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 […]
September 25, 2014
Congressional Elections Have Consequences for Social Science
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Start Making Sense: Sense About Science Coming to US
The British-based nonprofit that helps the public understand the barrage of research data encountered routinely is starting a similar effort in the United States.
Myers-Briggs at Work? Might Be a Terrible Idea (MBTI)
Academics already tend to have a bone to pick with the Myers Briggs Type Indicator as anything other than a parlor game. Nonetheless, while the personality test has a hold on the popular imagination it shouldn’t enter the workplace.
Domestic Violence – is Further Criminalization the Answer?
No one favors domestic violence. But in strengthening protections to counter it, asks Sofia Graça, is adding new laws automatically the best way forward?
The Perverse Results of Performance Funding for Universities
Given the rise of policies that try to link state appropriations for public universities to the student outcomes for those institutions, the natural question must be: do these funding policies correlate with higher student achievement? The answers may surprise …
Methods: In Polling, Bigger Is Not Necessarily Better
As various canvasses and opinion polls attempt to predict the outcome of the Scottish independence plebiscite, it’s worth taking a look at how more methodologically sound inputs lead to more accurate forecasts.
Taking the Air out of the Ban on Transgender Troops
UPDATE: In a 2014 article, a former U.S. surgeon general and four co-authors argue that the U.S. military’s medically based ban on transgender troops in place then failed on the facts and on the precedents of other populations in uniform.
Social Science in Action: Ferguson Is a Serious Outlier
One black city council member is not nearly enough. In a study of city councils, only one place in America had a greater representational disparity than Ferguson, Missouri.
Are Good Intentions Enough in Allocating School Places?
Unintended consequences and little practical improvement could result from England’s plan to give poor students priority in school placement, especially if schools can decide to opt in or out, argue Stephen Gorard and Rebecca Morris.
