I find myself once again this week reading stats papers that range from “slightly over my head” to “I have no idea what you people are talking about,” in an attempt to figure out the right thing to do with a dataset involving observations that are not independent. The dataset consists of conversations between dyads [...]
Posts under ‘research design’
large datasets and threats to validity
I just read “Limits of Predictability in Human Mobility” by Chaoming Song, et al. (Science, Vol. 327, 2010). The paper reports an analysis of a really amazing dataset: three months of cell phone records for ~10 million customers of a large European carrier (“anonymized by the data source”). These records include information about the cell [...]
hmmm….
when i saw the title of this paper, “An experimental study of simulated web-based threats and their impact on knowledge communication effectiveness”, i figured it must be about computer security and phishing or viruses or something. then i read the abstract: It is evolutionarily adaptive for humans to have enhanced memories of events surrounding surprise [...]
you know you’re working too hard when…
… you’re reading a research paper and you find yourself writing “hilarious!” in the margin next to a paragraph that says: “For instance, several of our subjects used terms for sexual anatomy to refer successfully to some of the figures. Such messages, in addition to producing correct identifications of their referents, probably lead their recipients [...]
stuck
i’ve spent the past couple of weeks working on finalizing the plans for my experiment this fall. the software is ready for beta testing, and all that is left is for me to write instructions and questionnaires and pilot it. but, i have misgivings about my original experiment design. i don’t want to say too [...]
