How Large Are Your G-Values? Try Gosset’s Guinnessometrics When a Little “p” Is Not Enough

Abstract

A crisis of validity has emerged from three related crises of science, that is, the crises of statistical significance and complete randomization, of replication, and of reproducibility. Guinnessometrics takes commonplace assumptions and methods of statistical science and stands them on their head, from little p-values to unstructured Big Data. Guinnessometrics focuses instead on the substantive significance which emerges from a small series of independent and economical yet balanced and repeated experiments. Originally developed and market-tested by William S. Gosset aka “Student” in his job as Head Experimental Brewer at the Guinness Brewery in Dublin, Gosset’s economic and common sense approach to statistical inference and scientific method has been unwisely neglected. In many areas of science and life, the 10 principles of Guinnessometrics or G-values outlined here can help. Other things equal, the larger the G-values, the better the science and judgment. By now a colleague, neighbor, or YouTube junkie has probably shown you one of those wacky psychology experiments in a video involving a gorilla, and testing the limits of human cognition. In one video, a person wearing a gorilla suit suddenly appears on the scene among humans, who are themselves engaged in some ordinary, mundane activity such as passing a basketball. The funny thing is, prankster researchers have discovered, when observers are asked to think about the mundane activity (such as by counting the number of observed passes of a basketball), the unexpected gorilla is frequently unseen (for discussion see Kahneman 2011 Kahneman, D. (2011), Thinking Fast and Slow, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. [Google Scholar]). The gorilla is invisible. People don’t see it.     

Realism and Contingency

This paper constitutes an extended response to Athanasia Chalari's paper The Causal Impact of Resistance, which suggests that one may derive from internal conversations a causal explanation of resistance. In the context of our engagements with critical realism and digital research into social movements, we review Chalari's main argument, before applying it to a concrete case: the student protests in London, 2010. Whilst our account is sympathetic to Chalari's focus on interiority, we critique the individualism that is implicit in her argument, arguing that it emerges because of an underlying neglect of the relational aspects of resistance. Instead, we offer a relational realist analysis that treats resistance as process within an ontologically stratified account of reality that is mindful of the contingency of political acts. Taking this route, we establish resistance as an emergent relation, generative of distinctive “relational goods” in the context of collective action, which we locate at different levels of reality, as we move from an analysis of individual to collective reflexivity. In doing so we offer a sympathetic critique of Chalari, building on the thought provoking arguments contained within it, whilst also making a contribution to the theorisation of social movements and the “relational turn” within realist social theory (Archer, 2010, 2012).     

基于伙伴教育的“学长制”探索与实践

基于伙伴教育的学长制,是在教育教学活动中充分发挥学生的主体作用,发挥学有专长的学生的示范作用,使高年级学生和低年级学生、毕业生和在校生教学相长。文章以齐齐哈尔工程学院为例,阐述近年来对学长制的实践性研究。     

“一村一名大学生计划”人才培养模式的探索与实践——以华中农业大学为例

"一村一名大学生计划"旨在为广大农村培养"留得住、用得上、懂技术、善经营"的复合型、应用型人才,有效挖掘和利用农村人力资源,助推社会主义新农村建设。华中农业大学自2008年参与此项目以来,针对当前农村社会经济发展和学员自身实际,培养目标设定上注重与农业人才要求的吻合性,课程体系设置上注重与农业生产特点的针对性,教学过程安排上注重与农业生产过程的适应性,实践教学落实上注重与农业生产周期的同步性,在构建"一村一名大学生计划"人才培养模式方面作了有益的探索与实践,取得了明显成效。     

小组社会工作在大学生情绪管理中的应用与实施

当前,我国的教育理念和体制一直强调加强智育,而对情感教育尚缺乏足够的重视,尤其是高校大学生情感教育正面临着严峻的考验。大学生情绪管理小组旨在运用专业的小组工作方法,协助大学生提升情绪管理能力,实现我国高校情绪管理教育渠道的多元化。     

The Higher Education White Paper: The Good,the Bad,the Unspeakable – and the Next White Paper1

This article argues that reforms of higher education finance for undergraduates in England introduced by the Blair government in 2006 provided a progressive strategy for achieving the central objectives of higher education of quality (better), access (wider) and size (larger). Reforms in 2012 are a not a strategy but a collection of ad hoc arrangements. They include the good (a higher fees cap, a higher interest rate on student loans, better information and improved support for part‐time study), the bad (abolishing most taxpayer support for teaching in the arts and humanities and the social sciences, and raising excessively the threshold at which loan repayments start) and the unspeakable (abolishing Education Maintenance Allowances and AimHigher). The reforms are fiscally costly and hence perpetuate the central problem of capped student numbers, and will not stand the test of time. The concluding section outlines the next White Paper.     

多维度下高校学生工作研究综述

社会转型下高校学生工作备受关注。研究综述发现:历史维度下高校学生工作从工具性向价值性转型;现实维度下"高级保姆"式方式存在诸多问题;跨文化维度下的专业性与服务性为我国学生工作发展提供了借鉴意义。构建乡土视野下的高校学生工作需要实现社会工作的理念、方法及角色介入。     

高校勤工助学学生自主运营模式探讨

高校勤工助学作为一种特殊的社会实践,对帮助贫困生解决经济困难,提升学生的综合素质具有重要意义。以往的传统型的勤工助学模式,在育人功能上没有得到充分的体现。建立新型学生自主运营式的勤工助学模式,能够体现助学育人的目标,为充分发挥学生的主观能动性起到重要作用。     

The Academic Achievement Gap Between Blacks and Whites

ABSTRACT

This paper considers the academic achievement gap between African American and White students at the elementary and high school levels. It attempts to determine if race or lower socioeconomic status impact results of standardized test results at high performing and low performing schools. It presents research involving regression analysis of data for the state of Illinois. Results indicate race is not a negative factor at high performing or low performing schools for both elementary or high school years, given the samples. Also, low socioeconomic status is not a negative factor at high performing or low performing schools for both the elementary and high school years. High performing schools had low to moderate quantities of the identified variables, while low performing schools had high levels of the identified variables. Societal biases toward Blacks-rich or poor-are challenged in this paper.     

Decisions to Make a Difference: The Role of Efficacy in Moderate Student Activism

Radical student protest has declined in the USA since the 1960s, but less militant forms of campus activism have continued to be a substantial part of larger social movement efforts. However, little research examines participation by today's youth in these moderate campus-based social movement organizations. This study addresses our lack of knowledge about less sensational forms of student activism with fieldwork and semi-structured interviews that illuminate the reasons for undergraduate participation in a student-led environmental group. The data show how school and employment considerations, career goals and social networks influence student decisions to join the organization. Moreover, the findings demonstrate the importance of organizational outcomes to participatory decisions. Students were led to actively participate according to their determination of the social movement organization's ability to achieve tangible goals and the perceived necessity of their contribution.