Archives

Literature List: How to organize a scientific work

“I took a speed reading course and 
read ‘War and Peace’ in twenty minutes.
It involves Russia.”
Woody Allen

Last weekend, I did a presentation for the MinD-Akademie in Germany with the topic: “The Future of Your Research — How to organize a scientific work?”. It was a lot of fun creating the presentation and even more fun holding it (great audience :-) ). Over the next few days I’m going to put the material online here (presentation slides translated in English). As this takes a while, here the cited literature:

Science in General and Advisers/Colleagues

  • Cham’s “PhD Comics”: http://www.phdcomics.com/comics.php
    I could have done the whole presentation with PhD Comics, but no one would have believed that they actually describe “real” situations (“real” because it’s a little over the top, but always with a nugget of gold). Great to get a humorous view on academia.
  • Sternberg’s “Psychology 101½”: Sternberg, R. J. (2003). Psychology 101 1/2 The Unspoken Rules for Success in Academia. Washington, DC: APA.
    A very good book by a distinguished professor about life in academia. While written with psychology in mind (he is psychologist), some aspects can probably be applied to other domains.
  • Pausch’s “Last Lecture”
(Video & Book): Pausch, R. (2008). Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams. New York: Hyperion. [Video here on YouTube]
    A brilliant presentation about a person’s life in academia (and in general) — it shows what you can accomplish and what is needed. For all who think that a job in academia is more than just making money to life by (badly in many cases).
  • Schwartz’s “The importance of stupidity in scientific research”: Schwartz, M. A. (2008). The importance of stupidity in scientific research. Journal of Cell Science, 121, 1771. Available at http://jcs.biologists.org/cgi/content/full/121/11/1771
    A one page article about the necessity of feeling stupid while doing research. Should be required reading by every PhD student just to get the “but I did study it, why don’t I know the answer in advance” out of one’s mind.
  • Patterson’s “Your Students Are Your Legacy”: Patterson, D. A. (2009). Your Students Are Your Legacy. Communications of the ACM, 32(3), 30-33. doi:10.1145/1467247.1467259
    A brilliant argument for good advisory — and what makes good advisory. Should be required reading for everyone who advises students.
  • Schmidt & Richter’s Artikel von 2008 und 2009: Schmidt, B., & Richter, A. (2008). Unterstützender Mentor oder abwesender Aufgabenverteiler? – Eine qualitative Interviewstudie zum Führungshandeln von Professorinnen und Professoren aus der Sicht von Promovierenden. Beiträge zur Hochschulforschung, 30(4), 34-58. und Schmidt, B., & Richter, A. (2009). Zwischen Laissez-Faire, Autokratie und Kooperation: Führungsstile von Professorinnen und Professoren. Beiträge zur Hochschulforschung, 31(4), 8-35.
    Both articles are in German but they are very interesting — more information on them in a posting about them.

Finding a Topic and Planning the Research

  • Perry’s Criteria for a good dissertation topic: Perry, C. (1998). A structured approach to presenting theses. Available online at http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/gcm/ar/art/cperry.html
    An excellent text about doing a thesis with some very good points on selecting the right topic.
  • Booth, Colomb, & Williams’ “The Craft of Research”: Booth, W. C., Colomb, G. G., & Williams, J. M. (2003). The Craft of Research. (Second Edition). Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
    More on the basics of what research is and how to do it — applicable for many domains.
  • Ullman’s “Advising Students for Success”: Ullman, J. D. (2009). Advising Students for Success. Communications of the ACM, 52(3), 34-37.
    Another great text about advisory — with more focus on choosing a relevant topic.

Managing Literature

Capturing and Managing Ideas and Data

Preparing Studies and Analyzing the Data

  • Field’s “Discovering Statistics Using SPSS”: Field, A. (2005). Discovering Statistics Using SPSS (2nd Edition). London: Sage.
    My statistics book was the Bortz (German book) — which was … not that suited to learn what statistics is about and why it is interesting and useful. Field manages to do both en passant — a very well written book and highly recommended.
  • Pallant’s “SPSS Survival Manual”: Pallant, J. (2007). SPSS Survival Manual. McGraw-Hill, Open University Press.
    Everything you need to know to do the standard tests in statistics for psychologists. Looks cheap but is the best practical handbook I know. Very, very useful.
  • Goodwin’s “Research in Psychology”: Goodwin, C. J. (2009). Research in Psychology. Methods and Design. New York: Wiley.
    Good basic text about research.
  • Wright’s “Making friends with your data”: Wright, D. B. (2003). Making friends with your data: Improving how statistics are conducted and reported. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 73, 123-136.
    Something every researcher should know — very interesting text.
  • example for a “strange” but very valuable source: Froman, R. D. (2001). Elements to Consider in Planning the Use of Factor Analysis. Southern Online Journal of Nursing Research, 2(5). Retrieved January 9, 2009, from http://www.snrs.org/ publications/SOJNR_articles/iss05vol02.pdf.

Writing

  • Silvia’s “How to Write a Lot”: Silvia, P. J. (2007). How to Write a Lot. Washington D.C.: APA.
    Read this to avoid delaying your writing. A brilliant text that smashes the typical excuses of why not to write and gives very useful hints to write.
  • Alley’s “The Craft of Scientific Writing”: Alley, M. (1996). The Craft of Scientific Writing (3rd Edition). New York: Springer.
    The best text I know of regarding the criteria for scientific writing and a very convincing text that technical writing (e.g., all research papers) is craft, not art, i.e., you need to get your facts straight, not divine inspiration.
  • Bem’s “Writing the Empirical Journal Article”: Bem, D. J. (1987). Writing the empirical journal article. In M. P. Zanna & J. M. Darley (Eds.), The compleat academic: A practical guide for the beginning social scientist (pp. 171-201). New York: Random House.
    Can be found online in a different version (which I did read). The standard text for psychologists working in research.
  • Yaffe’s “How to Generate Reader Interest in What You Write”: Yaffe, P. (2009). How to Generate Reader Interest in What You Write. ACM Ubiquity, 10(7).
    An interesting text to capture the reader.
  • Lamott’s “bird by bird”: Lamott, A. (1994). bird by bird. New York: Anchor Books.
    A very good book about (fictional) writing, but with helpful hints for academic/technical writing as well — esp. to write a “shitty first draft”, you can always improve it later.
  • Academic Phrasebank: http://www.phrasebank.manchester.ac.uk
    If reading articles does not give you the necessary vocabulary or you struggle with the right phrases, this site will help.

Reviews

  • Trafimow & Rice: Trafimow, D., & Rice, S. (2009). What If Social Scientists Had Reviewed Great Scientific Works of the Past? Perspectives on Psychological Science, 4(1), 65-78. DOI: 10.1111/j.1745-6924.2009.01107.x
    A brilliant article about how tough and irrational the peer review process is in the social sciences. More in this posting or look directly in the article — very humorous and highly recommended.

Presentations

  • Reynolds’ “Presentation Zen” & “The naked presenter”: Reynolds, G. (2008). Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery. Berkeley, CA: New Riders. and Reynolds, G. (2011). The naked presenter. Delivering Powerful Presentations With or Without Slides. Berkeley, CA: New Riders.
    Brilliant books to avoid death by PowerPoint.
  • TED talks: http://www.ted.com
    Great for inspiration — many of the speakers can convey not only their message/the facts but also why they love this topic.

Leadership in Academia

I stumbled over two great articles regarding leadership — or the lack thereof — in academia. Unfortunately, both are in German, but they key points were (translating and paraphrasing the authors):

  • Using the classification of leadership in laissez-faire, autocratic and cooperating leadership behavior works. It must not be seen as either-or, but as present to varying degrees.
  • Leadership behavior is not a matter of personal preference, but has consequences on multiple measures, e.g., affective commitment, achievement motivation, fluctuation, quality of the work relationship, and total work performance of the department. Leadership behavior that is high in cooperative, low in autocratic and low in laissez-faire style leads to the best results.
  • There are many good examples of great leadership, of professors who support their staff and help them to become good or even great scientists by opening doors, giving advice and encouragement.
  • However, many academics do not see themselves as leaders and do not think that they should show leadership behavior. Often the reason is the (false) argument that academic freedom and training independent scientists precludes leadership, thus resulting in no (i.e., laissez-faire) leadership behavior. However, mentorship — giving advice and feedback — allows the advancement of skills and work and keeps the independence and self-directed work of the young academics.
  • Bad leadership behavior is usually not the tyrant who plays god in his department, but the lack of systematic (i.e., targeted, deliberate, reflective) leadership behavior. For example,
    • giving critic without constructive recommendations for change and encouragement,
    • making optimistic estimations regarding whether something can be implemented without giving the necessary support and impulses of how to transform an optimistic estimation to a measurable success,
    • pressing for the implementation of their own visions without gaining commitment by their staff first, and
    • academic thesis advisers who are usually not available.
  • Bad leadership wastes potential, because it is a main reason that doctoral students quit their dissertation and leave academia.
  • Great leadership combines support/advice with promoting values which are consistent and lived in the everyday work and can be experiences by the staff, e.g., promoting ethical values like respect, transparency, fairness and setting a good example.
  • Training of leadership behavior in academia was neglected but — apparently — this is going to change.

I think the articles are highly relevant for anyone working or planning to work in academia, as post-doc or professor. The climate of a department can make or break great science and leaders strongly contribute to it. And as Kurt Lewin, who started research in leadership behaviors, said: “There is nothing so practical as a good theory.” and the texts are great to make sense of leadership behavior in academia.

Highly recommended.

Sources

Schmidt, B., & Richter, A. (2008). Unterstützender Mentor oder abwesender Aufgabenverteiler? – Eine qualitative Interviewstudie zum Führungshandeln von Professorinnen und Professoren aus der Sicht von Promovierenden. Beiträge zur Hochschulforschung, 30(4), 34-58.

Schmidt, B., & Richter, A. (2009). Zwischen Laissez-Faire, Autokratie und Kooperation: Führungsstile von Professorinnen und Professoren. Beiträge zur Hochschulforschung, 31(4), 8-35.

Questionnaire for Organizing Creativity 2

It’s been a few years since I wrote “Organizing Creativity” and in the meantime I have learned a lot. I am also critical of the style of the book — I wanted to write everything I knew, I did and it shows. It contains a lot of information, but it is not exactly easy to read.

So, I am currently working on a new version, more concise and more useful for practical application. For this version I would like to ask you for your input. How do you organize your creativity? What skills and tools did help you? What gave you a boost in working. The questions are very broad and no matter how trivial or supposedly widely known it is, I really like to hear about it.

Which skills help you to be creative?

Which tools help you to be creative?

Is there anything else you think is important for creativity or its organization? If so, what is it?

In which areas are you creative?

If you want to, you can also give your name and eMail, but you don't need to. I promise not to abuse this information.

Your Name

Your eMail

Thank you in advance :-)

Daniel Wessel

What are you doing?


Cut from “The West Wing”

The cut above reminds me of something we often lose: Take a breath for a second, step back and ask yourself: What are you doing? Are you really doing what you want to do? What is important for your? What makes your heart beat faster? What motivates you to get out of bed with a smile?

Don’t get me wrong, no job, no matter which, will always be fun, always be great, nor will you always succeed in it. But there are two things that should characterize any worthwhile job, and I include creative work in the past time to this:

  • Over a medium time-frame (let’s say up to six months), the balance of the job in terms of enjoyment vs. dissatisfaction should be positive.
  • The job should have consequences that go beyond the work itself — be it people inspired, making the world a little less hostile or complicated, etc. pp.

If you are doing something that is not worthwhile, creating something each and every day that does not move your heart, then perhaps it’s time to stop and think — and find an alternative solution.

What do you miss because it seems ridiculous to you?

“State your name, rank and intention.”
“The Doctor, Doctor, Fun.”
Dr. Who

A few years back I stumbled over the series “Dr. Who“. I don’t own a TV, so it was mostly Wikipedia entries and some other references. Thing is, it confused me. What I couldn’t understand was, how someone could like such a series. It didn’t make sense to me. Stupid aliens, a box that’s bigger on the inside, story lines that seemed unbelievable. It kept nagging in the back of my mind until I decided (more or less on a whim a few weeks ago) to buy the first four seasons of the relaunch. I went to work somewhat sleepy for the next days because I watched the episodes whenever I could — usually until late in the night/morning. I now own seasons 1 to 5, including the specials.

Thing is, once you start watching the episodes you discover well thought out story lines — which discuss issues that go beyond the things you see (and, with the tenth doctor, someone with a stylish sense of dress).

I was reminded of the usual reaction as a child/teenager when I said that I loved watching Star Trek (TNG & DS9). For most people, Star Trek is just bad actors badly dressed with masks claiming to be aliens and some space battles. Only when you start seeing the topics they deal with — human nature, issues like prejudice, hate, fear, sanity and much, much more — it goes beyond deep. It uses the age-old trick of telling stories which are highly relevant in a way that makes dealing with the issues no-threating. Nobody is offended if “aliens” do something that everyone with half a brain recognizes immediately as playing on a common human trait or at the behavior of a specific country. And, seriously, the idea of illustrating the stupidity of prejudice based on skin color by having an alien race have either the right side of their body in white and the left in black or vice versa (actually a TOS episode) … brilliant. I learned more about ethics and morality from Star Trek than from anywhere else, including the years of “catholic religion”/”ethics” in school.
I don’t think that Dr. Who is similarly deep (sorry), but it has something — it’s very stimulating and raised questions and brought me ideas. And I nearly missed it, because I reacted with rejection when it made no sense to me at first.

So, what do you miss out because it seems ridiculous to you at first glance?

Interesting TED Talk about Suicide

I have had the pleasure and privilege of meeting with hundreds of students across the country, many of whom have struggled for years against severe depression, manic-depressive illness, or alcoholism. A disturbing number have nearly died from their suicide attempts. Rarely do their parents or professors have any idea of the extent of their suffering or what it takes for them simply to show up for class, take their examinations, or write their papers.
Kay Redfield Jamison

The following short TED talk is quite interesting — I have written some postings about/related to suicide on this blog (for example, about the “It get’s better” project or somewhat related the TED Talk by Elizabeth Gilbert), partly because I think that creative people are more prone to it than others, and it is a shame when a creative (or almost any other) voice is lost. The following talk highlights a problem that is usually not talked about, but felt deeply by those involved, by someone closely involved:

For me an eye-opening experience was reading the book quoted at the beginning of the posting: “Night Falls Fast — understanding suicide.” by Kay Redfield Jamison (1999, New York: Vintage Books). I sincerely think that suicide is an option and a freedom every person must have — one has the right but not the obligation to live, but I also think that in most cases suicide isn’t a “free” decision, it’s the symptom of an illness. People are driven to suicide by psychological disorders like depression or schizophrenia. It’s not a rational choice or freedom, but impaired judgment and a skewed world-view. It’s coercion, not freedom of choice. I can highly recommend Jamison’s book in this regard — it’s not nice to read, it’s not a book to enjoy, but it’s eye-opening.

Learning from Professionals in Courses

The internet has also been bad for the hobby, the way it’s bad for all hobbies, Hughes says — because it’s an attractive diversion. (Still a technophile, Hughes has been on the net since before the web).
“Police Call King Calls It Quits” by Kevin Poulsen

I am usually a friend of book learning (now more Internet learning) or learning by experience (except in those areas where a ‘wrong’ experience is also likely to be the last). Experiences with courses were usually … not so good.

The longest weekend of my life was an InDesign course that I took to get a cheaper license — the instructor could not teach me anything I did not know except two or three little things, and he had the annoying habit of repeating every sentence three times in slightly different words. After the first two or three hours, my brain wanted to commit suicide. My fault (I was too advanced for the class), but even the beginners were looking for ways to resuscitate their brains. In another course (Salsa), the dance instructor tried to use a method that might have worked in Latin America, but was a complete disaster with German university students. “I do not show you the steps, you must feel the steps.” Yeah, I felt each step I took as I left. And even when the teachers were really good, sometimes it was the topic itself. In a drawing class we only had a few hours — much too little time to learn the technique well. The course was good but it left me unsatisfied.

But this weekend I took an interesting course in another hobby. The course blew me away and changed my mind about taking courses. It was one of the best courses I have ever taken and I’m going to continue with this hobby, which hopefully offers another outlet for my creativity (independent of computers and the net, these hobbies are needed as well, see the quote of this posting). So, I think that in some instances, courses from professionals can be really great. What are these instances — I think these here are some criteria:

  • Big difference between reading about it and actually performing it. Some things are hard to describe in books and easy to misunderstand. Some things cannot be understood until you were in the situation. Some require others or an audience.
  • Very steep learning curve. The content must be small enough to quickly learn the skills. It’s more a “see how it is done and do it” than “repeat it again and again until you can do it”.
  • The instructor is an expert in the topic and knows how to convey the topic (two completely different aspects!). Sadly, most of the teachers in public courses (e.g., community colleges) are people who couldn’t get a job anywhere else. And even more sadly, some people think just because they know the topic, they also know how to teach it (more sadly, because this can be learned oftentimes more easier than becoming an expert in the topic itself).
  • The discrepancy between you and the instructor in skills is large enough that the instructor could ‘blow you out of the water’, yet the instructor is still motivated and able to help you advance your skills.

But I think the most important difference, which was really crucial in this case, is the following:

  • The professional has a vested interest in the quality of the course (e.g., your learning). This may be personal standards, perhaps because they work as a team and other professionals are educated this way as well, perhaps they hope to attract customers (if this does not compromise his teaching), but there must be an encouragement — other than the money you pay — for them to do a good job.

So, if these conditions, and especially the last, are met and you get the chance to learn from professionals, try it. I still feel a little giddy from the course and the day at the Spa to come back down again, so, do you have other criteria I forgot to mention?

Book Tip: The Resilience Factor

I have heard there are troubles of more than one kind.
Some come from ahead and some come from behind.
But I’ve bought a big bat. I’m all ready you see.
Now my troubles are going to have troubles with me!
Dr. Seuss

Creativity needs a lot of determination — you have to fight against the inevitable setbacks. Some punch you in the face, some take your breath, some are sandbags tied to your legs. To put it differently, you need a lot of resilience to survive the journey, and maybe even enjoy it.

An acquaintance of mine started reading a book about resilience (The Resilience Factor by Reivich and Shatté) a short while ago, and I became curious and had a look at it. I am very skeptical of the “self-help industry” (Penn & Teller’s Bullshit: “Self-Helpless” episode brought it to the point) but I think this book is different and well worth reading. The authors are psychologists and not only go back to the studies on resilience done with children, but use cognitive behavioral therapy as a basis for improving resilience.

While the essence of “it’s not what happens, but how you think about it” would earn a punch in the face in some situations, the authors manage to give useful strategies for dealing with beliefs that hurt more than they use, for challenging them, and putting things that happen into perspective.

It won’t replace a visit to a good therapist if you really got issues, but that’s not the goal of the book. The goal is — simply put — to help you deal effectively with the world, prepare you for its adversities and keep you going, keep you productive.

And I think this is quite useful for anyone in a creative field of work.

Reivich, K., & Shatté, A. (2002). The Resilience Factor. New York: Three Rivers Press.

Adapting to the world vs. keeping the necessary distance to change it

I often ask my students to scribble down in class the reason they want to write, why they are in my class, what is propelling them to do this sometimes-excruciating, sometimes-boring work. And over and over, they say in effect, “I will not be silenced again.” They were good children, who often felt invisible and who saw some awful stuff. But at some point they stopped telling what they saw because when they did, they were punished. Now they want to look at their lives — at life — and they don’t want to be sent to their rooms for doing so.
“bird by bird” by Anne Lamott

I met an interesting woman today, who told me that she wrote frequently as a teenager, but stopped writing when she lost the drive to do so. If I understood her correctly, this was due to the fact that her communication with others improved and she no longer needed to express herself in writing.

I think it makes sense and I was reminded of the quote above, but I am also … torn regarding a person adapting so well the world that she does not need to express herself in writing. Granted, not every written text is interesting, not every book has something worth remembering — or not every drop of ink makes people think (to misquote Voltaire). And yes, a world full of neurotic writers would be a terrible place to live in.

But thinking about it a little bit longer, I fear that perhaps a voice was lost. People who adapt to this world to use its imperfect systems perfectly might benefit personally and mentally, but they might also loose their ability to see the world differently, to change it for the better.

But I also see that keeping the right distance to the world and its systems is very difficult. You must not dive too far into it to adapt (or be adapted) to it, nor climb to high to loose contact with it. If you sink too deep, you are swallowed by the world, if you climb to high, you probably begin to think in the lines of Dr. Manhatten in Watchmen: “I prefer the stillness here. I am tired of Earth. These people. I am tired of being caught in the tangle of their lives.“. It takes the right height to keep an attitude like: “I see and do things differently, but I am staying, because I love this world and want to change it.”

Perhaps it amounts to people not settling down, to people keeping their desire to deal with complexity, with conflicting viewpoints and pressures. People who see the “easy” or “comforting” option and say “No.“. Yes, perhaps, in a way, they might have to be masochists, or at least be able to handle constant pain, confusion and feelings of quickly varying distances.

I think it is very easy to sink into the world and loose that perspective. The advantages are high — you improve your efficiency in dealing with the world — but I fear that the disadvantage is that a voice is lost for changing it.

But I might be wrong. What do you think?

Another Year, another Life-Newspaper

When the age of the Vikings came to a close, they must have sensed it. Probably, they gathered together one evening, slapped each other on the back and said, “Hey, good job.”
Unknown

I have already written one posting about a life-newspaper, but given that during the Silvester party I talked to a few people about it and they liked the idea, I think I post a similar posting again.

The life-newspaper for 2010 is too personal to display it here, but it covers issues like:

  • Editorial (short summary)
  • Science & Work (given that I am a scientist)
  • Education and Courses (skills/knowledge I have learned, partly in courses, partly on my own)
  • Finances (financial overview)
  • Personal Stuff (clothes, identity, photos, etc.)
  • Culture (Literature, i.e., books I have read; Cinema/DVDs)
  • Technology (MacBook, Photography equipment, iPhone 4)
  • Health (issues 2010, overview)
  • Quotations (good ones I stumbled over in the last year)
  • Sports (the kinds I did last year)
  • Inspirational people 2011 (two people I want to remember who do now know me but have influenced me)
  • People 2010: Family (some things that happened in my family)
  • People 2010: Private (persons I know outside of work)
  • People 2010: Dating (always good for a laugh — and cry)
  • People 2010: IWM:KMRC (i.e., work)
  • Travels (visits home,  to conferences, and vacations)
  • Own Art (things I created 2010)
  • Lessons of 2010 (some things I have learned the past year and do not want to forget)
  • Goals for 2011 (looking back at the past year, what do I want to achieve the next year?)

Creating it was fairly easy — you have to sort a lot of material, text and images, and order it. How you do it depends on your computer skills, time and tools. Personally I used Circus Ponies Notebook to create an outline and copied the text into the outline and used simple folders for the images. For getting the content right I did the following steps:

  1. I went through my Aperture photo archive and searched for images taken in 2010
  2. Opened the history/archive page of my private wiki where I keep a list-overview of the projects I did the past year
  3. Opened the archive/history page of my work wiki where I keep a list-overview of the work projects I did the past year
  4. Created a smart list that contained all eMails written after 31.12.2009, I sorted them by sender to get a quick impression of the important topics 2010 (one advantage if your communication with your friends is mostly by eMail)
  5. I looked at my order history in Amazon and iTunes
  6. I asked myself the question what I did not do 2010 but wanted to do — there will be not records of these events so I have to remember them by myself

Then I created the Life-Newspaper with an Newsletter Template from Pages (Modern Newsletter).

I think such a life-newspaper is very useful, not only to remember a year in a condensed form, but also to reflect on a year. I think this is one of the reasons why people do New Years resolutions — between Yule and New Year is the time where they have time to reflect on their life, the end of the year gives them some kind of “let’s take stock” feeling. But not everyone can do this and, frankly, I reflect about my life on a lot of different occasions. But even then most of the results are written down and end up in the newspaper at the end of the year. Not logical, but very useful — and, at times even fun.