Bishop Hill McIntyre's mirror image
Jan 19, 2014 Journals This article in the Guardian about an MSc student who uncovered a major flaw in a headline grabbing psychology paper is amazingly reminscent of Steve McIntyre's story: the amateur sleuth, the mathematically illiterate academics, the unwillingness to admit error; it's all there.
"Not many psychologists are very good at maths," says Brown. "Not many psychologists are even good at the maths and statistics you have to do as a psychologist. Typically you'll have a couple of people in the department who understand it. Most psychologists are not capable of organising a quantitative study. A lot of people can get a PhD in psychology without having those things at their fingertips. And that's the stuff you're meant to know. Losada's maths were of the kind you're not meant to encounter in psychology. The maths you need to understand the Losada system is hard but the maths you need to understand that this cannot possibly be true is relatively straightforward."
Reader Comments (57)
Thank you, HaroldW. And the link hits the nail right, smack, bang on the head in the picture caption: “…published fabricated data in 30 peer-reviewed papers.” Which only goes to show that, even if the paper is “peer-reviewed” it is not necessarily correct!
Reed Coray (Jan 19, 2014 at 9:55 PM):
Well, truncated or not, mathematics is always a plural, hence, mathS. But, otherwise, acceptable.Pedantic Rodent
The abbreviation Math is standard American English. Do all abbreviations of plural nouns end in 's' in British English?
The abbreviation Math is standard American English. Do all abbreviations of plural nouns end in 's' in British English?
Jan 20, 2014 at 12:17 PM | Unregistered CommenterSkeptical Chymist
I drink Meths. He takes Crystal Meth.
... no hold on a minute, that doesn't sound right...
The abbreviation Math is standard American English. Do all abbreviations of plural nouns end in 's' in British English?
Jan 20, 2014 at 12:17 PM Skeptical Chymist
Let's think...
Logarithms - logs
Nuclear weapons - nukes
Submarines - subs
Kittens - kits
Equations - eqns
Bicycles - bikes
Carburettors - carbs
Mercedes-Benz's - mercs
Psychopaths - psychos
dunno about 'all' but there are a few examples.
Thanks for the examples (I'm British BTW), but don't let the Rodent see a greengrocer's apostrophe or I might feel compelled to defend that ;)
OK Mercedes Benzes, if the rat insists. However...
"sometimes, a plural is so awkward, it is permissible to use an apostrophe to assist your readers. For example:
There are two a's in accommodation.
Your 2's look like your 7's."