Comments on: All-purpose questions http://crookedtimber.org/2009/06/12/all-purpose-questions/ Out of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing was ever made Sun, 27 May 2012 08:01:04 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Matt http://crookedtimber.org/2009/06/12/all-purpose-questions/comment-page-1/#comment-279910 Matt Fri, 19 Jun 2009 03:45:09 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/?p=11554#comment-279910 Another common one is "I have two questions and a comment" or some such variation. If it's allowed to go forward it often means no one else will get to speak. Another common one is “I have two questions and a comment” or some such variation. If it’s allowed to go forward it often means no one else will get to speak.

]]> By: magistra http://crookedtimber.org/2009/06/12/all-purpose-questions/comment-page-1/#comment-279886 magistra Thu, 18 Jun 2009 19:49:36 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/?p=11554#comment-279886 “So tell me, who is your favourite pre-War Polish logician?” Well, it depends on how you want to define Polish... “So tell me, who is your favourite pre-War Polish logician?”

Well, it depends on how you want to define Polish…

]]> By: ajay http://crookedtimber.org/2009/06/12/all-purpose-questions/comment-page-1/#comment-279567 ajay Tue, 16 Jun 2009 14:29:27 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/?p=11554#comment-279567 Obligatory XKCD: http://xkcd.com/451/ Obligatory XKCD:

http://xkcd.com/451/

]]> By: Matt L http://crookedtimber.org/2009/06/12/all-purpose-questions/comment-page-1/#comment-279450 Matt L Mon, 15 Jun 2009 22:19:04 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/?p=11554#comment-279450 The best all purpose seminar question for history is, "So, what was the most interesting primary source that you looked at, but didn't get to use in this paper?" Its a softball, but sometimes the answer is more fun than the original topic. If you're lucky, its something weird or funny. The best all purpose seminar question for history is, “So, what was the most interesting primary source that you looked at, but didn’t get to use in this paper?” Its a softball, but sometimes the answer is more fun than the original topic. If you’re lucky, its something weird or funny.

]]> By: Matt L http://crookedtimber.org/2009/06/12/all-purpose-questions/comment-page-1/#comment-279448 Matt L Mon, 15 Jun 2009 22:16:27 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/?p=11554#comment-279448 “So tell me, who is your favourite pre-War Polish logician?” Depends, which war? “So tell me, who is your favourite pre-War Polish logician?”

Depends, which war?

]]> By: rea http://crookedtimber.org/2009/06/12/all-purpose-questions/comment-page-1/#comment-279426 rea Mon, 15 Jun 2009 20:40:34 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/?p=11554#comment-279426 <i>“So tell me, who is your favourite pre-War Polish logician?”</i> "Sorry--can't." “So tell me, who is your favourite pre-War Polish logician?”

“Sorry—can’t.”

]]> By: Donald A. Coffin http://crookedtimber.org/2009/06/12/all-purpose-questions/comment-page-1/#comment-279388 Donald A. Coffin Mon, 15 Jun 2009 17:24:02 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/?p=11554#comment-279388 George Stigler's "Conference Handbook" is, of course, the locus classicus in economics (http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/260576). Justin Wolpers has offered some updaes in the Feakonomics blog (http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/20/have-economic-debates-changed-since-1977/). (Wolpers, incidentally, reproduces Stiglers' list of comments, which Stigler handily numbered, so as to reduce the amount o time spent making comments.) Strictly speaking, these are comments, not questions, but I think the point is roughly the same. For economists, though, the classic remains, "Didn't Adam Smith say that?" George Stigler’s “Conference Handbook” is, of course, the locus classicus in economics
(http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/260576). Justin Wolpers has offered some updaes in the Feakonomics blog (http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/20/have-economic-debates-changed-since-1977/). (Wolpers, incidentally, reproduces Stiglers’ list of comments, which Stigler handily numbered, so as to reduce the amount o time spent making comments.) Strictly speaking, these are comments, not questions, but I think the point is roughly the same. For economists, though, the classic remains, “Didn’t Adam Smith say that?”

]]> By: Ray Davis http://crookedtimber.org/2009/06/12/all-purpose-questions/comment-page-1/#comment-279303 Ray Davis Sun, 14 Jun 2009 22:46:33 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/?p=11554#comment-279303 There was a terrifying woman who used to go to readings at East Bay bookstores to ask "What does your mother think of your book?", no matter what the subject of the book or the health of the author's mother. What this reveals, I guess, is that writing is a hell of a way to try to make a living. There was a terrifying woman who used to go to readings at East Bay bookstores to ask “What does your mother think of your book?”, no matter what the subject of the book or the health of the author’s mother. What this reveals, I guess, is that writing is a hell of a way to try to make a living.

]]> By: peter http://crookedtimber.org/2009/06/12/all-purpose-questions/comment-page-1/#comment-279263 peter Sun, 14 Jun 2009 15:50:43 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/?p=11554#comment-279263 Not a seminar question, but supposedly a standard question to intimidate newcomers to High Table in the posher Oxford Colleges: <i>"So tell me, who is your favourite pre-War Polish logician?"</i> Not a seminar question, but supposedly a standard question to intimidate newcomers to High Table in the posher Oxford Colleges:

“So tell me, who is your favourite pre-War Polish logician?”

]]> By: Michael Mouse http://crookedtimber.org/2009/06/12/all-purpose-questions/comment-page-1/#comment-279244 Michael Mouse Sun, 14 Jun 2009 12:54:35 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/?p=11554#comment-279244 In social science, if someone shows a correlation, you can almost always ask about causality direction and possible third factor causes. And all to often you can ask how many correlations they happened to calculate in the entire analysis process, and followup with "and so out of 20 or so correlations you found one significant at the 5% level ... are you really sure this is robust evidence?". I used to regularly try the old "are you sure it's safe to assume these Likert scales are continuous variables" but most people couldn't understand the issue so I stopped, because it made me look silly, not them. In social science, if someone shows a correlation, you can almost always ask about causality direction and possible third factor causes.

And all to often you can ask how many correlations they happened to calculate in the entire analysis process, and followup with “and so out of 20 or so correlations you found one significant at the 5% level … are you really sure this is robust evidence?”.

I used to regularly try the old “are you sure it’s safe to assume these Likert scales are continuous variables” but most people couldn’t understand the issue so I stopped, because it made me look silly, not them.

]]> By: onymous http://crookedtimber.org/2009/06/12/all-purpose-questions/comment-page-1/#comment-279206 onymous Sun, 14 Jun 2009 04:11:07 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/?p=11554#comment-279206 Cosma! Earlier I was thinking "I wish Cosma would show up on some blog and say something about the widely-circulated claim that the highly linear election return data from Iran implies vote-rigging". Um, not to be demanding or anything. Cosma! Earlier I was thinking “I wish Cosma would show up on some blog and say something about the widely-circulated claim that the highly linear election return data from Iran implies vote-rigging”. Um, not to be demanding or anything.

]]> By: Cosma http://crookedtimber.org/2009/06/12/all-purpose-questions/comment-page-1/#comment-279204 Cosma Sun, 14 Jun 2009 04:02:51 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/?p=11554#comment-279204 "How robust are your results to changing the prior distribution?" In biology: "What is [or: can you say more about] the role of calcium in this phenomenon?" “How robust are your results to changing the prior distribution?”

In biology: “What is [or: can you say more about] the role of calcium in this phenomenon?”

]]> By: Moby Hick http://crookedtimber.org/2009/06/12/all-purpose-questions/comment-page-1/#comment-279202 Moby Hick Sun, 14 Jun 2009 03:22:41 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/?p=11554#comment-279202 "I’ve got a draft post on Sri Lanka that you might want a look at." That would be a good way to tell a friend "Time to hit the bar" without letting everybody in the room know (which is useful it you want to hit the bar at 2pm on a Tuesday or something). “I’ve got a draft post on Sri Lanka that you might want a look at.”

That would be a good way to tell a friend “Time to hit the bar” without letting everybody in the room know (which is useful it you want to hit the bar at 2pm on a Tuesday or something).

]]> By: SusanC http://crookedtimber.org/2009/06/12/all-purpose-questions/comment-page-1/#comment-279197 SusanC Sun, 14 Jun 2009 02:34:20 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/?p=11554#comment-279197 "Does this suffer from the base rate fallacy?" (Equivalents to this recently heard in seminars on everything from counter-terrorism to medical genomics). “Does this suffer from the base rate fallacy?”

(Equivalents to this recently heard in seminars on everything from counter-terrorism to medical genomics).

]]> By: Ahistoricality http://crookedtimber.org/2009/06/12/all-purpose-questions/comment-page-1/#comment-279187 Ahistoricality Sun, 14 Jun 2009 01:17:29 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/?p=11554#comment-279187 History: "The origins of the problem go back further than that, though, don't they?" History: “The origins of the problem go back further than that, though, don’t they?”

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