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In my field, at least, I think the problem is less about the medium, and more about the incentives. Researchers are incentivized to write papers that seem impre
by williamkuszmaul 5y ago
In my field, at least, I think the problem is less about the medium, and more about the incentives. Researchers are incentivized to write papers that seem impressive (and intimidating) rather than clear and intuitive.
To make matters worse, this is an evolved trait: researchers whose papers are intimidating are more likely to succeed, which means they're more likely to have future PhD students, which means that the style of writing is more likely to get passed on.
I think the main way to address this is to change the incentives. In particular, by creating publication venues that value simplicity and clarity (one such conference is SOSA, which has had a lot of impact on theoretical computer science in the last few years).
- diognesofsinope 5y ago> Researchers are incentivized to write papers that seem impressive (and intimidating) rather than clear and intuitive. Ah, a fellow economist lol. Lack of clarity is a strategic advantage because (1) (as you said) it looks impressive and (2) it's hard to validate that it's correct. So many papers contain such elementary statistics mistakes such as survivorship bias, e.g. 'returns to education' is almost exclusively measured by asking individuals who graduated (on average 50% of enrolled students don't) and respond back to surveys (good chance of bias). Pubs are how you get jobs. It's not about science anymore, it's about navigating bureaucracy for an elite job.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- fho 5y agoThere is the whole WEIRD participants thing ... of which I am guilty too, only because that's the crowd you can easily recruit for experiments on campus.
- civilized 5y ago> Ah, a fellow economist lol. Lack of clarity is a strategic advantage because (1) (as you said) it looks impressive and (2) it's hard to validate that it's correct. Reminds me of the old "there are two ways of constructing a software design: One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies, and the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies."
- derekpankaew 5y agoI hope the "trend" of researchers writing for the public, via books & blog posts, can contribute some incentive towards being clear and intuitive. I'm thinking about the success of Freakonomics, Thinking Fast and Slow, The Elegant Universe, etc. These are all academics, who've "translated" their research for the masses. That translation ended up being much more impactful - and prestigious - than an intimidating paper. I hope this becomes more of a trend, and an incentive structure, in the future.