Psychology has a known reproducibility crisis.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00672-7
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-07474-y
https://www.nature.com/articles/533452a
To be fair no field has amazing reproducibility, but psychology (and related social sciences) seems to be exceptionally poor. The problem is psychology has become vastly overrepresented in media and it has gained influence in public opinion which can create widespread false-truths or even affect public policy.
Take r/science for example. A large portion of the top upvoted articles are psychology-related (or Covid-19) yet many of them either poorly designed and/or have titles and conclusions which are not supported by the content.
Publication and selection bias are huge factors but are hard to solve/change. From a statistical perspective, what do you all think are some things we (the general public) can do to decrease the chance of trusting articles that are likely to not be reproducible or true while not disregarding all studies published in these fields?
Are there common statistical fallacies that present or designs that should give us pause?
I already know the counter-argument, “You need the humanities and social sciences for a well-rounded education.”
I don’t care if the education is “well-rounded”, I’m the one paying! I care if I’m learning the skills necessary to succeed in my career. Every extra class is another $500-$1200, another textbook to buy, and 3 months of work. I would like for those resources to be spent toward classes that will get me hired.
The bottom line is if degrees required only relevant classes, engineers wouldn’t stop getting hired just because they didn’t take anthropology, public speaking, and music appreciation 10 years ago.
If you think I should devote 3 months of time and money to find out what a fugue is (unfortunately, I paid $500 to find out), that’s a you problem, and not an important societal issue.
Edit: all done for now! I’ll do another in Jan/Feb about decisions and acceptances and such. Best of luck everyone!
Would you say your education paid off?
In a recent interview Kerry Vaughn, director of history of science at Leverage Research, got into the weeds on some of the ways social sciences go wrong and how they might more productively develop.
(Timestamp roughly 5 minutes 24 seconds)
There is no doubt now where consciousness is from (generated by the brain), and that there is no physical soul in the body nor an invisible one needed to explain the mind.
consciousness is generated from and dies with the brain, and physics has explained away every supposed action of natural thing, big or small, that was previously attributed to God.
It seems like these primary reasons for being an atheist in todays world are weirdly never brought up.
And when science is brought up, its things like showing how small humanity is compared to the universe or time, or that evolution disproves creationism.
These are good points, but you could still conceive of God existing if that was all we had.
The more direct evidence that essentially prove atheism (indisputably) is: how the brain operates, and how physics or metaphysics work.
Astronomy has shown that there are no god people up there in the stars, and physics has shown that there is no bearded man pulling strings to make things operate, as there are explainable natural phenomena and interactions.
Our knowledge of the brain proves beyond literally all doubt that there is no soul, since everyones consciousness is completely gone when the brain dies. Without the brain, there is no you, so we know for a fact death is final
Science directly disproves God and theres no getting around it.
(I wish this wasnt the case. I dont want to die. So I dont think this is good news. But its undeniable, known fact at this point).
I've been in and out of college. Took some breaks from school, but managed to come back each time. Supposed to be graduating this semester, but all of the sudden some sections of degreeworks that were fulfilled last time I check a few weeks ago are showing that the classes haven't been counted.
I'm absolutely livid. These were transfer credits for English 1101 and my social science. 1101 is saying it needs to be taken, and showing in the not counted section even though it says it was satisfied at GSU and my social science was also a requirement that all of the sudden is saying it wasn't fulfilled.
The worst thing is that the registrar didn't notify me of this change at all. The only reason I found out is my advisor messaged me this Friday, and the courses I took, which are saying not counted, were required as part of the transfer program I came into tech with. Everything was squared away on my degreeworks, all of the boxes checked, until these past few weeks when something randomly changed.
Please make this make sense. Is this something the registrar will straighten out? I'm paying for my classes out of pocket this semester, and if they don't I simply won't be able to graduate due to a last minute change to my degree works. I'm in full panic right now.
I would love to become an academic and I'm really interested in anthropology and sociology but I've read the job market in academia for people with PhDs in those fields is horrifying. So yeah, my question is: any other social sciences (or humanities) PhDs that aren't as bad? Maybe Marketing as it is a more professional field? Thank you.
There was a study recently that showed that 60% of social science studies failed to reproduce when reexamined.
In the field of gender studies, Cordelia Fine's Delusions of Gender shows how gender science can be weaponized for political pull, though, unlike what she states, this can be done on the gender nihilist side as well.
Is it possible to trust social science? I say this because in debates everywhere, people cite studies thinking it will better their position, whereas, in most fields, for every study there is an equal and opposite study.
Has anyone else interviewed for the Social Science Specialist (Crisis Responder) position? I just had one completed two weeks ago. And today, they contacted me for my references. I'm just wondering?
I've been considering the methodology of the social sciences a lot recently, and I'm trying to decide if I think Ben is right in his claim.
How are questions in the social sciences best asked and answered?
Hi guys, kind of inspired by the post earlier about Liberal arts degrees to people know if there is much job prospects with a social science degree I'm thinking of doing one in college (hopefully, if I get it) but I'm starting to have second thoughts and I'm unsure if it will be worth it.
Thanks in advance :)
Edit: Just to clarify it will be something to do with governments and social justice possibly but maybe sustainability as well
Hey, I'm a 34 year old, single, 8th grade science teacher. I live a pretty normal life in a Midwestern city. I dress super plain and other than being Asian in a sea of white people I don't stand out at all.
However in the summers, I live in a van and travel around.
AMA
Has studying the social sciences paid off for you?
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