The L.A. Times has a short article, with lots of great links, about the rise in popularity of long-form non-fiction. If the monograph is dead, as many lament, viva the readable book!
Posts Tagged: scholarship
5
Jan 11
Why Most Published Research Findings Are False
PLoS Medicine has a fascinating article by John P. A. Ioannidis that argues that in an era where all research must establish, almost a priori, its “significance,” that we in fact have ended up with research that is insignificant. The problem, as I understand it from my reading, is that too many scientists — and the window onto the scholarly world is open here, I think — are required to be productive in ways that bureaucracies can “measure.” Thus, the race is on toward smaller studies that are easily commoditized into publications and away from larger studies which either require years to produce results or have too many collaborators for credit to be pieced out in ways that institutions like.
There is increasing concern that most current published research findings are false. The probability that a research claim is true may depend on study power and bias, the number of other studies on the same question, and, importantly, the ratio of true to no relationships among the relationships probed in each scientific field. In this framework, a research finding is less likely to be true when the studies conducted in a field are smaller; when effect sizes are smaller; when there is a greater number and lesser preselection of tested relationships; where there is greater flexibility in designs, definitions, outcomes, and analytical modes; when there is greater financial and other interest and prejudice; and when more teams are involved in a scientific field in chase of statistical significance. Simulations show that for most study designs and settings, it is more likely for a research claim to be false than true. Moreover, for many current scientific fields, claimed research findings may often be simply accurate measures of the prevailing bias. In this essay, I discuss the implications of these problems for the conduct and interpretation of research.
Here’s the official citation:
Ioannidis JPA (2005) Why Most Published Research Findings Are False. PLoS Med 2(8): e124. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.0020124
22
Nov 10
Assessing the Future Landscape of Scholarly Communication
The report should probably really be titled “Assessing the Future Landscape of Scholarly Communication: A Really, Really Long Report” but in fact its subtitle is “An Exploration of Faculty Values and Needs in Seven Disciplines.” One of the disciplines profiled is history, which I chose as being closest to my own field of folklore studies. How long is that one report — one of seven, remember? — 115 pages. Brevity, thy name is not Center for Studies in Higher Education.
25
Jun 10
Knowledge for All
The University of Prince Edward Island cancelled their subscription to Web of Science:
This is to inform the UPEI campus community that we have not renewed our subscription to ISI’s Web of Science database (WoS). We realize this is a key research database for many of you and we have taken steps to ensure access to appropriate alternative resources, as well as the WoS back‑files. Late last year we received notification that our subscription price was going to increase by 120%. A number of factors went into the decision not to renew:
‑ a challenging fiscal climate means that we are unlikely to see an increase to Library budgets;
‑ any subscription increase in these challenging times is difficult, but an increase of 120% is simply not acceptable;
‑ we would have been forced to sign a 3‑year agreement, with additional increases in each of the 3 years;
‑ a weaker Canadian dollar would have a significant impact on our subscription costs;
‑ accommodating this level of increase lends credence to the vendors’ business practices and we felt it important to make a statement against these practices (see http://chronicle.com/article/U‑of‑California‑Tries‑Just/65823/ for a recent decision at UC).UPEI is also leading an effort to create a free and open index to the world’s scholarly literature called “Knowledge For All”. This proposal is currently being sent to various Canadian and international library consortia in an effort to gain support for the project. One goal of Knowledge For All is to ensure that scholars and members of the broader public are no longer disenfranchised by a broken system of scholarly communication. We will provide the campus community with updates on this effort.
It’s interesting to note that it may very well be the smaller universities that make some of these shifts, perhaps clumsily, first because they usually are closer to the economic trends than the majors. I think such is also the case with my own university.
5
Apr 10
Your Backyard
Your backyard is the best place to discover new things, at least in the case of species. At least that’s what Stephen Fry claims in this episode of QI. Apparently a biologist in Leicester performed a long-term study of her own garden and over the course of several years discovered many species that had never been documented in Great Britain and four new species of wasp that had never been documented before at all.