、遗传学社会研究、科学政策、统计和关联方法等方面的文献做出贡献。它还将增加关于具体研究领域的文献，包括科学标准化、科学分类和类别、科学价值的影响、知识生产的实践、科学工作组织的形式和效果，特别是科学领域的跨学科合作。这项研究的结果将在学术和面向政策的会议上分发给研究人员，并分发给对与新基因技术有关的社会和伦理问题感兴趣的公共团体。它还将描述不同研究人员使用的统计程序之间的差异和相似之处，并分析研究人员如何将人口概念纳入研究变量。