I Felt Like a Real Scientist

Published: May 31, 2017, 4 p.m.

As scientists we are accustomed to knowing the results when we evaluate the quality of research. But is that a good thing? How would it change the way we edit and review research if we had to make our evaluations without knowing the results? And beyond that, how would it change scientific practice itself - the ways we design, conduct, and report our work? We discuss the idea of separating evaluation from results and talk about some common concerns. Plus: Simine debriefs on the APS conference, and we talk about a recent Slate article on Daryl Bem's ESP research. And we discuss a letter about whether it's realistic to maintain a 9-to-5 work schedule as a graduate student. Discussed in this episode: The APS 2017 conference program Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science, a new APS journal Why the Resistance to Statistical Innovations? Bridging the Communication Gap by Donald Sharpe Daryl Bem Proved ESP Is Real, Which Means Science is Broken by Dan Engber History of Social Psychology: Insights, Challenges, and Contributions to Theory and Application by Lee Ross, Mark Lepper, and Andrew Ward Registered Reports information page at the Center for Open Science, including FAQs and a list of journals that have adopted the format How Cortex’s Registered Reports Initiative Is Making Reform a Reality, by Chris Chambers The Black Goat is hosted by Sanjay Srivastava, Alexa Tullett, and Simine Vazire. Find us on the web at www.theblackgoatpodcast.com, on Twitter at @blackgoatpod, or on Facebook at facebook.com/blackgoatpod/. You can email us at letters@theblackgoatpodcast.com. You can subscribe to us on iTunes. Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license. This is episode 9. It was recorded May 29, 2017.