The Black Goat

You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth

Thu, 29 Oct 2020 17:23:29 -0700

In 2012, Rink Hoekstra received two emails on the same day. One was from a journal editor, telling him that a manuscript was being rejected based on the recommendations of two reviewers. The other was from one of those reviewers, complimenting the paper and congratulating him on a job well done. The reviewer, Fiona Fidler, discovered that her review had been altered, and Rink and Fiona teamed out to figure out why. We spoke with Rink in 2018 about what happened, but we held on to the interview in anticipation of the episode being covered by the press. There's now an article out in Science, by journalist Cathleen O'Grady. In our conversation we talk about what happened, and we broaden out to a discussion of publication ethics. Why would an editor want to change a review without asking the reviewer? How does that damage a system that already has so little accountability? And what can authors or reviewers do when they suspect something is up?

Link:

Delete offensive language? Change recommendations? Some editors say it’s OK to alter peer reviews, by Cathleen O'Grady

The Black Goat is hosted by Sanjay Srivastava, Alexa Tullett, and Simine Vazire. Find us on the web at www.theblackgoatpodcast.com, on Twitter at @blackgoatpod, on Facebook at facebook.com/blackgoatpod/, and on instagram at @blackgoatpod. You can email us at letters@theblackgoatpodcast.com. You can subscribe to us on iTunes or Stitcher.

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license. Our logo was created by Jude Weaver.

This is episode 86. Our interview was recorded on October 26, 2018; the introduction was recorded on October 28, 2020.

They Give You This, But You Pay For That

Wed, 23 Sep 2020 09:29:53 -0700

Academics are under enormous stress right now, raising the possibility of a rising rate of burnout. Longtime structural trends in higher education have increased pressures for demonstrable productivity. On top of that are a global pandemic, resistance and backlash to calls for racial justice, and unstable politics in the U.S., the U.K., and elsewhere. In this episode we discuss burnout in academia. We focus on an emerging perspective from the healthcare field that describes burnout as resulting from moral injury. How is this idea relevant to people working in academia? In what ways can we be hurt by being trapped between the ideals and values that brought us into the field and the demands of our working environments? What can we do about it? Plus: A letter about reviewing papers from the global south that do not fit into the usual discourse.

Links:

Andrew Wilson's Twitter thread about burnout
Moral Injury and Burnout in Medicine: A Year of Lessons Learned by Wendy Dean and Simon Talbot, Stat
Burnout Is About Your Workplace, Not Your People by Jennifer Moss, Harvard Business Review
Job Burnout by Christina Maslach, Wilmar Schaufeli, and Michael Leiter, Annual Review of Psychology

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license. Our logo was created by Jude Weaver.

This is episode 85. It was recorded on September 16/17 (US/AUS), 2020.

An Award-Winning Episode

Wed, 09 Sep 2020 10:35:00 -0700

Academics love awards. We give out career awards, mid-career awards, early-career awards. We give out awards for the best paper, the best theory, the best teaching, the best service. But what function do all those awards serve? And are we the better for having them? In this episode we talk about how awards fit into the academic ecosystem. How do recipients benefit from them? How do they help the organizations and research communities that give them out? What kinds of biases are baked into the system, and how can we counteract them? Should we consider radically changing how academic awards work, or even doing away with them? Plus: We answer a letter about why academia and policy research have such different norms around checking their numbers.

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license. Our logo was created by Jude Weaver.

This is episode 84. It was recorded on September 2/3 (US/AUS), 2020.

Contact Sport

Wed, 26 Aug 2020 13:33:33 -0700

The contact hypothesis is an old idea in social psychology. It posits that under the right circumstances, bringing people from different groups together can reduce prejudice. In this episode, we discuss a new field experiment by Salma Mousa testing whether putting Iraqi Christians and Muslims on soccer teams together can rebuild social cohesion after war. Part of our conversation focuses on the direct implications of this work for the contact hypothesis. We also discuss how this study stands out against some common patterns in social science research. Why, despite the long history of research and intuitive appeal of the contact hypothesis, have no studies like this been done before? How did this paper benefit from integrating rigorous quantitative methods with a careful understanding of history and context? How did a commitment to not just the letter, but also the spirit, of preregistration keep the conclusions aligned so well with the data? Plus: We answer a letter about whether the COVID pandemic means this is an especially bad time to start a Ph.D. program.

Links:

Building social cohesion between Christians and Muslims through soccer in post-ISIS Iraq, by Salma Mousa
Can playing together help us live together? Commentary by Elizabeth Levy Paluck and Chelsey Clark
Twitter thread by Betsy Paluck

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license. Our logo was created by Jude Weaver.

This is episode 83. It was recorded on August 19/20 (US/AUS), 2020.

Does Not Compute

Thu, 13 Aug 2020 10:10:00 -0700

Scientific journal articles have a lot of numbers. Scientists are smart people with even smarter computers, so an outsider might think that, if nothing else, you can count on the math checking out. But modern data analysis is complicated, and computational reproducibility is far from guaranteed. In this episode, we discuss a recent set of articles published at the journal Cortex. A group of authors set out to replicate an influential 2010 article that claimed that if you reactivate a fear-laden memory, it becomes possible to change the emotional association - something with clear relevance to clinical practice. Along the way, the replicating scientists encountered anomalies which led them to try to reproduce the analyses in the original study - and they discovered that they could not. We talk about what this means for science. What are the implications of knowing that for a nontrivial number if scientific studies, the math doesn't add up? Will a new era of open data and open code be enough to fix the problem? How much will Verification Reports - a new publication format that Cortex has introduced - help with that process? Plus: We answer a letter about swinging for the fences when your dream job comes up but you don't feel ready yet.

Links:

The three R's of scientific integrity: Replicability, reproducibility, and robustness, by Robert McIntosh and Chris Chambers
The Validity of the Tool “statcheck” in Discovering Statistical Reporting Inconsistencies, by Michèle Nuijten et al
Analytic reproducibility in articles receiving open data badges at Psychological Science: An observational study, by Tom Hardwicke et al

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license. Our logo was created by Jude Weaver.

This is episode 82. It was recorded on August 10, 2020.

Objective Unknown

Wed, 29 Jul 2020 10:22:21 -0700

How does psychology's response to the replication crisis fit into a broader history of science? In this episode we discuss a paper by sociologists Jeremy Freese and David Peterson that takes on that question. Are "epistemic activists" in psychology redefining what it means to be objective in science? Does a focus on reforming incentives mean we view scientists as economic actors for whom motives and dispositions are irrelevant? Does the last decade's growth in meta-research mean that meta-analysis is the new arbiter of objectivity? Does a shift to a systems perspective on science have parallels in other systemic analyses of institutions? Plus: We answer a letter about whether raising new concerns when you're reviewing a revision is obligatory, a jerk move, or both.

Links:

Freese & Peterson (2018). The Emergence of Statistical Objectivity: Changing Ideas of Epistemic Vice and Virtue in Science. DOI, full text
Twitter discussion about positionality statements in quant papers
White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism, by Robin DiAngelo
Science as Social Knowledge: Values and Objectivity in Scientific Inquiry, by Helen Longino.

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license. Our logo was created by Jude Weaver.

This is episode 81. It was recorded on July 22, 2020.

The Impending Fall of Academia

Wed, 15 Jul 2020 15:52:27 -0700

The upcoming academic term will be unusual, to say the least. The global pandemic led to emergency shutdowns in March, and it is likely that many colleges and universities will continue teaching partially or wholly online. And protests against anti-Black racism in the United States and elsewhere have led to institutional statements about taking an antiracist stand - which may or may not translate into real change. In this episode, we discuss some of the changes and how we are thinking about them in our work. How did we adapt our teaching for remote learning, and what do we think fall will look like? What changes can we make to our teaching and service to be more antiracist? How can we stay focused and motivated when we're acting as individuals against systemic problems? Plus, we answer a letter about working in the lab of your more senior and prominent partner. Simine chides her co-hosts over ignoring Southern Hemisphere seasons (and the one who writes episode titles promises to try harder, right after he gets this one pun out of his system). And Sanjay talks about coping with grief under social distancing.

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license. Our logo was created by Jude Weaver.

This is episode 80. It was recorded on July 8, 2020.

Inexact Science

Thu, 30 Apr 2020 11:09:26 -0700

Scientific knowledge is always contingent and uncertain, even when it's the best we have. Should that factor into how we communicate science to the public, and if so, how? We discuss a recent article about the effects of communicating uncertainty on people's trust in scientific findings and scientists. When should and shouldn't scientists communicate uncertainty, and how should they do it? How should scientists prioritize keeping people's trust versus being up front about what they don't know? What are the different sources of uncertainty in scientific knowledge, and how should scientists deal with all of them? Plus, we get a followup letter from someone who asked about career support for a nonacademic partner - and they share what they learned and how things worked out.

Link:

The effects of communicating uncertainty on public trust in facts and numbers, by Anne Marthe van der Bles et al.

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license. Our logo was created by Jude Weaver.

This is episode 79. It was recorded on April 27, 2020.

COVID Operations

Wed, 15 Apr 2020 13:07:22 -0700

The COVID-19 pandemic is creating major and serious disruptions to just about everything, and higher education is no exception. In this episode we talk about how our work has been affected by measures to slow down the coronavirus. How have we adjusted to remote teaching? What effects have the social distancing measures had on our research? How are we mentoring students in light of such an uncertain future? What bigger changes and disruptions could be in store for academia? Plus: We answer a letter about when and how students should draw on their expertise when their advisor is in a different discipline.

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license. Our logo was created by Jude Weaver.

This is episode 78. It was recorded on April 7, 2020.

Joe Public, Will You Marry Me?

Wed, 01 Apr 2020 10:27:37 -0700

In recent years there has been a lot of talk about public trust in science - how much there is, in what ways, whether we deserve it or not. In this episode, we discuss an article by historian and philosopher Rachel Ankeny that asks whether "trust" is even the right concept to be talking about. What does it mean to trust an abstraction like "science"? When people argue about trust in science, are they even talking about the same thing - the findings, the people, the process, or something else? And we discuss Ankeny's proposed alternative: that instead of the public's trust, scientists should be seeking out engagement. What would an engagement model looks like? How would engagement benefit the public? How would it benefit science? And what about people who just wouldn't want to engage? Plus: We answer a letter from someone who likes, but doesn't love, teaching, and wants to know if that's good enough for academia.

Links:

How The Pandemic Will End, by Ed Yong in The Atlantic
A comment on Everett et al. (2020): No evidence for the effectiveness of moral messages on public health behavioural intentions during the COVID-19 pandemic, by Farid Anvari. (Note: After we recorded the episode, the authors of the original paper updated it and then invited Farid to join them as a co-author. A great outcome!)
The Taboo Against Explicit Causal Inference in Nonexperimental Psychology, by Michael Grosz, Julia Rohrer, and Felix Thoemmes
Science in an age of scepticism, by Rachel Ankeny in Griffith Review

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license. Our logo was created by Jude Weaver.

This is episode 77. It was recorded on March 26, 2020.

Just Be Cause

Sat, 21 Mar 2020 10:44:28 -0700

Many important questions about cause and effect are impractical to answer with a randomized experiment. What should we do instead? In this episode we talk about doing causal inference with observational data. Has psychology's historical obsession with internal validity led it, ironically, to think about causal inference in an unsophisticated way? Can formal analytic tools like directed acyclic graphs (DAGs) tell us how to do better studies? Or is their main lesson don't bother trying? How do norms and incentives in publishing help or hurt in doing better causal inference? Plus: We answer a letter about applying to psychology grad school when your background is in data science.

Links:

Thinking Clearly About Correlations and Causation: Graphical Causal Models for Observational Data, by Julia M. Rohrer
That one weird third variable problem nobody ever mentions: Conditioning on a collider, by Julia Rohrer
The selection-distortion effect: How selection changes correlations in surprising ways, by Sanjay Srivastava

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license. Our logo was created by Jude Weaver.

This is episode 76. It was recorded on March 16, 2020.

Auxiliary Turtles All the Way Down

Wed, 12 Feb 2020 11:00:46 -0700

The path from theory to study consists of a thousand decisions, big and small. How and how much do these decisions matter? We discuss a recent crowdsourced meta-study that tried to find out. Fifteen teams of researchers were given 5 different hypotheses and told to design a study to test them, then they ran all the studies and got widely varying results. What are the implications of this study for how we should think about the role of theory in study design? What does it say about the different functions of direct and conceptual replications? Is this evidence of hidden moderators? How predictable were the differences in results, and were they predictable because of differences in the study designers' expertise, biases, or something else? Plus: We answer a letter about getting scooped on a systematic review.

Links:

Crowdsourcing hypothesis tests: Making transparent how design choices shape research results by Landy et al. in Psychological Bulletin
200 researchers, 5 hypotheses, no consistent answers. Coverage at Wired by Christie Aschwanden

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license. Our logo was created by Jude Weaver.

This is episode 75. It was recorded on January 30, 2020.

The Expertise of Death

Wed, 29 Jan 2020 09:42:38 -0700

How important is expertise in conducting replications? Many Labs 4 was a large, multi-lab effort that brought together 21 labs, running 2,220 subjects, to study that question. The goal was to compare replications with and without the involvement of the original authors to see if that made a difference. But things got complicated when the effect they chose to study - the mortality salience effect that is a cornerstone of terror management theory - could not be replicated by anyone. In this episode, we talk about the implications of Many Labs 4. What does and doesn't this study say about the importance of expertise and "secret sauce" in conducting replications? Should we necessarily expect that the effect of expertise is to make effects larger or more likely to replicate? What does this replication mean for terror management theory, which has been the focus of hundreds of studies and a 2010 meta-analysis that concluded that mortality salience effects are real and substantial? What place does terror management theory hold in the history of social psychology, and how is that similar or different from ego depletion, another theory that was supported by a meta-analysis but not by multi-lab replications? Plus: we answer a letter about weaponizing tenure if you get it.

Links:

Many Labs 4: Failure to Replicate Mortality Salience Effect With and Without Original Author Involvement
A blog post about ML4 by three of its authors
Two Decades of Terror Management Theory: A Meta-Analysis of Mortality Salience Research, published in 2010

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license. Our logo was created by Jude Weaver.

This is episode 74. It was recorded on January 22, 2020.

Going Off the Record

Fri, 17 Jan 2020 14:44:44 -0700

The Graduate Record Exam - the GRE - is widely used in graduate school admissions. In recent years however, a number of graduate programs, including a few in psychology, have stopped requiring it in a movement that has been dubbed "GRExit." In this episode we discuss the arguments around using the GRE in graduate admissions. What is the evidence for and against its validity? For and against the presence of bias against various groups? How much do we know about validity and bias in the other materials routinely considered in admission, like grades, undergraduate institution, research experience, and letters of recommendation? Are arguments over the GRE just a proxy for larger and more difficult arguments about the purpose and social value of graduate education? And for programs that are dropping the GRE, what are they doing instead, and how will we know what the effects of that are? Plus: we answer a letter about giving authorship to undergrads who made minimal contributions to a project in order to help them get into grad school.

Links:

CRediT - Contributor Roles Taxonomy
A comprehensive meta-analysis of the predictive validity of the graduate record examinations: Implications for graduate student selection and performance, by Kuncel, Hezlett, and Ones (2001)
Standardized tests predict graduate students' success, by Kuncel and Hezlett (2007)
Beyond the GRE: Rethinking Admissions Procedures and GRE Scores Are Poor Predictors

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license. Our logo was created by Jude Weaver.

This is episode 73. It was recorded on January 6, 2020.

The Year 2019 in Review

Thu, 26 Dec 2019 07:52:31 -0700

In our annual end-of-year episode, we talk about noteworthy reflections and events from the year that just passed. Alexa reflects on breakups, and wonders why we don't take them more seriously as a significant disruption to other people's lives. Sanjay talks about hitting a low point and deciding to finally do something about it. And Simine talks about starting a new relationship and finding a new job that will take her halfway around the world. Plus: we answer a letter about whether scientists should mix advocacy and science.

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license. Our logo was created by Jude Weaver.

This is episode 72. It was recorded on December 10, 2019.

Letting Loose Your Inner Reviewer Two

Thu, 12 Dec 2019 11:39:12 -0700

Peer review is a major part of how science works today. In this episode we talk about how we approach doing peer reviews. How do you distinguish between differences in approach or preference - "I would have done it a different way" - versus things that you should treat as objections? How much weight do you put on different considerations - the importance of the research question, the novelty, the theory, the methods, the results, and other factors? What's your actual process - do you read front-to-back, or jump around? How much do you edit and wordsmith your reviews? When there are appendices, supplements, open code and materials, and preregistrations, which things do you read and how do you factor them in? How do you think about your potential biases and how to mitigate them? Plus: We answer a letter about deciding whether to pursue a postdoc versus other options.

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license. Our logo was created by Jude Weaver.

This is episode 71. It was recorded on December 6, 2019.

Doctorpiece Theater

Fri, 29 Nov 2019 11:09:58 -0700

To get your PhD you have to do a dissertation. For some this is an important product that demonstrates your ability to produce original research. To others, it's a vestigial ritual and a waste of time on the way to becoming a productive scholar. In this episode we discuss dissertations - what they've been in the past, what they are today, and where they might go in the future. Is a dissertation necessary for the kinds of work that someone might do with a PhD? As graduate training has evolved, how well has the dissertation kept up? Are oral defenses a valuable part of the process or an elaborate hazing ritual? Are they better if they're public, private, or don't happen at all? And most importantly, should all defenses involve swords? Plus: We discuss a letter about escaping from a toxic and abusive advisor.

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license. Our logo was created by Jude Weaver.

This is episode 70. It was recorded on November 20, 2019.

The Last Straw

Wed, 13 Nov 2019 11:22:08 -0700

Speaking up about injustice and bad behavior in a professional setting - as a witness, or as the target of it - is hard. It's uncomfortable, it's difficult, and it can generate backlash and other risks for yourself and your career. In this episode, we talk about that moment when people finally decide to say something or do something. Simine shares the story of how she decided to go on the record about being groped at a conference - what brought her to that decision, and what happened as a result. And we talk about other cases of people speaking up about harassment, discrimination, professional misconduct, and more, including Jennifer Freyd's pay discrimination lawsuit against the University of Oregon. We talk about the burden of knowing something is wrong, how this dilemma often falls disproportionately on people who are vulnerable in other ways, and what factors can help somebody speak out. Plus: we respond to a letter about department leaders who are obsessed with bean-counting of grant dollars and impact factors.

Links:

N-best evaluation for academic hiring and promotion, by Michael Frank
Making research evaluation more transparent: Aligning research philosophy, institutional values, and reporting, by Michael Dougherty, L. Robert Slevc, and James Grand, published at Perspectives in Psychological Science
Dan Engber's Slate article where Simine went on the record
What Reporting Sexual Harassment Taught Me, by Simine Vazire, published at Slate
a little bit louder now, by Simine Vazire
Taylor Swift’s Sexual Assault Testimony Was Sharp, Gutsy, and Satisfying
Coverage of Jennifer Freyd's lawsuit: Psychology professor appeals dismissal in equal pay lawsuit with UO, Daily Emerald; and 47 Women's And Civil Rights Groups Support Equal Pay Lawsuit Against UO, OPB
Why We Find and Expose Bad Science, by James Heathers

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license. Our logo was created by Jude Weaver.

This is episode 69. It was recorded on October 30, 2019.

Talk the Talk

Wed, 30 Oct 2019 10:46:12 -0700

Academics give a lot of talks. Job talks, conference talks, colloquium talks, brownbag talks, pub talks. In this episode we talk about talks. How do you approach different audiences and formats? How do you manage a format or audience where interrupting with questions is the norm? How, and how much, do you prepare for different kinds of talks? How do you handle nerves when the stakes feel high? We share some of our own observations and experiences about giving academic presentations. Plus: We answer a letter about how "alt-acs" are perceived within academia.

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license. Our logo was created by Jude Weaver.

This is episode 68. It was recorded on October 16, 2019.

Everybody Act Normal

Wed, 16 Oct 2019 10:15:48 -0700

Scientists have to follow a lot of rules. We have IRB rules, journal submission rules, university rules - lots of rules. But some of the most important rules in science aren't rules at all - they are norms. Guiding principles that shape the work we do. In this episode, we discuss a classic paper by the sociologist Robert Merton on 4 norms that govern scientific work. Are these norms an expression of scientific values, or just a means to an end? How well do scientists follow them, individually or collectively? Is science doing as well today as Merton thought it was back in 1942 - and is following these norms really the way to make science work right? Plus: We answer a letter about question to ask a prospective PhD advisor.

Links:

Sanjay's muse, Mr. Autumn Man
The normative structure of science by Robert Merton
Normative dissonance in science: Results from a national survey of U.S. scientists by Melissa S. Anderson, Brian C. Martinson, and Raymond De Vries

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license. Our logo was created by Jude Weaver.

This is episode 67. It was recorded on October 8, 2019.

For the Lulz

Thu, 03 Oct 2019 09:18:51 -0700

In a previous episode we talked about making small talk in academic life and in general. In this episode we continue the theme, taking a break from our usual Very Serious Topics to answer the ultimate small-talk question: What do you do for fun? We talk about what a week in our lives is like outside of work. How do we spend time when we're not "on the clock"? What is the right amount of socializing? (spoiler: not everybody has the same answer) How do our hobbies and avocations reflect back on our work - or give us a break from it? Plus: A letter about getting a mystifying cold shoulder from a senior colleague.

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license. Our logo was created by Jude Weaver.

This is episode 66. It was recorded on September 27, 2019.

Who Do You Serve?

Wed, 18 Sep 2019 09:42:26 -0700

The three pillars of academic work are research, teaching, and service - in that order. But service is incredibly important for universities and professions to function well and for academics to contribute to their communities. In this episode we talk about how we think about service. How do decide what service to do, and how much? How do you manage service in relation to your other work? What are different kinds of service, and what do you get out of them? What should we do about colleagues who get less service because they won't do it or will do it badly? Plus: A letter about getting credit for open peer reviews.

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license. Our logo was created by Jude Weaver.

This is episode 65. It was recorded on September 16, 2019.

Axe Grinders Begone

Wed, 04 Sep 2019 10:13:53 -0700

In the past decade, scientists in psychology and elsewhere have changed a lot in how we evaluate what makes research replicable, robust, and credible. New theories and findings in metascience and methodology - and repopularization of old ones - have given us new ways to think critically about research. But what do we do when these concepts and arguments are used poorly or bad faith - applied wrongly or selectively, or misused to sow broad doubt in science? In this episode we talk about what happens when people try to claim the mantle of open science to advance some other agenda. How can we distinguish good use of open-science arguments from bad? How can scientists who care about open science effectively call out these arguments? Plus: A letter about negotiating for a partner who has a non-academic job.

Links:

Alexa on Two Psychologists Four Beers
Everything Hertz gives Simine tips on moving to Australia
The Hidden Half by Michael Blastland

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license. Our logo was created by Jude Weaver.

This is episode 64. It was recorded on August 27, 2019.

A Friend You Haven't Met

Wed, 24 Jul 2019 09:49:49 -0700

Part of academic life means talking to new people about yourself and your work - whether it's on a job interview, at a conference, or casual conversations outside of academic settings. In this episode we talk about talking to strangers. How do you answer default academic small-talk questions like "tell me about your work?" How do you shake out of them to move a conversation somewhere more interesting? Should you prepare or practice an elevator pitch? And when, if ever, is it safe to take off your headphones on an airplane? Plus: We try to answer a letter about how the academic job market in the U.S. views doctoral degrees from Australia.

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license. Our logo was created by Jude Weaver.

This is episode 63. It was recorded on July 17, 2019.

Simine Flips Out

Wed, 03 Jul 2019 09:25:46 -0700

Editors of scientific journals have a lot of power. For one thing, journals are the main way that scientific work is distributed, so editors' decisions control the flow of information among scientists and to the public. For another, publications are probably the single most consequential product in evaluating scientists for jobs and career advancement. Simine just wrapped up a term as an editor of a journal, and in this episode she reflects on how much power she had, why it was probably too much, and what she could do next about that. Her big idea is to "flip" herself - dedicate her time and energy to posting open reviews of preprints. Preprints are a way for scientists to distribute their work outside of the control of gatekeepers, and we talk about the promises and the perils of open reviewing and how Simine plans to do it in a principled and ethical way. Plus: We answer a letter about talking to colleagues outside the "open science bubble."

Links:

had i been editor in chief, Simine's vision statement for Psychological Science
flip yourself - part i and flip yourself - part ii by Simine

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license. Our logo was created by Jude Weaver.

This is episode 62. It was recorded on June 20, 2019.

Bring the Pain

Wed, 26 Jun 2019 09:00:00 -0700

Research methods and statistics are a part of nearly every undergraduate psychology curriculum. They get dedicated courses of their own as well as coverage within other courses. In this episode we step back and reflect on how they should fit into an undergraduate curriculum and how we should be teaching them. Can and should we try to teach them important concepts without the underlying math? How do we integrate methodology into "substantive" teaching about psychology theories and findings? What should we do with the knowledge that many, probably most of our students will never calculate a correlation coefficient or run a t-test after they graduate? How idealistic versus pragmatic should we be about teaching these topics and what we'll actually get across? Plus: We respond to a letter from a new-ish grad student about mentoring an undergraduate who is writing their first paper.

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license. Our logo was created by Jude Weaver.

This is episode 61. It was recorded on June 19, 2019.

This is How We Do It

Thu, 13 Jun 2019 09:09:50 -0700

Many academics have flexibility in when, where, and how they get work done. In this episode we talk about the work habits we've developed to be productive, and the ones we've tried on that didn't fit. What are the differences between working in an office, at home, at a cafe, or elsewhere? How do you create routines and protect your time to get things done? Is it better to work with other people or alone? How do you recognize when the advice that works for everybody else doesn't work for you? Plus: With some help from sociologist Jill Harrison, we answer a letter from a first-generation college student who's now in a Ph.D. program and having a hard time talking to family about what that's about.

Links:

Jill Harrison's profile
Limbo: Blue-Collar Roots, White-Collar Dreams by Alfred Lubrano
The Working-Class Studies Association
LabScrum: A Case Study For Agility in Academic Research Labs by Lisa May and Tamara Runyon

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license. Our logo was created by Jude Weaver.

This is episode 60. It was recorded on May 31, 2019.

Who's Down with OPG?

Wed, 29 May 2019 08:56:27 -0700

Most doctoral training in psychology follows an apprentice model: Grad students affiliate with a primary advisor and lab, and do most of their training under that one person. But what happens when grad students and professors develop professional relationships outside of that traditional model? In this episode we discuss the politics and etiquette of students and faculty interacting and working together outside of the advisor-advisee model. How much control do - and should - advisors have over their advisees? How should faculty go about supporting and criticizing the work of students from other labs? What are the issues involved when faculty intervene (or don't) in other advisor-advisee relationships? Plus: We answer a letter from an early-career researcher wondering if they should withdraw from a paper that is less rigorous and less open than they would like it to be.

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license. Our logo was created by Jude Weaver.

This is episode 59. It was recorded on May 17, 2019.

library(blackgoatpod)

Wed, 15 May 2019 09:30:52 -0700

To users of R, it is more than just another way to analyze data - it goes along with a different mindset about the centrality of coding in doing science, a way of thinking about openness and reproducibility, an intersecting set of tools, and a community of users with its own culture and mindset. In this episode we talk about the rise of R within the psychology research community. How has the importance of statistical software changed over time? Should we be teaching R to grads and undergrads? What have our own experiences learning new software been, and can you teach an old goat new tricks? Plus: We answer a letter about how to address ageism on the academic job market.

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license. Our logo was created by Jude Weaver.

This is episode 58. It was recorded on May 2, 2019.

Don't Be Told What You Want, Don't Be Told What You Need

Wed, 01 May 2019 12:24:52 -0700

What if there were no journals? Would academic life be barren and empty, noisy and chaotic, happy and egalitarian, or something else entirely? In this episode we conduct an extended thought experiment about life without journals, in order to probe questions about what journals actually do for us anyway, what are other ways to achieve those things, and how we might overcome the downsides of the current scientific publishing ecosystem. How else could peer review work? How would researchers find information and know what to read? Would we just replace our current heuristics and biases with new ones? Plus: We answer a letter about whether to slow down to do higher-quality research or to focus on flashy results at top journals.

Links:

Scientific Utopia: I. Opening scientific communication, by Brian Nosek and Yoav Bar-Anan
Mike Frank's Twitter thread on an ethical framework for open science

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license. Our logo was created by Jude Weaver.

This is episode 57. It was recorded on April 17, 2019.

Don't Say Integrity

Wed, 17 Apr 2019 08:30:00 -0700

What is the connection between methodology and ethics? In the early days of the twenty-teens, some people referred to the changes afoot in psychology as a "scientific integrity movement," but that term quickly faded. In this episode, we explore the connections between scientific rigor and scientific ethics. What are the ethical dimensions of good methods? When do we have an ethical obligation to make sure that our studies can answer our questions? Are there ethical obligations that go beyond considerations around protecting human subjects? Why do we sometimes shy away from connecting science reform with ethical behavior? Plus: We answer a letter about data parasites.

Links:

Science and ethics in conducting, analyzing, and reporting psychological research, by Robert Rosenthal
nothing beats something, by Simine Vazire
Making data sharing count: a publication-based solution, by Krzysztof J. Gorgolewski, Daniel S. Margulies, and Michael P. Milham
Practical tips for ethical data sharing, by Michelle Meyer

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license. Our logo was created by Jude Weaver.

This is episode 56. It was recorded on April 12, 2019.

Oh, Behave!

Wed, 20 Mar 2019 08:24:21 -0700

Psychology calls itself a behavioral science, but how often do we measure actual behavior? In this episode we discuss what is involved in measuring realistic, meaningful behavior in psychology research - not just self-reports and response times. What counts as "behavior" anyway? Why does it seem like psychologists measure less behavior than they used to? What are the scientific, professional, or logistical reasons why researchers decide not to measure behavior? Our discussion is anchored around an article by Roy Baumeister, Kathleen Vohs, and David Funder with the delightful title "Psychology as the Science of Self-Reports and Finger Movements: Whatever Happened to Actual Behavior?" (linked below). Plus: We answer a letter about whether or how to try to get a retention offer as you are advancing in your career.

Links:

Psychology as the Science of Self-Reports and Finger Movements: Whatever Happened to Actual Behavior? by Roy Baumeister, Kathleen Vohs, and David Funder (full text)
Measuring Happiness Is Harder (But Maybe Also Easier) Than You Think, by Rich Lucas
Social Psychology and Science: Some Lessons From Solomon Asch by Paul Rozin (full text)
Hedge drift and advanced motte-and-bailey, by Stefan Schubert

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license. Our logo was created by Jude Weaver.

This is episode 55. It was recorded on March 18, 2019.

13/10 Would Criticize Again

Wed, 06 Mar 2019 09:43:09 -0700

If you are a scientist, criticizing science is a part of the job. We write peer reviews of papers and grants; after talks we ask questions, make comments, and ask questions that are more of a comment; and sometimes we even run replications or new studies to test each other's conclusions. But the scientific ecosystem does not have people who hold the dedicated job of science critic, in the way that fields like art, theater, and music have critics. In this episode we consider an argument made by philosopher Don Ihde that the scientific ecosystem needs such people too - people whose job it is to criticize science from outside the day-to-day practice of it. What is the case for dedicated critics? Are there important kinds of criticism that scientists are not currently making? What would that job look like, and how would it differ from the peer criticism that scientists currently do? Plus: We respond to a letter about how to start getting asked to review papers.

Links:

Why Not Science Critics? by Don Ihde (full text)

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license. Our logo was created by Jude Weaver.

This is episode 54. It was recorded on February 18, 2019.

Our Best Episode Ever

Wed, 20 Feb 2019 10:43:54 -0700

Self-promotion: the idea makes some people cringe and others salivate. In this episode, we talk about self-promotion in academic science. What amount - and maybe more importantly, what kind - is right? Why do some people shy away from it while others dive in? What even counts as self-promotion? Is it a luxury to be able to do without active self-promotion? How do cultural and other differences play into self-promotion? Plus: We answer a letter about bringing open science practices into clinical psychology.

Links:

Leveraging the open science framework in clinical psychological assessment research, by Jennifer Tackett, Cassandra Brandes, and Kathleen Reardon
Using implementation science to close the gap between the optimal and typical practice of quantitative methods in clinical science, by Kevin King, Michael D. Pullmann, Aaron R. Lyon, Shannon Dorsey, and Cara C. Lewis
Practical tips for ethical data sharing, by Michelle N. Meyer
Recommendations for increasing the transparency of analysis of pre-existing datasets, by Sara Weston, Stuart Ritchie, Julia Rohrer, and Andrew Przybylski
Dorothy Bishop's blog, BishopBlog
Teaching replication, by Michael C. Frank and Rebecca Saxe
The Collaborative Replications and Education Project
A few people to follow on Twitter for open and transparent clinical psychological science: Grace Binion, Cassie Brandes, Kevin King, Kathleen Reardon, Jennifer Tackett

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license. Our logo was created by Jude Weaver.

This is episode 53. It was recorded on February 15, 2019.

Conference Talk

Wed, 06 Feb 2019 10:00:27 -0700

Love them or hate them, conferences are a big part of academic life. In this episode we talk about getting the most out of a conference experience. How do you meet people (the dreaded "networking") and make the transition from feeling awkward to comfortable when you're new to a conference? How do you decide what to go to and what to skip? What are the etiquette and norms you should know about? How does the experience of going to a conference change over the course of your career? We share our tips, experiences, and stories from over the years. Plus: A letter about getting familiar with the literature for your first research project.

Links:

Nobody Goes There Anymore, It's Too Crowded, our previous episode on whether conferences should even exist (but if you came down on "no," consider the latest episode harm reduction)

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license. Our logo was created by Jude Weaver.

This is episode 52. It was recorded on January 25, 2019.

Back From The Future

Wed, 23 Jan 2019 12:06:19 -0700

Whether you call it a crisis, a renaissance, a revolution, or something else, there is no doubt that psychology is in the middle of a period of great change. How will future historians, scientists, and others look back on this moment in our field's history? We speculate on what changes we think will stuck, whether some things will look silly or naive in hindsight, what new problems or issues will rise in importance, and more. Plus: We respond to a letter about whether, when, and how to disclose a disability during the job search (and we invite feedback from people with more experience or expertise than us).

Links:

A Short (Personal) Future History of Revolution 2.0 by Bobbie Spellman
The Psychological Science Accelerator: Advancing Psychology through a Distributed Collaborative Network by Hannah Moshontz et al.

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license. Our logo was created by Jude Weaver.

This is episode 51. It was recorded on January 7, 2019.

Self-Help Helps Those Who Self-Help Themselves

Wed, 09 Jan 2019 09:47:51 -0700

Go to the "Psychology" section in a bookstore and chances are it will be full of self-help books. In this episode we talk about self-help and its relationship to academic psychology. What is the difference between a scientist and a self-help guru? How do we feel about the ways that self-help books talk about empirical research, and do we think they should do more of that or less of it? What self-help books have we read, and what did we think of them? Plus: We answer a letter from a n00b assistant professor who wants grad students to respect their authoritah.

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license. Our logo was created by Jude Weaver.

This is episode 50. It was recorded on January 4, 2019.

The Year 2018 In Review

Wed, 26 Dec 2018 07:38:17 -0700

Continuing an annual tradition, for our last episode of 2018 we talk about noteworthy events and reflections from our lives in the past year. Alexa finds that she's growing more sentimental with age. Alexa and Sanjay commune over rediscovering reading books for pleasure. Sanjay muses about the legitimate benefits of taking a sabbatical. Simine reflects on the joys of meeting new people and reinventing yourself on the road. Plus: We answer a letter about how you now when a place of work is "the one"?

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license. Our logo was created by Jude Weaver.

This is episode 49. It was recorded in two parts on December 18, 2018.

Body Talk

Wed, 12 Dec 2018 08:00:00 -0700

Many psychologists study the brain or the body in relation to the mind. Alexa once thought psychophysiology and neuroscience would become a central part of her research; Sanjay flirted with the idea; Simine never seriously considered it. In this episode, we talk about how we see neuroscience and psychophysiology in relation to our own work. How well would those areas integrate into the research each of us does? What sorts of psychological questions are they not particularly well suited for? What do we think they are good for? What kinds of things do we learn from our colleagues who've made studying the brain and body a central part of what they do? Plus: A letter about avoiding taking money from funders who go against your values.

Links:

This is your Brain on Psychology – This is your Psychology on Brain by Rob Chavez
Can Cognitive Processes by Inferred from Neuroimaging Data? by Russ Poldrack
The Iron Psychologist with Jamil Zaki (episode 13)

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license. Our logo was created by Jude Weaver.

This is episode 48. It was recorded in two parts on December 3, 2018.

This Time Could Be Different (with Fiona Fidler)

Wed, 28 Nov 2018 09:40:50 -0700

The open science movement is not the first time psychology has tried to reform itself. Why do some scientific reform movements succeed and others fizzle out? In this episode we talk with Fiona Fidler, a philosopher and historian of science at the University of Melbourne. Fiona's doctoral thesis was an investigation of a decades-spanning attempt to reform statistical practice in psychology based on critiques of null hypothesis significance testing. Her research included interviews with reform proponents like Patricia Cohen, Paul Meehl, and Robert Rosenthal; reviews of the correspondence and output of the APA Task Force on Statistical Inference; and close study of how several psychology journals attempted to implement reform. The statistical reform movement came to what many saw as an unsatisfying end. We talk with Fiona about what we can learn from it - and crucially, why this time could be different. Plus: We answer a letter from a graduate student whose advisor's temperament has changed.

Links:

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license. Our logo was created by Jude Weaver.

This is episode 47. It was recorded in two parts on November 15 and November 25, 2018.

Relevant To Your Interests

Wed, 14 Nov 2018 09:49:51 -0700

Scientists, like all humans, care about more than one thing in life. Scientists want to discover true or useful things about the world. But we are not indifferent to money, prestige, loyalty to friends and family, or other important things. How should scientists deal with situations where more than just our pure scientific ideals are on the line? In this episode we discuss conflicts of interest. What are conflicts of interest anyway? What are commonly occurring ones? Why does our field of psychology seem to have an underdeveloped set of norms and regulations for dealing with them? And how can and should we change to do better? Plus: We answer a letter about how little or how much guidance to give undergrads to develop their own research interests.

Links:

Understanding Financial Conflicts of Interest by Dennis Thompson
What (and Where) Is the Ethical Code Concerning Researcher Conflict of Interest? (ungated link) by Anthony Greenwald

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license. Our logo was created by Jude Weaver.

This is episode 46. It was recorded on October 31, 2018.

Testing 1-2-3

Wed, 31 Oct 2018 09:00:00 -0700

Personality tests are perennially popular - good ones and bad ones alike. In this episode we talk about personality testing in the public sphere. What do we think accounts for their popularity. What do people get out of taking them? What distinguishes good ones from bad ones? And we spend a little time trying to guess each other's Big Five profiles. Plus: A letter about raising open science when you're applying to graduate school.

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license.

This is episode 45. It was recorded on October 16, 2018.

Our Most Significant Episode Ever

Wed, 17 Oct 2018 15:45:41 -0700

p-values. Love them or hate them, they are everywhere in science. In this episode we talk about some of our thoughts and feelings about this ubiquitous statistics. What are the drawbacks and benefits to dichotomizing results into "significant" and "nonsignificant"? What do we think of other statistical approaches as alternatives or complements, like effect size estimation or Bayes factors? Do we ever actually care about what p-values actually represent (the probability of data given a hypothesis)? And with no small trepidation, we wade into the Alpha Wars, a.k.a. the discussion and debate around a trio of papers representing different views on how p-values should be used in research. Plus: We respond to a letter about suppressing research findings when they conflict with your morals

Links:

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license.

This is episode 43. It was recorded on October 3, 2018.

Don't Trust Me, I'm A Doctor

Wed, 03 Oct 2018 12:55:56 -0700

"Public trust in science is declining" is a common refrain - but it turns out that it isn't true, or at best it's complicated. In this episode we discuss whether, when, and why the public should trust science. Why is public trust in science important anyway? How should people decide whether to trust research they cannot technically evaluate? Should scientists avoid criticizing each other in public because it will erode our public image? What is a scientific consensus, when should you take one as a valid indicator, and when shouldn't you? Plus: We answer a letter about preparing for the job market when you have focused your training on methods and skills rather than a coherent subject area.

Links:

A Credibility Crisis in Food Science by James Hanblin in The Atlantic
The Complex Interface between the Public and Science by Carrie Funk at Scientific American
Why We Should Trust Science, Naomi Oreskes's TED talk
What Is the Value of Social Science? Challenges for Researchers and Government Funders by Arthur Lupia in PS: Political Science and Politics
The War Over Supercooled Water by Ashley G. Smart in Physics Today

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license.

This is episode 43. It was recorded on September 27, 2018.

What Comes Next?

Wed, 19 Sep 2018 09:36:59 -0700

Getting tenure and being promoted to associate or full professor are huge milestones in an academic career path. In this episode we talk about what comes afterward. What does it feel like and how long does that last? Do you keep going in the same direction or pause to take stock and make a switch? What new responsibilities and other surprises come at you and how do you handle them? And now that you have more autonomy, how can you be less beholden to other people's ideas of what defines success? Plus: We answer a letter about finding eminent scientists for awards and lectures when you have doubts about how people have acquired their eminence.

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license.

This is episode 42. It was recorded on September 10, 2018.

Nobody Goes There Anymore, It's Too Crowded

Wed, 05 Sep 2018 08:53:34 -0700

Conferences are expensive, carbon-belching, superficial prestige-fests. At least, that's what some people will tell you. In this episode we consider some of the arguments against academic conferences. Are they really worth the costs to the individual and to the planet? Can you actually communicate scientific substance in a conference or a talk? Are keynotes just warmed-over nuggets from your old Psych 101 class? And what are you even supposed to get out of conferences anyway? We discuss these arguments and relay some of our own dissatisfactions, but we also talk about why we keep going anyway. Plus: We answer a letter about breaking in to academic Twitter.

Link:

Brad Love's tweet

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license.

This is episode 41. It was recorded in two parts, on August 24 and September 3, 2018.

Being Different

Wed, 22 Aug 2018 09:00:00 -0700

In this episode we tell personal stories about being different, and we reflect on how our identities and experiences - in life and in professional spheres - have been shaped by that. Sanjay talks about growing up multiracial and trying to figure out what that meant while the world was trying to define it for him. Simine talks about not conforming to gender expectations and the assumptions and reality about sexual orientation that go with that. Alexa talks about how her understanding of her own romantic and sexual attractions and interests evolved over time and how she started dating women. Along the way we identify some common themes in our experiences: Feeling constrained by the neat little boxes the world gives us, even when it's an expanded set of boxes. The tension between wanting to assert an important part of your identity and not wanting to claim experiences that the world will assume you had. And the importance of getting to tell your own story.

Plus: This week's letter is about what to do when reviewers and committee members send you on wild goose chases. And we have a very serious discussion about pooping in the woods.

Links:

R for Data Science by Garrett Grolemund and Hadley Wickham
Hannah Gadsby: Nanette (trailer; full video available on Netflix)
Up From Pain by Charles Blow, New York Times
Are Jews White? by Atiya Husain, Slate

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license.

This is episode 40. It was recorded August 16, 2018.

Psychological Science Is Made Out Of People

Wed, 08 Aug 2018 09:00:00 -0700

We aren't analyzing you right now, we can't help you with your problems, and regardless of whether your Uncle Horace would make a great case study we aren't interested in meeting him. So what are these psychology degrees good for anyway then? In today's episode we talk about how our training and work as psychologists has influenced us as people. Are psychologists are good or bad at relating to others (and how much of the answer is about self-selection versus causation)? Has being a researcher made us more analytical outside of our research? How do we react when people bring up astrology or the Myers-Briggs? Plus: We respond to a letter about when doing more replications turns into beating a dead horse.

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license.

This is episode 39. It was recorded August 2, 2018.

Because Reasons (with Ellen Evers)

Wed, 11 Jul 2018 09:37:48 -0700

On today's episode we are joined by Ellen Evers, an assistant professor of marketing at the Haas School of Business at U.C. Berkeley. We talk with Ellen about working at a business school, and how it is similar and different from being in a psychology department; how people in different fields think about rationality, and how that plays out in her own interdisciplinary work; and how the larger conversation around open science and replicability has made its way into decision research and marketing. Plus: We answer a letter about dealing with a helicopter advisor as an early-career researcher.

Link:

Ellen Evers homepage

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license.

This is episode 38. It was recorded July 3, 2018.

Situation Normal

Wed, 27 Jun 2018 05:24:12 -0700

In this episode we talk about situationism in psychology. What are some of the different definitions of situationism? Is it a theory? An agenda? An ideology? We talk about the evidence for various assumptions or predictions of situationism, the historical and political context in which it arose, the relation of situationist ideas to a historical rift between social and personality psychologists, and how situationism affects the field today. Plus: We respond to a letter about planning new research when you have doubts about what you are building on.

Links:

Jedi Counsel episode "Ask Us Anything", where two actual clinicial psychologists respond to our previous letter from a clinical graduate student about podcasting
The Actor–Observer Asymmetry in Attribution: A (Surprising) Meta-Analysis, by Bertram Malle
About Situationism at the Situationist blog
Simine's letter to Invisibilia

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license.

This is episode 37. It was recorded June 18, 2018.

Come Together

Wed, 13 Jun 2018 10:23:54 -0700

A lot of scientists only think about professional societies once every year or two when conference time comes around. But the inner workings of societies are often somewhat mysterious, and many of them do additional activities that are less visible. In this episode we talk about professional societies: what they do, how they are governed, where their money comes from and goes to, how they shape the work that scientists do, and how you can get involved in them. Plus: In the opening segment, we talk about a new article raising serious questions about the Stanford Prison Experiment and the way that it has been discussed and promoted. And we respond to a letter about whether hosting a podcast is compatible with starting a career as a clinical psychologist.

Link:

The Lifespan of a Lie, by Ben Blum

The Black Goat is hosted by Sanjay Srivastava, Alexa Tullett, and Simine Vazire. Find us on the web at www.theblackgoatpodcast.com, on Twitter at @blackgoatpod, or on Facebook at facebook.com/blackgoatpod/. You can email us at letters@theblackgoatpodcast.com. You can subscribe to us on iTunes.

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license.

This is episode 36. It was recorded June 11, 2018.

You Can Go Your Own Way (with Katie Corker)

Wed, 30 May 2018 09:00:00 -0700

If you are a psychologist following how the field is changing its methods and practices, you have probably heard of Katie Corker. Katie is an assistant professor at Grand Valley State University, President of the Society for the Improvement of Psychological Science, and a rising star in metascience research. In the first part of our conversation, we talk about her professional path and what advice she has for people starting out. What should doctoral students know about applying to and working at primarily teaching institutions? How do you balance service commitments as an early-career researcher (and when do you throw balance out the window)? Then in the second part of our conversation, we discuss meta-analysis. What should we think of the quality of evidence produced by meta-analysis, in light of replicability problems and bias in the primary literature? What concerns should we have about the reproducibility of meta-analyses themselves? What is a systematic review, and what could psychology gain from adopting it as a publication format? Plus: We answer a letter from a first-year grad student about whether to submit their first big project to a high-impact traditional journal or a newer open-access one.

Links:

The SHERPA/RoMEO database of journal copyright and open access policies
Katie Corker's webpage
Making literature reviews more reliable through application of lessons from systematic reviews
What is the difference between a systematic review and a meta-analysis?

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license.

This is episode 35. It was recorded May 21, 2018.

Tech Tales (with Paul Litvak)

Wed, 16 May 2018 09:00:00 -0700

So you're thinking of taking your Ph.D. into industry. What kinds of jobs are out there for you? How do you find them? How do you get ready for them? In this episode we talk to guest Paul Litvak about working in the tech industry. Paul got his Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon where he studied behavioral decision making. During grad school he started up a data analytics consulting firm. He has worked at Facebook, Google, and now Airbnb where he is a product manager. We pick Paul's brain about the work he does and what advice he has for others. Plus: We answer a letter about applying open science in fields where longitudinal designs and other complicated methods are common.

Links:

About our guest Paul Litvak
FAQ for academic social scientists interested in tech, by Paul Litvak

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license.

This is episode 34. It was recorded May 9, 2018.

The PhD Who Caught the Car

Wed, 02 May 2018 10:24:41 -0700

You made it! Now what in the world happens next? In today's episode, we talk about starting your first tenure-track job. How do you get ready for your new role and responsibilities? What should you do to line up the mentorship, support, and reality-checking you'll need? How do you want your lab to operate? When should you start taking grad students? How do you get ready to teach? Plus: We get fired up about a letter from a grad student whose advisor and department are hostile to open science. And we discuss some recent resignations of editors at major journals.

Links:

Some instances of apparent duplicate publication by Dr. Robert J. Sternberg, by Nick Brown
The Unbearable Heaviness of Text Recycling, by James Heathers
Dear APS: It’s not me, it’s YOU!, by Bobbie Spellman
A Leading Political Scientist Used An Academic Journal To Deny Allegations of Sexual Harassment. Now He’s Resigned As Its Editor

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license.

This is episode 33. It was recorded April 23, 2018.

A Blooming, Buzzing Confusion

Wed, 18 Apr 2018 09:00:00 -0700

Social media is becoming a bigger and bigger part of the academic workplace. In this episode we talk about its role and share some thoughts about ways that people use it. Should you even be on social media? What are good and bad ways to talk about yourself and your work? What are some other ways that social media fits in to academic work besides networking and self-promotion? How do you handle bad behavior and avoid it yourself? Plus: We respond to a letter from a new faculty member about contributing to open science when more senior colleagues may have reservations.

Links:

Simine on Everthing Hertz talking about podcasting
PsychMAP on Facebook, "A group for constructive, open-minded, and nuanced conversations about psychological methods and practices"

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license.

This is episode 32. It was recorded April 16, 2018.

A Jury of Your Nerdy Peers

Wed, 04 Apr 2018 09:00:00 -0700

Peer review is central to how academics communicate our findings to each other. Today we dig in to some of the details of what it is and how it works. How did peer review become a part of academia in the first place? What are some common things about peer review that early-career researchers don't know? What should you do when you disagree with an editor or reviewers? Should you sign your reviews? Plus, a letter writer asks us if it's weird to keep living your life by unreplicable findings.

Links:

Signing Critical Peer Reviews & the Fear of Retaliation: What Should We Do? by Hilda Bastian

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license.

This is episode 31. It was recorded March 25, 2018.

Hanging in the Balance

Wed, 21 Mar 2018 09:00:00 -0700

Work-life balance is an important issue for academics. In this episode we talk about what it's like to actually try to have it. How do you know when you've hit the right balance? Where does pressure to work more come from, and how do you manage it? How does work-life balance change over the course of a career? Plus, we answer a letter from a grad student who is trying to convince a senior collaborator that open science and diversity research are not at odds.

Links:

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license.

This is episode 30. It was recorded March 19, 2018.

Aboard the Hype Train

Wed, 07 Mar 2018 08:53:23 -0700

Are you ready? ARE YOU READYYYYYYYY? In today's episode we talk about hype. Hype! HYPE!!! Scientific research often gets hyped - in press coverage and public outreach, as well as in scientists' communication with each other through journals and talks. Where does hype come from? What effects does it have? How far should we be willing to stray from the data? Are there times when it's okay to "play ball" with a journalist to tell a good story? Plus: a letter about dropping a co-author who's also a personal friend.

Links:

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license.

This is episode 29. It was recorded February 27, 2018.

Moving along

Wed, 21 Feb 2018 09:00:00 -0700

Moving is a big part of academic life, and in this episode we talk about our own experiences and how it affects the culture of academia. How do you decide whether and where you’re willing to move? What are all the things you have to deal with? How do you adjust? How does the fact that so many people move for academia affect the culture of it (e.g., at a university almost all the faculty are from somewhere else; or the way conferences function as mini reunions with your friend circles)? Plus: We answer a letter about whether it's okay to have higher expectations of the papers you review than what you are doing in your own research.

Discussed in this episode:

The uncanny mountain: p-values between .01 and .10 are still a problem, by Julia Rohrer
Meditation may not make you a better person after all. Coverage of a recent meta-analysis

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license.

This is episode 28. It was recorded February 19, 2018.

Academic Kindness

Wed, 07 Feb 2018 09:00:00 -0700

What is the role of kindness in academic life? In this episode we talk about where kindness fits in to academic work. When is kindness rewarded or discouraged in academia? What are some of the small ways to be kind in our work? How does kindness intersect with power and hierarchies in academia? What is the distinction between being kind and being nice, and are there times when you can be one but not the other? Plus: We respond to a letter about what psychology's open science movement has to offer to other disciplines, and what they have to offer to to psychology.

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license.

This is episode 27. It was recorded January 31, 2018.

Creativity and Rigor

Wed, 24 Jan 2018 09:00:00 -0700

In this episode we explore the relationship between creativity and rigor. Some psychologists have commented that they at odds, others have suggested that you can pursue one independent of the other. We examine the argument that expecting research to be rigorous gets in the way of creativity. What makes a scientific idea creative, and how is that different from creativity in other domains? Can people be creative in the ways they try to be rigorous? Are creative ideas more prestigious than rigorous methods? Have cheap ideas given a bad name to scientific creativity, and have bad criticisms given a bad name to rigor? Also: A letter about whether people requesting data from published articles should have to preregister.

Simine on Circle of Willis
John Pfaff on Tatter
Charting the future of social psychology on stormy seas: Winners, losers, and recommendations by Roy Baumeister
Daryl Bem interviewed at Slate
A guide for reviewers: Editorial hardball in the 70s by Richard Nisbett
The anticreativity letters: Advice from a senior tempter to a junior tempter by Richard Nisbett
A perspectivist approach to theory construction by William McGuire
Implications of the credibility revolution for productivity, creativity, and progress by Simine Vazire

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license.

This is episode 26. It was recorded January 19, 2018.

Welcome To The Big Leagues

Wed, 10 Jan 2018 09:00:00 -0700

So you got through the interview. What happens next? If you're lucky, you might get a job offer - and we want you to be ready! In this episode we talk about the process of negotiating for your first job. How should you start preparing (you're gonna start preparing, right?) Who do you negotiate with and what do they actually want? What kinds of things can you ask for, and how should you ask for them? How do you handle exploding deadlines (boo!) and multiple offers (yay!)? We share our experiences on how to approach this important step in launching your career.

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license.

This is episode 25. It was recorded January 4, 2018.

The Year 2017 in Review

Wed, 27 Dec 2017 09:00:00 -0700

For our last episode of 2017, we each look back on the year and what stood out for us - besides launching The Black Goat, of course. We talk about how the personal became political in a crazy year for U.S. politics; finding new connections through hobbies; the endings, beginnings, and deepenings of important relationships; and how peak experiences change as we get older. Plus: Our letter of the week is about how to get a toehold on professional networking. And a viral tweet of Sanjay's leads into a discussion of implicit bias and strangers in your Twitter mentions.

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license.

This is episode 24. It was recorded December 16, 2017.

Whodunnit

Wed, 13 Dec 2017 09:00:00 -0700

Previously we've talked about judging the scientist by their science. Today we turn the question around: When should you judge a piece of scientific work based on what you know about the person who did it? We examine the arguments for why an author's track record should and shouldn't matter in judging their work. What are the pros and cons of masking authors' identities from reviewers and editors? How do we simultaneously manage validity and bias, and reconcile those things with a broader concept of fairness? And also: This week's letter is about what to do when your findings fail to replicate.

Discussed in this episode:

Simine's paper Quality Uncertainty Erodes Trust in Science
And the Akerlof paper that inspired it
Principles for the Validation and Use of Personnel Selection Procedures by the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology
Graduate Admission Variables and Future Success by Robyn Dawes

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license.

This is episode 23. It was recorded December 2, 2017.

Significant Feelings

Thu, 30 Nov 2017 09:00:00 -0700

Everybody's talking about p-values. An important part of the replicability discussion has been about the correct use and interpretation of p-values, and the potentially distorting incentives attached to getting one below .05. And recently, Simine was a co-author on a paper proposing to redefine the interpretive threshold for calling something "significant." In this episode we talk about p-values: our feelings about them, how we were taught to think about them and how that has changed over the years, and the role of thresholds and categorization of evidence in our scientific thinking. Plus: A letter-writer asks if you should put more faith in the "pre-crisis" early work of present-day open science advocates.

Discussed in this episode:

Shiny app showing the distribution of p-values, by Kristoffer Magnusson
Redefine Statistical Significance by Benjamin et al.
And the responses: Justify Your Alpha by Lakens et al., and Abandon Statistical Significance by McShane et al.

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license.

This is episode 22. It was recorded November 22, 2017.

We Were Never Cool

Wed, 15 Nov 2017 09:00:00 -0700

Alexa studies how our beliefs change them over time. Simine studies self-knowledge and what others know about us. And Sanjay studies lifespan development. So this episode we are going to go full me-search and talk about what we were like as kids, how we’re the same and how we have changed into who we are now. Were any of us cool in high school? (Spoiler: No.) And how did going into academia change who we were? And in our letter of the week, we talk about how to keep up with what can seem like a firehose of new methods and practices in science.

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license.

This is episode 21. It was recorded November 1, 2017.

The Learning Curve

Wed, 01 Nov 2017 09:00:00 -0700

When you're faculty at a research university, you get mixed messages about teaching: it's a big part of the job, but you get all kinds of not-so-subtle messages that you are supposed to think of yourself as a researcher first. In today's episode, we talk about where teaching fits into our identities and values, and how that has evolved over our careers. Alexa talks about her experiences volunteering to teach in a prison; Simine tells how she found a way to be her quiet, skeptical self in front of hundreds of people; and Sanjay talks about looking for the overlap between rigor and showmanship. Also: In our letter of the week, we answer a question about doing professional service for scientific societies and how that looks on the job market.

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license.

This is episode 20. It was recorded October 26, 2017.

Disagreeing about Science

Wed, 18 Oct 2017 09:00:00 -0700

Science is in a period of especially pitched disagreement. Beyond the usual scientific disagreements about theories and studies, we are talking - and disagreeing - about deep questions about the nature and practice of science. In today's episode we talk about how to disagree with people about issues related to open science, replicability, and scientific reform. How do you decide when to pick an argument? How do you disagree constructively? Did the open science movement attract people in the early days who are comfortable with disagreement, and how has that changed? What do you do if you are the only "open science person" in your lab or department, and you have to work with people who are opposed to the way you see things? Plus: Our letter of the week is about being politically conservative in academia. And it was a big week for awards in psychology.

Discussed in this episode:

The 2017 Leamer-Rosenthal Prizes for Open Social Science, awarded by BITSS
Betsy Levy Paluck's website and an NPR article about her Macarthur Genius Award
How to Disagree by Paul Graham

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license.

This is episode 19. It was recorded October 13, 2017.

The Meaning of It All (with Anna Alexandrova)

Wed, 04 Oct 2017 09:00:00 -0700

Scientists often turn to philosophers for answers to the big questions about science: what is the meaning of what we do, what makes it valid, why does it even matter? In this episode we put all our thorniest questions to our guest, Anna Alexandrova. Anna is a philosopher of science at Cambridge University and author of the new book A Philosophy for the Science of Well-Being. We talk about replicability and reform in science, what scientists can learn from philosophy beyond the Popper-Kuhn-Lakatos canon, the important role of norms in scientific discourse, and how you do science on values-laden concepts like well-being. Plus: Simine's dad Hamid drops by, and Alexa and Sanjay try to pry out some embarrassing childhood stories about their cohost. And we respond to listener feedback about our discussion of the two-body problem in our job market episode.

Discussed in this episode:

Dual-Career Academic Couples resource page at the Clayman Institute
Anna Alexandrova’s webpage
A Philosophy for the Science of Well-Being, Anna Alexandrova's new book
Who is the expert on your well-being? Blogpost by Anna Alexandrova
Merchants of Doubt by Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway
In Defense of Brain Mapping by Wil Cunningham
The Fate of Knowledge by Helen Longino

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license.

This is episode 18. It was recorded September 26 and 28, 2017.

All Your Idols Have Clay Feet

Wed, 20 Sep 2017 09:00:00 -0700

Many scientists are inspired by other scientists - people whose work and careers they admire and want to emulate. But sometimes our idols turn out to be flawed as scientists or as people. How do you cope when that happens? Is it a problem to even have idols at all - and what would be the alternative? Plus: We respond to a letter about getting help for your psychological struggles when your classmates work at the counseling center. And should first-time teachers tell their students that they are new?

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license.

This is episode 17. It was recorded September 1, 2017.

Big Time

Wed, 06 Sep 2017 09:00:00 -0700

It's job market season in the United States. What goes in an application? How should you practice and prepare for a job talk? The Q&A after the talk? What happens during the campus interview? How do you get ready for it? What should you wear? What do you do after it's all done? We share some of our experiences from both sides of the process, including a couple of disaster stories. Also, keeping with the theme, our letter of the week is about whether to apply narrowly or broadly. Plus, for the first time ever we are recording all together in the same place! - and Simine shares her discomfort at the furniture.

Discussed in the episode: "The academic job interview: a mishmash of small but important things" (Sanjay's blog post on the job market)

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license.

This is episode 16. It was recorded August 15, 2017.

SIPSapalooza

Wed, 23 Aug 2017 09:00:00 -0700

The Society for the Improvement of Psychological Science, or SIPS, held its second conference July 30 - August 1, 2017. SIPS is a new organization that works to improve methods and practices in psychology. The conference is unlike a typical academic meeting -- instead of symposia and keyones, the schedule is filled with hackathons, unconferences, and more. In the first part of this episode, we talk about where SIPS came from and what it is all about. Then we present conversations that we recorded with SIPS attendees.

Interviews:

Alexa talks to three SIPS veterans: Brett Mercier, Dylan Wiwad, and Alex Uzdavines.
Simine talks to Mike Frank and Brian Nosek about whether there is space for morality and politics in science.
Sanjay talks to Rich Lucas, Bill Chopik, and Katie Corker about unconferences, Spartans, and beer city USA.
Alexa talk to Danielle Young, Joanna Schug, and Leigh Wilton about whether you can be a productive researcher and keep up with Netflix.
Simine talks to Rodica Damian, Cory Costello, & Dan Morgan about the worst thing about SIPS.
Sanjay talks to Koji Takahashi, and Nick Mikulak about optimism vs. pessimism
Alexa talks to Melissa Kline about memorable SIPS moments.
Simine talks to Roger Giner-Sorolla, Michèle Nuijten, and Eric Vanman about interesting conversations, and a new goat mascot.
Sanjay talks to Ivy Onyeador, Alex Danvers, and Victor Keller about diversity, scientific self-correction, and their favorite member of The Black Goat.

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license.

This is episode 15. It was recorded August 18, 2017, with interviews conducted August 1, 2017.

A Psychometrician's Guide to Popularity

Wed, 09 Aug 2017 09:00:00 -0700

When should you care what other people think of you, if ever? In academia other people's opinions of you sometimes matter in official ways, like hiring and student evaluations of teaching, as well as in lots informal ways. And in life, let's face it, we all care. Today we talk about the ways we have coped (or not) with caring what other people think of us. Also: In our letter of the week, we talk about an ambiguous case of who should be a first author. And we definitely do not talk about SIPS.

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license.

This is episode 14. It was recorded August 7, 2017.

The Iron Psychologist (with Jamil Zaki)

Wed, 26 Jul 2017 08:45:47 -0700

Today we are delighted to be joined by guest Jamil Zaki. Jamil is an assistant professor at Stanford University and director of the Stanford Social Neuroscience Laboratory. We talk with Jamil about The People’s Science, a nonprofit he co-founded that promotes direct engagement between scientists and the public. Plus: In our letter of the week, we talk about when neuroscience adds value to psychological research (and maybe when we're not so sure). And we tell the story of where the name "The Black Goat" came from.

Discussed in this episode:

Jamil Zaki’s lab
The People’s Science
Baby hippo Fiona video
The Myth of Executive Stress by Keith Payne

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license.

This is episode 13. It was recorded June 27, 2017.

'Cause You're There For Me Too

Wed, 12 Jul 2017 09:00:00 -0700

Friendships are an important part of life, but one that often gets left out of the conversation about having healthy relationships. Today we talk about maintaining friendships outside of academia - how important (or not?) is it to have those connections, and what role do they play in our lives. Also in this episode: A letter-writer is trying to decide whether to come clean about the p-hacked work that got them tenure. And Simine tells us why she hated getting her first pedicure.

Discussed in this episode:

Check Yourself Again by Mickey Inzlicht
My position on "power poses" by Dana Carney

The Black Goat is hosted by Sanjay Srivastava, Alexa Tullett, and Simine Vazire. Find us on the web at www.theblackgoatpodcast.com , on Twitter at @blackgoatpod, or on Facebook at facebook.com/blackgoatpod/. You can email us at letters@theblackgoatpodcast.com. You can subscribe to us on iTunes.

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license.

This is episode 12. It was recorded June 22, 2017.

It's So Complicated

Wed, 28 Jun 2017 09:00:00 -0700

All three of us were all around, at various career stages, before the "replicability crisis" became a thing. In today's episode we each share stories of our personal journeys with the larger replicability discussion in psychology, and how we went from clueless to naively optimistic to whatever we are today. Plus: A letter-writer asks how to respond to an advisor who asks you to p-hack. And Alexa tells how her students reacted to her telling them that she is an atheist.

Links:

Do-Gooder Derogation: Disparaging Morally Motivated Minorities to Defuse Anticipated Reproach, by Julia Minson and Benoit Monin
How Many Atheists Are There? by Will Gervais and Maxine Najle
False-Positive Psychology: Undisclosed Flexibility in Data Collection and Analysis Allows Presenting Anything as Significant, by Joe Simmons, Leif Nelson, and Uri Simonsohn
The psychology of parapsychology, or why good researchers publishing good articles in good journals can still get it totally wrong, by Tal Yarkoni
The Ironic Effect of Significant Results on the Credibility of Multiple Study Articles, by Uli Schimmack
The N-Pact Factor: Evaluating the Quality of Empirical Journals with Respect to Sample Size and Statistical Power, by Chris Fraley and Simine Vazire

The Black Goat is hosted by Sanjay Srivastava, Alexa Tullett, and Simine Vazire. Find us on the web at www.theblackgoatpodcast.com , on Twitter at @blackgoatpod, or on Facebook at facebook.com/blackgoatpod/. You can email us at letters@theblackgoatpodcast.com. You can subscribe to us on iTunes.

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license.

This is episode 11. It was recorded June 21, 2017.

Nullius in verba

Wed, 14 Jun 2017 09:00:00 -0700

When a group of "natural philosophers" got together to found the Royal Society in 1660 - now the oldest scientific society in the world - they chose as their motto a Latin phrase meaning "Take nobody's word for it." In today's episode we talk about the role of trust in science. Trust can mean many things, and we talk about its tension with scientific verifiability, people's desire for trusting relationships and culture in their field, and the practical value of trust in doing our work. Plus: A letter about whether pressures to fit the mold of a job description or graduate program lead to impostor syndrome. Simine and Sanjay debrief on the ARP conference. And Alexa asks what's more intellectual, poker or chess?

Links:

The Black Goat is hosted by Sanjay Srivastava, Alexa Tullett, and Simine Vazire. Find us on the web at www.theblackgoatpodcast.com , on Twitter at @blackgoatpod, or on Facebook at facebook.com/blackgoatpod/. You can email us at letters@theblackgoatpodcast.com. You can subscribe to us on iTunes.

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license.

This is episode 10. It was recorded June 12, 2017.

I Felt Like a Real Scientist

Wed, 31 May 2017 09:00:00 -0700

As scientists we are accustomed to knowing the results when we evaluate the quality of research. But is that a good thing? How would it change the way we edit and review research if we had to make our evaluations without knowing the results? And beyond that, how would it change scientific practice itself - the ways we design, conduct, and report our work? We discuss the idea of separating evaluation from results and talk about some common concerns. Plus: Simine debriefs on the APS conference, and we talk about a recent Slate article on Daryl Bem's ESP research. And we discuss a letter about whether it's realistic to maintain a 9-to-5 work schedule as a graduate student.

Discussed in this episode:

The APS 2017 conference program
Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science, a new APS journal
Why the Resistance to Statistical Innovations? Bridging the Communication Gap by Donald Sharpe
Daryl Bem Proved ESP Is Real, Which Means Science is Broken by Dan Engber
History of Social Psychology: Insights, Challenges, and Contributions to Theory and Application by Lee Ross, Mark Lepper, and Andrew Ward
Registered Reports information page at the Center for Open Science, including FAQs and a list of journals that have adopted the format
How Cortex’s Registered Reports Initiative Is Making Reform a Reality, by Chris Chambers

The Black Goat is hosted by Sanjay Srivastava, Alexa Tullett, and Simine Vazire. Find us on the web at www.theblackgoatpodcast.com , on Twitter at @blackgoatpod, or on Facebook at facebook.com/blackgoatpod/. You can email us at letters@theblackgoatpodcast.com. You can subscribe to us on iTunes.

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license.

This is episode 9. It was recorded May 29, 2017.

Confessions of a Replicator (with Rich Lucas)

Wed, 17 May 2017 09:00:00 -0700

Rich Lucas has had an impressive career studying well-being: He holds an endowed professorship at Michigan State, he has won numerous awards, and his work is highly influential in psychology, economics, and other fields. So why does he dedicate a sizeable chunk of his time to running replications of other people's work? We have a conversation with Rich about doing replication research: why he does it, how others have received it, and what it's like when the replicator becomes the replicatee (is that even a word?). Plus: We answer a letter about whether we have ever considered non-academic careers. And we go off about two of the many things that afflict women in the academic job marketplace.

Discussed in this episode:

Paul Litvak's FAQ for academic social scientists interested in tech
Find out more about our guest Rich Lucas on his lab website
And definitely check out Rich's new blog The Desk Reject

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license.

This is episode 8. It was recorded May 10, 2017.

Dancing On Our Own

Wed, 03 May 2017 09:00:00 -0700

Rejection is an inescapable part of being an academic. How do you learn to cope? We share stories of our own professional rejections, talk about the unique joys of getting rejected for different things (grants, jobs, articles), and how our responses to rejection have changed over time. In our letters of the week, we tackle how to find diverse grad students for a lab, and deciding whether to collaborate with someone with a toxic reputation. Plus: Sanjay kind of regrets a joke he made, not for the first time in his life. And we are excited about the upcoming SIPS conference.

Discussed in this episode:

The Society for the Improvement of Psychological Science (SIPS) has an upcoming conference you should sign up for.

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license.

This is episode 7. It was recorded April 27, 2017.

Take This Job and Pre-Register It

Wed, 19 Apr 2017 13:17:22 -0700

Going on the job market is stressful already. If you've been embracing open science practices in your work, how should you convey that? And will you be embraced as forward-thinking or dismissed as a destructo-warrior? Also: This is the first episode we've recorded since we launched and we talk about how it feels weird. And two, count 'em, TWO letters today: The perils of trying to seem knowledgeable and admitting what you don't know; and should you accept a review request for someone you know is a serial sexual harasser?

Discussed in this episode:

Being imperfect in perfect academia by Angelique Cramer

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license.

This is episode 6. It was recorded April 14, 2017.

Excellence Adventures

Wed, 19 Apr 2017 09:00:00 -0700

Universities are increasingly talking about "excellence" as a basis for evaluating scholarship and making strategic decisions. We talk about a recent paper that analyzes the rhetoric around excellence, finds it wanting, and offers up some alternatives. Plus: We get ready for spring "break" (flying to beautiful places to keep working); the controversy around Brian Wansink's Food and Brand Lab; and should our letter-writer appeal an editorial decision based on an error?

Links discussed:

Spoiled Science (Chronicle article about Brian Wansink)
The Wansink Dossier (Tim Van Der Zee's compendium of anomalies in Food and Brand Lab publications)
Excellence R Us: University Research and the Fetishisation of Excellence by Samuel Moore, Cameron Neylon, Martin Paul Eve, Daniel Paul O’Donnell, and Damian Pattinson

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license.

This is episode 5. It was recorded March 20, 2017.

Episode 4: Hate the Sinner

Wed, 05 Apr 2017 09:00:00 -0700

Many of us try to draw a line between criticizing the science and criticizing the scientist. But when are ad hominem criticisms okay? We talk about the difference between ad hominem arguments and the ad hominem fallacy, the asymmetry between praise and criticism, and the sometimes complicated relationship between our scientific output and our reputations. Plus: In our opening segment we talk about an experiment in gender-swapping email signatures. And we answer a letter from someone whose data was used for a publication by a fellow graduate student without permission.

Links discussed:

Co-workers swap email addresses
Men explain things to me by Rebecca Solnit

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license.

This episode was recorded March 10, 2017.

Episode 3: No, You're The Impostor

Wed, 22 Mar 2017 21:24:11 -0700

Have you ever experienced impostor syndrome? Meta-impostor syndrome (everyone else just has impostor syndrome but you're right about yourself)? We talk about mental health and all the ways you can feel terrible as an academic. In our opening segment we discuss Alexa's brush with a misconduct case, Simine's new article on how journal articles are like new cars, and a reviewer getting in trouble for wanting to see data. And in our letter of the week, what do you do when a reviewer tells you to HARK?

Articles and blog posts discussed in this episode:

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license.

This episode was recorded March 3, 2017.

Episode 2: Journals Be Good

Wed, 22 Mar 2017 21:10:18 -0700

Journals and editors are adopting innovative new ways to evaluate and disseminate work: We talk about the Pottery Barn Rule for replications, badges, open access and more. Also: Is there wisdom on social media? And in our letter of the week, who will fill the hole in your heart when you don't have an advisor any more?

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license.

This episode was recorded February 27, 2017.

Episode 1: Everything is Awesome

Tue, 21 Mar 2017 10:40:55 -0700

Welcome to the inaugural episode of The Black Goat! Our main topic is: How do you stay optimistic when everything seems fucked? But before that, we kick things off talking about who we are and why we are here. And we respond to our letter of the week, which asks how personally invested you should be in your research topic and whether it needs to be me-search.

The Black Goat is hosted by Sanjay Srivastava, Alexa Tullett, and Simine Vazire. Find us on the web at www.theblackgoatpodcast.com , on Twitter at @blackgoatpod, or on Facebook at facebook.com/blackgoatpod/. You can email us at letters@theblackgoatpodcast.com. Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license.

This episode was recorded February 17, 2017.