@JoshGitlin I think I said something previously derogatory about you suggesting using tor or a cell phone - I actually realized I had misread what you wrote and responded to it prematurely and you do know what you're doing networking/traffic analysis wise. My bad.
@H.Muster Ironically I am very unusually skilled at "being a ninja" on the web...so I could do what you're suggesting very easily skillwise, but it would would be pointless (I see no motive, do you?)...especially since I deleted my account (chat is different than cogsci btw) which erases all your votes. It was also -my- rep too, I worked stupidly hard for it and it would of hurt more to just have it all deleted.
@H.Muster btw if you're like to video chat in skype with me... then see if skippy wants to you can verify your hypothesis inconclusive and hopefully sleep better.
@SteveJeuris @JoshGitlin So I think, especially with Steve I've had this debate a few times. Even though I don't have an account here anymore, I wanted to try to spread some knowledge...and potentially rethink some strategies.
@SteveJeuris @JoshGitlin This is about anecdotal versus quantitative evidence (we will use the term "qualititative" to mean anecdotal from now on.
McClain, Bryan. Madrigal, Demetrius. (2012) "Strengths and Weaknesses of Quantitative and qualitative research." Both of these writers own a business or are an executive of "Metric-Labs," which specializes in UI based design - and.....inherently involves qualitative and quantitative research.
Quote from Article: "While quantitative and qualitative research approaches each have their strengths and weaknesses, they can be extremely effective in combination with one another. You can use qualitative research to identify the factors that affect the areas under investigation, then use that information to devise quantitative research that assesses how these factors would affect user preferences.
To continue our earlier example regarding display preferences: if qualitative research had identified display type—such as TV, computer monitor, or mobile phone display—the researchers could have used that information to construct quantitative research that would let them determine how these variables might affect user preferences. At the same time, you can build trends that you’ve identified through quantitative research into qualitative data-collection methods and, thus verify the trends."
"Qualitative research usually takes the form of either some form of naturalistic observation such as ethnography or structured interviews. In this case, a researcher must observe and document behaviors, opinions, patterns, needs, pain points, and other types of information without yet fully understanding what data will be meaningful." http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2012/09/strengths-and-weaknesses-of-quantitative-and-qualitative-research.php
Brannen, Julia (2005). "Mixing Methods: The Entry of Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches into the Research Process." Approaches into the Research Process, International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 8:3, 173-184, DOI: 10.1080/13645570500154642. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13645570500154642#.Uixvl8bkuSo
Abstract: Qualitative and quantitative research are often presented as two fundamentally different paradigms through which we study the social world. These paradigms act as lightning conductors to which sets of epistemological assumptions, theoretical approaches and methods are attracted. Each is seen to be incompatible with the other. These paradigmatic claims have a tendency to resurface from time to time, manifesting themselves in the effects of different cultural traditions upon intellectual styles of research. There are pressures to view research in terms of this divide but perhaps mor…
This citation is a very relevant and felt blog post for me personally about obtaining qualitative data from potential customers visiting your website in order to figure out the reason they didn't convert or weren't interested in your product. Lol, this will sound conceded, but as a credible source for this (it's my job) there are times I wish SO badly I could interact with whoever was on the website, catch up with them, and then gain an understanding as to why they did what. I'd even ask random people like even my Mom what her first impressions of a site was - getting tha purely unbiased …
The importance of raising the conversion rate on many of my campaigns would rest on a 1% change - ONE PERCENT - that's how elastic it was from losing $500/day to making $500 a day. I even hacked in this floating chat software once but found it didn't work too well. Sadly, I am only left with numbers...quantitative data. It's nice and concrete but without the qualitative part it can be....frustrating. It can feel like you just keep runing into a brick wall.
Sandelowski, Margaraete (2012). "Focus on Research Methods Combining Qualitative and Quantitative Sampling, Data Collection, and Analysis Techniques in Mixed-Method Studies" Research in Nursing & Health, 2000, 23, 246–255
Relevant (yes handpicked qoutes) as much of it involves some math:
"Researchers have increasingly turned to mixed-method techniques to expand the scope and improve the analytic power of their studies."
"Combinations at the method level can be used to expand the scope of a study as researchers seek to capture method-linked dimensions of a target phenomenon (Greene et al., 1989, p. 259). As Wolfer (1993 - cited within this text)proposed, different aspects of reality lend themselves to different methods of inquiry."
I did hand pick out some quotes as some of these articles get a bit heavy behind the actual mathematics of how to do it successfully. Ironically, I think I'm giong to have to do a mixed-models effect regression on some data I have today.
In summary, these studies generally point out a few common themes:
) Combinging qualitiative data with quantitative data is extremely helpful in controlling for and measuring the real variance or the REASON as to the variance in classical quantitive analysis of most research procedures occurs in the first place. It also opens up the opportunity to give the researcher further insight as to what to look into or more specifically measure next time and perhaps which other variables to control in order to get his end result - the true answer to his question.
That was #1^
2) The statistical methods many researchers were using to do this sort of mixed model affect studies were calculating it incorrectly - so these papers help to correct that and explain why.
3) Qualitative data can be like the final key to the puzzle - when you have qualititative data and quantitative data align - you have some pretty solid evidence. You're numbers have translated into reality...and into maybe even into practicality. How amazing is that?
Otherwise your studies/research just get published in a journal (if you're lucky...I know how hard it is). As an anology, think of solely quantitative data as two dimensional you absolutely have to have it - in fact it represents not only one but two dimensions...qualitative adds that third variable...depth.
Here's a good analogy: Go to maps.bing.com. Go to New York, NY in 2d mode. Now switch to bird's eye (3d view). How much more can hou see and understand? How many more questions do you have? How many more trends could you possibly spot out and potentially verify?
How many more things can you decipher about Manhattan in comparison to previosly? Yes, they arn't empricalized and turned into numbers based on solid data, but they can help you explain the variance - which gets one closer to truth...or ultimately...reality.
Let me ask you, how many times have we come up with newer and better questions from qualitative data on the website in contrast to just black and white quantitative? If you think about it...alot. Who asks questions about things that have already been cited as definatly true? Not many people...the content builds from other people's content.
As an example...althogh noone was able to answer this question: Skippy posted it because of something she inferred qualitativiely from one of mine or in the development of her answer.
In my answer here, to this question : Does hypnosis in any form for any type of disorder work?
It brought up the valid question of why people quit therapy. Obviously, if the therapy is not helpful, it is could be construed as a straightforward cause and effect.
People stop therapy or positive c...
I saw on your thread to that mod back in January how you had such a low answer rate. Well, think about this I've provided, think about that, and then hopefully you'll start to welcome some anecdotal evidence. Which means higher amount of answered questions at least. Obviously it would need to be controlled, but you all seemed to accept my answer a while back that was purely anecdotal at first about the testosterone I was perscribed.
So, yeah, hope those studies changes someone's mind. and I do apologize for spamming chat - noone was in here at the time anyway tho.
@StevenJeuris @JoshGitlin Benevolence is all I'm trying to offer.
@Taal The thing you are not seeing is we were not having a debate about qualitative vs. quantitative research, we were having a debate about answers which state a single sole anecdote to 'answer' a question.
@StevenJeuris To me though, a well formed anecdote that is rich in details I would award the answer to. Getting those answers that arn't found on google or a 5 minute search of pubmed which is what that took me.....are the most valuable as they're the hardest to find - especially if its coming from a credible source (you can judge credibility here by points too).
A well formed anecdote would also be nice, but you have to remember the person who posted the question isn't going to award an answer to nor is anyone going to vote up a shitty anecdote. It's just like any other question. Usually, the poster puts in the question if they want citations or not, and you're saying I can't ask for anecdotes.....despite the overwhelming amount of benefits.
temperature, heart rate, blood pressure, other ridiuclous stuff
they do that becuase its a concept in statistics where you can ovecome sample size with effect
obviously you can't do that with an n of 1
but if you allowed people to compete to see who could post the most informative anecdote or wre less against it, we'd have a few more
and people who are newbies could contribute more
So in the very first testosterone question skippy asked I answered with an anecdote. Apparently it was well written enough, thorough enough, and communicated enough information to get quite a few upvotes
its kind of ironic because actually alot of answers here get answered with good anecdotes anyway
Well, what you can start a meta thread about perhaps is whether questions specifically targeted at gathering qualitative data would be allowed. That might be an interesting idea. But that's really stretching the way SE is intended to be used. It's simply ill-suited to do so. BUT, it's interesting enough idea to undertake. But you see how that no longer is Q and A? That's 'I am gathering data', ... with data as 'answers'.
The real question here is whether traditional personality dimensions have such a big influence on behavior as usually thought or, perhaps, if there is such a thing as being “really and truly extroverted from the ground up”. Once you begin to admit that circumstances play an important role or that...
what was obviously interestd in damien's comment and looked like he had gotten alot about the anecdote he shared
I cited about 10 published studies
noone cared
You're always hoping to gather data with answers arnt you?
like if you look at skippy's profile and probably jerome's....a few others....or me when I ask questions...I already essentially know the answer to them
It's like "well...I'll ask this question and see if anyone can come up with what I alrady know is true"
I dunno, I've learned the most through anecdotes to be honest in my life even after practically applying research
But I understand this isn't a forum, it's probably just be better to allow their use or ask for them in a question and not get badgered about it.
"We build libraries of high-quality questions and answers, focused on the most important topics in each area of expertise. From our core of Q&A, to community blogs and real-time chat, we provide experts with the tools they need to make The Internet a better place."
Yes, stackexchange was originally made for questions that had generally black and white answers
as it was mostly programming
Like, there's a philosophy section isn't there
Lol I gotta see what thats like
Actually, you're even proving me right because I think if you read the citations you'd feel a little different. - you see - nooone wants to read those.
and there was this example someone made somewhere in CV about how by taking enough data points and processing them correctly you can get away with extremely small sample sizes
@Taal The thing you are not seeing is we were not having a debate about qualitative vs. quantitative research, we were having a debate about answers which state a single sole anecdote to 'answer' a question.
Well, what you can start a meta thread about perhaps is whether questions specifically targeted at gathering qualitative data would be allowed. That might be an interesting idea. But that's really stretching the way SE is intended to be used. It's simply ill-suited to do so. BUT, it's interesting enough idea to undertake. But you see how that no longer is Q and A? That's 'I am gathering data', ... with data as 'answers'.
@Taal It's not up to me to decide, it's up to meta to have a 'final' saying on that. But ... Stack Exchange doesn't intend to gather anecdotes, Stack Exchange intends to gather answers. Read 'answers' as, once I read that post, I have the answer to that question, ... not a partial answer. It should be able to stand out in it's own right.
So let's say there's no studies, or there just ones done in rats for a side affect I'm getting from a medication
I post as a question, theres no research once again that someone can take 5 mins to copy and paste that noone reads anyyway....but luckily, THERE IS SOMEONE who has personal experience with this problem and how they resolved it. Too bad its an anecdote though...mmmpfftt
@Taal Then an answer can be 'there are no studies done on this as far as I know, ... however, in related research, ... to conclude, not much is known ... but personally ....'
The lack of sleep has many negative effects associated with it. Maintained sleep deprivation results in a degraded performance over time (in this case reaction time).
Assuming one needs 8 hours of sleep each night, but during the weekdays he only sleeps 6, is it possible to catch up on those los...
If you ask in your questions 'personal anecdotes are also welcome', it promotes people to answer simply with their own experiences, NOT being an answer which stands out on it's own as a 'full' answer.
Answers which aren't answers, .. and if they get flagged, I have to delete them.
"Cognitive Sciences Stack Exchange is for researchers, academics, students, and anyone else needing expert answers to advanced questions in the cognitive sciences."
Definition of Cognitive Sciences from area51.
Beta Q&A site for practitioners and research professionals of the
cognitive sciences
Given that all questions are supposed to be scientific, what is the benefit of explicitly asking for scientific material in questions?
Questions like this I ...
So ... a question needs motivation ... why are you asking this? Where are you coming from, ... so it is clear for people that want to answer it, what constitutes an answer.
No .. an answer does not have to be with citations, .. it just makes it a stronger answer.
@Taal In rare cases I imagine that can happen yes, but it still won't be a 'strong' answer. E.g. a question "Are there people that only see blue?" with the answer "Yes, me!"
@Taal Try the experiment, which anecdote would answer the question? I imagine something along the line of 'I tried this, .. and I felt great after without any problems, .... I do this on a regular basis' ...
Excerpt from Wikipedia on the Scientific Method: "Scientific inquiry is generally intended to be as objective as possible in order to reduce biased interpretations of results. Another basic expectation is to document, archive and share all data and methodology so they are available for careful scrutiny by other scientists, giving them the opportunity to verify results by attempting to reproduce them."
Now ... given that this is a site for "researchers, academics, students, and anyone else needing expert answers", ... do you believe an anecdote like that answers the question given this context?
In my answer here, to this question : Does hypnosis in any form for any type of disorder work?
It brought up the valid question of why people quit therapy. Obviously, if the therapy is not helpful, it is could be construed as a straightforward cause and effect.
People stop therapy or positive c...
The Axon Terminal
The Axon Terminal