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orgtheorygeek
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Posts: 18
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« Reply #1 on: April 19, 2008, 03:08:33 PM » |
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I stopped reading after he stated One of the things social scientists do is create math models to prove our theories. (emphasis mine), I'll go back after my rage settles and I can think clearly. I need to get out of the Diversity forum for a while lol. |
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mandywoetzel
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« Reply #2 on: May 27, 2008, 10:45:31 AM » |
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I stopped reading after he stated One of the things social scientists do is create math models to prove our theories. (emphasis mine), I'll go back after my rage settles and I can think clearly. I need to get out of the Diversity forum for a while lol. I take it that you are in social sciences? In math, researchers use the term "prove" differently than people do in social sciences (well, social scientists should NOT really use the word at all in discussing research)--so, please don't stop reading the article there! |
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sciencephd
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« Reply #3 on: May 27, 2008, 10:55:48 AM » |
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I stopped reading after he stated One of the things social scientists do is create math models to prove our theories. (emphasis mine), I'll go back after my rage settles and I can think clearly. I need to get out of the Diversity forum for a while lol. I take it that you are in social sciences? In math, researchers use the term "prove" differently than people do in social sciences (well, social scientists should NOT really use the word at all in discussing research)--so, please don't stop reading the article there! Apparently mandywoetzel has decided to resurrect every thread in the Diversity forum. |
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I just hate it that I constantly have to like everyone and everything. -- moonstone
O, what a hateful feminist concoction!
Jews, communists, "lesbians", feminists and marihuana addicts --Pyshnov
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mandywoetzel
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« Reply #4 on: May 27, 2008, 11:00:29 AM » |
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Yes. The conversation on this topic should not end, first of all, and I thought I had a legitimate point in response to the use of the word, "prove" in this context. Please disregard my postings if they offend you.
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pandora
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« Reply #5 on: May 27, 2008, 11:30:01 AM » |
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Hi mandy -- I'll offer my apologies in advance if I'm saying anything that you already know. You've clearly been around for a while, but I'm not sure how much time you've spent reading these discussions. It's not that people are offended by your comments or the fact that these discussions exist. And it's not that we don't care about such issues or don't want to talk about them. In fact, I would bet that there are many forumites who take these issues as seriously as you do, and have intelligent contributions to make to such conversations. However, if a discussion thread here is already very long and full of rancor and personal attacks, or if no one ever responded much to it, or if no one has come within ten miles of it for weeks, you're unlikely to have much of a conversation with us on that particular thread. I also think it's a very bad idea to resurrect old threads like the BU one because I'm afraid they actually reinforce prejudicial antagonism. Plus it's really not fair to BU since the stats were investigated and shown to be inaccurate.
So please take sciencephd's advice and go ahead and just start a new discussion on a specific topic that matters to you. If you can reference something concrete, that will definitely help. Some of the more aggressive posters here seem to have been banned or gone on vacation, so we might actually be able to have a constructive discussion. I would be happy to see that.
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Sarcasm is wasted on the clueless[,] Pandora :)
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kmellendorf
Junior member
Posts: 95
Research is interesting, but teaching is fun!
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« Reply #6 on: May 27, 2008, 01:11:46 PM » |
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1) Be careful about assuming something that works once will always work the same way. If a process works at one university, it might or might not work somewhere else. A mathematical model that supports a hypothesis proves nothing: it says that the assumptions on which the model is based do not clearly disagree with the hypothesis. A mathematical model opposes a hypothesis is a discovery worth noticing: it says that either the original assumptions of the model or the hypothesis itself is definitely incorrect. Maybe even both are wrong.
2) Consider a quote from the original text:
"I constructed a formal model that showed mathematically that diversity can trump ability, and also when it does."
Mathematical models show that it is possible for diversity to be more significant than ability, but only sometimes. Diversity is useful, but it is not enough.
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There are two possible outcomes: if the result confirms the hypothesis, then you've made a measurement. If the result is contrary to the hypothesis, then you've made a discovery. (Enrico Fermi)
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fizmath
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« Reply #7 on: October 04, 2008, 08:26:33 PM » |
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So how does Japan outperform Bosnia? |
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