Come Together

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 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)

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 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 35. It was recorded May 21, 2018.

Tech Tales (with Paul Litvak)

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:

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 34. It was recorded May 9, 2018.

The PhD Who Caught the Car

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:

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 33. It was recorded April 23, 2018.

A Blooming, Buzzing Confusion

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:

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 32. It was recorded April 16, 2018.

A Jury of Your Nerdy Peers

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:

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 31. It was recorded March 25, 2018.

Hanging in the Balance

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:

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 30. It was recorded March 19, 2018.

Aboard the Hype Train

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:

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 29. It was recorded February 27, 2018.

Moving along

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 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 28. It was recorded February 19, 2018.

Academic Kindness

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.

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 27. It was recorded January 31, 2018.