Daniel Lakens (Eindhoven University of Technology) joins James and Dan to talk meta-analysis. Here’s what they cover: Daniel’s opinion on the current state of meta-analysis The benefit of reporting guidelines (even though hardly anyone actually follows them) How fixing publication bias can fix science Meta-analysis before and after that Bem paper How to correct for publication bias Whether meta-analyses are just published for the citations The benefits of pre-registering meta-analysis How we get...
May 05, 2017•1 hr 3 min
Daniel Lakens (Eindhoven University of Technology) drops in to talk statistical inference with James and Dan. Here’s what they cover: How did Daniel get into statistical inference? Are we overdoing the Frequentist vs. Bayes debate? What situations better suit Bayesian inference? The over advertising of Bayesian inference Study design is underrated The limits of p-values Why not report both p-values and Bayes factors? The “perfect t-test” script and the difference between Student’s and Welch’s t-...
Apr 21, 2017•1 hr 7 min
In this episode, Dan and James are joined by William Gunn (Director of Scholarly communications at Elsevier) to discuss ways in which you can object to published research. They also cover: What differentiates an analytics company from a publishing company? How scientific journals are one of the last areas to fully adopt the dynamic nature of the internet Data repositories How to make a correction in a journal The benefits of Registered Reports When everyone asked Elsevier for a journal of negati...
Apr 07, 2017•1 hr 7 min
Dan and James are joined by Michèle Nuijten (Tilburg University) to discuss 'statcheck', an algorithm that automatically scans papers for statistical tests, recomputes p-values, and flags inconsistencies. They also cover: How Michèle dealt with statcheck criticisms Psychological Science’s pilot of statcheck for journal submissions Detecting data fraud When should a journal issue a correction? Future plans for statcheck The one thing Michèle thinks that everyone else thinks is crazy Michèle's mos...
Mar 24, 2017•49 min
We all know hipsters. You know, like the guy that rides his Penny-farthing to the local cafe to write his memoirs on a typewriter - just because its more ‘authentic’. In this episode, James and Dan discuss academic hipsters. These are people who insist you need to use specific tools in your science like R, python, and LaTeX. So should you start using these trendy tools despite the steep learning curve? Other stuff they cover: Why James finally jumped onto Twitter A new segment: 2-minutes hate Th...
Mar 10, 2017•55 min
Dan and James continue their discussion on work/life balance in academia. They also suggest ways to get your work done within a sane amount of hours as well as how to pick the right lab. Some of the topics covered: Feedback from our last episode Why the podcast started in the first place The "Red Queen" problem Does the "70 hour lab" produce better work? Some experiments aren't suited to a 9-5 schedule More tips for anonomusly skiving off at work What are cognitive limits off focused work? Do ea...
Feb 24, 2017•1 hr 2 min
In this episode, we talk work/life balance for early career researchers. Do you need to work a 70-hour week to be a successful scientist or can you actually have a life outside the lab? Some of the topics covered: An update on "the postdoc that didn't say no" story Brian Wansink's response De-identifying data in research The perils of public criticism Criticising the research vs. criticising the person Some sage advice from a senior academic on "Making science the centre of your life" Look for a...
Feb 17, 2017•57 min
In episode 34 we covered a blog post that highlighted questionable analytical approaches in psychology. That post mentioned four studies that resulted from this approach, which a team of researchers took a closer look into. Dan and James discuss the statistical inconsistencies that the authors reported in a recent preprint. Some of the topics covered: Trump (of course) A summary of the preprint The GRIM test to detect inconsistencies The researchers that accidently administered the equivalent of...
Jan 27, 2017•51 min
Dan and James discuss a new paper in the inaugural issue of Nature Human Behaviour, "A manifesto for reproducible science". Some of the topics covered: What's a manfesto for reproducibility doing in a Nature group journal? Registered reports The importance of incentives to actually make change happen What people should report vs. what they actually report A common pitfall of published meta-analyses The reliance of metrics in hiring decisions and the impact of open science practices Tone police H...
Jan 20, 2017•51 min
Dan and James have their very first guest! For this episode they're joined by Robin Kok (University of Southern Denmark) to talk e-health. They also cover a recent blog post that inadvertently highlighted questionable research practices in psychology. Some of the topics covered: The grad student who never said no Postdoc work/life balance Questionable research practices Torturing data (with rattan sticks) Using the GRIM test to assess data accuracy Unpaid internships Saying 'yes' to opportunitie...
Dec 22, 2016•1 hr
Dan and James discuss Zombie theories, which are scientific ideas that continue to live on in the absence of evidence. Why do these ideas persist and how do we kill them for good? Some of the topics covered: Why do some ideas live on? Zombie theories in heart rate variability research Reasons why zombie theories proliferate more in the social sciences Attractiveness and simplicity Theories become brands Oxytocin zombie theories The power of shaming Ideas are corrected more quickly in smaller fie...
Dec 16, 2016•44 min
Dan and James discuss a new population study that linked health anxiety data with future heart disease. Some of the topics covered: Web MD and health anxiety How would healthy anxiety contribute to heart disease? A summary of the study Ischemic heart disease = coronary artery disease Do people with healthy anxiety take better care of thier health? Don't be fooled by percentage increase of risk for something that's rare There are some things you can't just randomize The pros and cons of big data ...
Dec 01, 2016•43 min
Dan and James discuss a recent study of over one million Swedish men that found that higher resting heart rate late adolescence was associated with an increased risk for subsequent psychiatric illness. Some of the topics covered: How did these authors get such an enormous dataset? The benefits of testing so many people What we liked about the study (hint: lots of things) Measuring cardiovascular efficiency using a cycle ergometer The pitfalls of self-reported physical activity How the media cove...
Nov 16, 2016•55 min
Dan and James discuss authorship in the biomedical sciences Support Everything Hertz
Nov 02, 2016•49 min
Dan and James talk about how they learn new things. Some of the topics discussed: Internet memes Consolidating old ideas rather than learning new ones Why learn a new skill when you just get someone else to do it? A lesson of not having a good understanding statistical software... James and Dan butt heads about meta-analysis (again) Learning new things is interesting How did people learn things before the internet? How to follow things on Twitter without being on Twitter Links Bayes factor paper...
Oct 16, 2016•49 min
Pre-registration, p-hacking, power, protocols. All these concepts are pretty mainstream in 2016 but hardly discussed 5 years ago. In this episode, James and Dan talk about these ideas and other developments in biomedical science. Some of the topics discussed: James loves blinded reviews, scihub Dan loves protocols, learning stats through social media, reproducible science Links The COMPARE initiative http://compare-trials.org "Give me the F-ing PDF" Chrome extension https://chrome.google.com/web...
Sep 30, 2016•49 min
Dan and James discuss complaints and grievances. Stay tuned for part 2 where things get positive. Some of the topics discussed: Conflicts of interest Criticism in psychology Why does there seem to be so much bad blood in psychology? Retracted papers: fraud or sloppiness? Authors not acknowledging your peer-review remarks The short-term nature of research The benefits of 'centers of excellence' Links The 'vibe of the thing' scene from 'The Castle' (Great Aussie film) https://www.youtube.com/watch...
Sep 23, 2016•53 min
When interpreting the magnitude of group differences using effect sizes, researchers often rely on Cohen's guidelines for small, medium, and large effects. However, Cohen originally proposed these guidelines as a fall back when the distribution of effect sizes was unknown. Despite the hundreds of available studies comparing heart rate variability (HRV), Cohen's guidelines are still used for interpretation. In this episode, Dan discusses his recent preprint describing an effect size distribution ...
Sep 09, 2016•46 min
P-values are universal, but do we really know what they mean? In this episode, Dan and James discuss a recent paper describing the failure to correctly interpret p-values in a sample of academic psychologists. Some of the topics discussed: Common p-value misconceptions James tests Dan on his p-value knowledge p-values vs. effect size The problem of sample size with p-value interpretation The Facebook mood manipulation study Data peeking Equivalent p-values do not represent equivalent results Met...
Aug 27, 2016•55 min
Science funding has a series of built in incentive structures, but what sort of science does this produce? Some of the topics discussed: Feedback from our 'Public health and Pokemon' episode (#22) Incentive structures in science What we should be doing in science compared to what we are doing Quantity vs. Quality The analysis of Trump's tweets for negativity vs. positivity Pre-registration How much detail do you need to go into when it comes to pre-registering an analysis APS journal badges - th...
Aug 17, 2016•1 hr
Can you be a "serious academic" while still posting photos on Instagram? In this episode, James and Dan discuss a recent article bemoaning the infiltration of the "selfie epidemic" into academia. Some of the topics discussed: James and Dan share their thoughts on the article The REAL 'c' word.... Social media and conferences Snapchat + academics = snapademics Using Instagram stories to share you research Why "PHD comics" is so successful Criticism in academia Listener question 1: What's your fav...
Aug 11, 2016•53 min
Pokemon Go is sweeping the world and getting people walking again! But is the Pokemon Go 'model' a golden opportunity to tackle obesity or just another fad? Some of the topics discussed: James plays "Pokemon or Cholesterol medication?" Dan tries to explain Pokemon Go to James James' first contact with Pokemon Go "trainers" Should health interventions be modeled on Pokemon Go? Other exercise augmented reality health apps What's the app's endgame? Can health authorities copy this model? We make a ...
Aug 03, 2016•59 min
It's well established that steroid use is associated with many adverse healthy outcomes, but what does it actually do to your brain? Dan and James discuss an interesting new paper that compared brain structure in long-term steroid users and non-using weightlifters. Some of the topics discussed: A summary of the study How are steroids typically used? What are the differences in use between sports? The recruitment of 'real' users James gives Dan a surprise Norwegian test (he doesn't do too well) T...
Jul 22, 2016•58 min
Can psychologists learn more by studying fewer people? Some of the topics discussed: Brexit and science Can the UK take the 'Norway' option? Horizon 2020 The impact on personnel and research training Italian coffee Listener feedback We're sorry for the chewing sound from episode 17! Intraindividual replication vs. larger sample sizes What sort of experiments are better suited to detailed within-subject studies? Is 'quantified self' data more valid than experimental data? What if you happen to re...
Jul 13, 2016•1 hr 2 min
Dan and James discuss a recent paper on intranasal oxytocin and spirituality Some of the topics discussed: A summary of a recent paper on oxytocin and spirituality Why within-subject designs are a better choice for oxytocin research The physiology of nasal administration How do you control for differences in nasal environment Hypothesis-driven vs. exploratory research Oxytocin pathway gene ANCOVA and Lord's paradox (yep, it's called that) Dan applauding the authors for posting ALL their data onl...
Jul 06, 2016•47 min
Withholding data: bad science or scientific misconduct? Some of the topics discussed: Dan raises privacy issues surrounding sharing data What are the limits of AI to identify people from 'un-identifiable' data? The new age of sharing data What grinds Dan's gears Requesting data from people who said that they'd actually share their data James' experiences with requesting data Dan offers a solution for accessing data via an independent 3rd party When is a data request 'vexatious'? Hiding data vs. ...
Jun 29, 2016•51 min
Do we really need scientific journals? Some of the topics discussed: James trolling predatory journals with jibberish papers on the 'DONG' effect How do these spammy journal invitation emails actually work? Formal journals vs. preprint servers The shift to preprints in psychology Why do some journals forbid preprints? An article defending the big publishers How much does it really cost to have an online journal? What if the public funders were to set up thier own journals? What's the role of pos...
Jun 22, 2016•51 min
What are the defining characteristics of a good psychology study? We received this excellent question from a listener and decided to do a whole episode on this idea. Some of the topics discussed: When’s the last time you saw a psych study that only reported a t-test? Dan and James’ new paper on worry and heart rate variability Skepticism towards studies with many variables and ‘novel’ statistical approaches (that tend to always provide marvellous results) Repeated measures ANOVAs vs. linear mixe...
Jun 15, 2016•49 min
Dan and James discuss software and coding, including the tools they use Links (lots this week) Introduction to Python course - http://python.swaroopch.com //// R markdown - http://rmarkdown.rstudio.com //// GraphPad - http://www.graphpad.com //// JASP - https://jasp-stats.org //// Igor - https://www.wavemetrics.com/products/igorpro/igorpro.htm //// Canva - https://www.canva.com ////Omnifocus - https://www.omnigroup.com/omnifocus ////Slack - https://slack.com //// PsychoPy - http://www.psychopy.o...
Jun 08, 2016•45 min
Dan and James discuss public engagement, science communication, and the internet outrage machine. Links: James' GRIM pre-print https://peerj.com/preprints/2064v1/ Dan's meta-analysis paper http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01549/full Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/everythinghertzpodcast/ Twitter account https://www.twitter.com/hertzpodcast Support Everything Hertz...
Jun 02, 2016•33 min
