I Felt Like a Real Scientist

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 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)

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:

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

Dancing On Our Own

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