Could Distributed Peer Review Better Decide Grant Funding?
The landscape of academic grant funding is notoriously competitive and plagued by lengthy, bureaucratic processes, exacerbated by difficulties in finding willing reviewers. Distributed […]
The Social Science of Tax Preparation Software
It’s that time of year again: tax-filing season. Millions of Americans are probably downloading the latest version of their tax preparation software […]
The Sociologist of Mobility: John Urry, 1946-2016
John Urry, a sociologist probably best known for his work on mobilities but whose gaze also lit on issues ranging from tourism to energy use, from social change to complexity theory, died suddenly on March 18.
Our Man in Bogota Finds Colombia a Nation Resurgent
For most of the 20th century and into the 21st the South American nation of Colombia was wracked by civil wars, political […]
Statistical Association Takes on Use, Abuse of P-values
Even as it insists it’s not really saying anything new, the American Statistical Association Board of Directors has laid down a marker in the debate over what constitutes “statistical significance.”
The Stories We Tell, the Lives We Lead
Why does the Homeric of ‘violent’ seem so wedded to the term ‘street gang’? Criminologist Timothy Lauger answered that question in part in a an award-winning paper that looked at the stories gang members tell themselves.
Archived Webinar: US Funding Picture for 2016
In this archived version of a webcast held on February 17, Mark Vieth — senior vice president of the Washington government relations firm CRD Associates – addresses these issues and others, including what the just-released federal budget from the White House means for federally funded research.
I’m Looking Through You, Peer Review
Jon Tennant takes a look at the transformations underway aimed at tackling the widespread dissatisfaction with the system of peer review. He provides further background on the platform ScienceOpen, which seeks to enable a process of transparent, self-regulating, peer review, where knowledge sharing is encouraged, valued, and rewarded. By adopting a more transparent process of research evaluation, we move one step closer towards a fairer and democratic research process.
Lamar Smith’s National Interest Bill Passes House
Legislation that requires that future grants made by the National Science Foundation meet a test for being in the ‘national interest’ passed the House of Representatives on Wednesday.
