In wake of the reaction to the preprint (psyarxiv.com/r2xvb) released by me, @ScienceCox, @brauerlab1, and @DevineLab, I have a few thoughts on scientific criticism and culture
First, I want to acknowledge that the preprint received a lot of useful, constructive criticism. For example, this thread by @NIH_Bear is both thoughtful and useful. It will certainly help us improve the next version of our paper
As another example, I found this interaction with @PsycGrrrl to be very constructive . That said, not all of the criticism was constructive, and some of it was quite vehement
Let me be absolutely clear here: I in no way view myself as a victim. It is an enormous privilege to have people read things I had a hand in writing. If people get angry it is because they're paying me some amount of attention. Not everyone's in that position
Moreover, I subscribe to @talyarkoni's philosophy of scientific criticism. If someone tells you "Hey, asshole, your engine's on fire!", the correct thing to do is to put out the fire, not lecture that person for calling you an asshole talyarkoni.org/blog/2016/10/0…
However, I also have an aspirational view of science: I want to make the scientific utopia articulated by @BrianNosek, @JeffSpies, and @MattMotyl a reality arxiv.org/abs/1205.4251. This dream is the biggest thing that keeps me in science
In my ideal vision of science, scientists start from an assumption that their peers are acting in good faith. So, while I have absolutely no interest in policing anyone's tone, I would like to be part of promoting this norm
Finally, I find some irony in people who are concerned about gaps in scientific funding, as I am, attacking a study to identify the source of those gaps on the grounds that its authors are operating in bad faith
If it is true that there is no discrimination at the stage of peer review, but it *does* occur at a different stage of the funding pipeline, it would be a waste of both time and money to design interventions that operate at the stage of peer review
Knowing the true state of the world is a powerful means of figuring out how to make it a better, fairer place
