United Kingdom
Nicole Janz writes about higher education, health, writing, and reproducible science. She holds a PhD in Politics and International Relations from the University of Cambridge. She runs the Political Science Replication Blog (https://politicalsciencereplication.wordpress.com/) and has published on the LSE Impact Blog, The Monkey Cage, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and Medium. Follow her on Twitter @polscireplicate.
"Your identity comes from your goals. Being totally bought-in and clear about the end you have in mind instills a deep sense of purpose. You can imagine your future self in the position you want to be." - Dr Benjamin Hardy When graduate student Ben Hardy decided to become a writer, he didn't just plan ahead his next 12 months.
During the early weeks of Covid-19 lockdown, I stopped writing. I was squashed on my table that was too narrow to lay out my notes, in a home office that was too small to think big. The minutes ticked by. I found myself staring at the blank page, paralysed for lack of words.
Writing in communities, in the form of writing groups and writing retreats, has become immensely popular in the last decade. Despite COVID-19 putting a halt on face-to-face meetings, the new online writing group boom has helped academics to stay productive.
I am a perfectionist writer. I set out each monthly, weekly and daily writing goal in advance. But I've found that most of the time I'm not keeping to these goals. My immaculate lists remain untouched - until they haunt me in the middle of the night.
Nicole Janz is a lecturer at the Social Science Research Methods Centre and a PhD candidate in Political Science at Cambridge University, Political Science Replication Blog |@PolSciReplicate. Seth Werfel is a PhD student in Political Science at Stanford University. Stephanie Wykstra (@Swykstr) is an independent researcher, and the recipient of a Sloan Foundation planning grant.
A recent study sent data requests to 200 authors of economics articles where it was stated 'data available upon request'. Most of the authors refused. What does the scientific community think about those withholding their data? Are they guilty of scientific misconduct?
A veritable firestorm hit political science this past week, with revelations that a promising young star, Michael J. LaCour, a doctoral student at the University of California at Los Angeles, apparently had falsified data. The data served as the basis for a recently published paper in Science.
"Brrrrrrr! Gagagaga!", babbles a woman, holding her baby up in the air. "That's your first song, big boy! Dididididi!" I lose my focus and think about how quiet it was just minutes ago. This is the third time I'm trying to write in a cafe after lockdown has eased in the UK.
When I log into MS Teams to teach my online seminars on international relations, I often start with an ice-breaker question. These are first-year students, who arrived on campus without the chance to socialise, make new friends, or meet their teachers in person regularly.