Everyday Research Methods

A blog about interactions

You don't see people blogging about interaction effects, at least not every day. I just ran into this 2011 Ben Goldacre column about interactions, which he describes in my favorite way, as a "difference in differences." Take a look here. Instructors, this might be a handy example for teaching Chapter 11.

 

Michael Gazzaniga short video

Here is a link to a short video featuring Dr. Michael Gazzaniga discussing his experiences as a scientist.  His work on split brain patients is described in Chapter 12.

Ben Goldacre on TED

Here's Ben Goldacre in a 20-minute TED video talking about his favorite topic, Bad Science.  He addresses the journal-to-journalism cycle, the flaws of authority, the placebo effect, industry-sponsored trials, publication bias, correlation/causation, ethics, and more.  The overall message is the importance of publishing all data--both for and against a drug, therapy, or intervention. 

Ben Goldacre on TED.

An expert’s take on “online search”

Recently, Google’s Daniel Russell presented a talk on Search Literacy, a skill for the information age.  The 35-minute presentation is viewable on youtube as one of the GoogleTechTalks. 

Anyone who spends time searching for information online can benefit from this presentation.  Russell presents some tips for designing good searches and recognizing false or faked information.  Russell also presents psychological effects such as priming and fixedness, which influence how we interpret search results.  

See his presentation here. 

 

Daniel Russell of Google  (Courtesy Daniel M. Russell)