when it comes to engaging #STEM #academics (an essential task in order to gain max momentum to tackle problems like #casualisation), i think 1 difficulty is that #activism uses a lot of logical fallacies. this makes taking action appear irrational 1/15

#AcademicChatter #ucu
examples:
people going on #strike = potential bandwagon fallacy

stories of injustice = anecdote, appeal to emotion

statistics = potentially cherry picked

calling out management = potential ad hominem

quoting/critiquing management = potential strawman
2/15
identifying an issue (e.g. casualisation) and claiming it impacts other issues (e.g. mental health problems) = potential false cause, and/or hasty generalisation fallacy

making broad statements (e.g. gender pay gap is a real problem) = ambiguity fallacy
3/15
claims about what could happen in the future = slippery slope fallacy

you can see why this might seem unappealing if this is the way you're trained to think.

but i think there's 2 points:
1. activism is not science; such fallacies imo are ay okay 4/15
for me, if we got rid of 99 % of casualised staff, the anecdotes and appeals to emotion from the 1 % still suffering is more than enough reason to push for better

BUT that is me thinking with my activism #hat on, not my #STEM hat... 5/15
2. taking issue with these fallacies is in itself fallacious:

(i) THE FALLACY FALLACY: just because a conclusion has been reached fallaciously, does not mean the conclusion is definitely wrong
6/15
(ii) MIDDLE GROUND FALLACY: believing the middle ground/compromise/point between 2 extremes is right. in my experience #STEM #academics do this A LOT, esp w political topics, eg most i know were against brexit but gave credit to brexit arguments cos they seemed "balanced"
7/15
(iii) BLACK OR WHITE FALLACY: where two alternatives are seen as the ONLY options, e.g. go on strike & be on the pickets OR carry on going to work and ignore the strikes
8/15
ideally, it would be nice to spend some time educating everyone properly on political action and discourse. that's infeasible. equally, telling STEM academics they are using logical fallacies too i imagine would not go down well either 9/15
so i think we need to flip our own discourse instead: start talking about obvious tangible things that DIRECTLY affect the #academics we are targeting. e.g. casualisation is jargon-y, has loads of individual & social implications, & intersects with a host of other issues 10/15
these are all abstract holistic concepts. what is tangible to see though is that having #postdocs always on temporary contracts might add stress to the PI - constantly recruiting new people who might be rubbish, who you might not work well with... 11/15
...time sorting through applications & doing interviews, time wasted on the project w inducting them to the lab/office, getting them settled etc. imagine a world where you didnt have that stress!

i think this type of discourse could engage at least some of the unengaged 12/15
caveats:
1. i have no idea if this is legitimate, im speaking from personal experience
2. sorry to single out STEM academics; this is a group who seem universally more difficult to engage. the points prob apply more broadly & obvs ample exceptions!13/15
#academia #AcademicTwitter
the point of all this to fuel conversation about wider academic engagement in our highly politicised university. we are #StrongerTogether so i think leaving the unengaged unengaged is harmful to progress and creates a divided university = divided strength... 14/15
...since we want more people engaged, it is up to us to change tact. the ideas above are suggestions to consider, critique, and if you like, try. another tool for the tool box. we still need the rest of the tool box though ofc! 15/15

#brokenacademia #ecrchat #phdlife

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More from @angryhacademic

11 Nov
ok i've used R now for about 10 hours so im definitely suitably enough experienced to say i hate it, its a big pile of shit, i dont know why this is what is popular, and i wish i had access to stata again. WAHHHHH
im sure people can tell me a million reasons why R is great. sorry to say: YOU'RE WRONG.
i will delete these tweets in a few weeks when it finally clicks and i think R is brilliant like everyone else does
Read 6 tweets
11 Sep
i promised in this thread i'd offer an idea of an alternative #academic #publishing model, so here it is. be prepared, changing to this would require some seriously radical change... 1/17

#AcademicChatter #academicpublishing #academicjournals #peerreview #ecrchat #openaccess
i outlined in the thread linked above MANY flaws with academic publishing, so let's completely get rid of the current system.

in its place we have one global central database, funded by governments/unis collectively 2/17
everything gets uploaded to this database. this is our new single journal.

articles can be rolling, so they can be registered reports, the final piece, or you can add new data if you analyse more stuff. its flexible. 3/17
Read 20 tweets
16 Jul
so now ive published my paper on a #preprint (osf.io/preprints/nutr…), its worth comparing my experience with typical #peerreview publishing, mainly to highlight how much time & energy we waste with a system that offers very little added value
1/9
#openscience #AcademicTwitter
il do this comparison with the last paper i got formally accepted to a journal as these 2 co-occured so there's no "time effect" or anything as a confounder. (JP = journal publishing; PP = preprint publishing) 2/9
JP: rejected 6 times (i think); 3 were editorial rejections *explicitly* mentioning the null findings as a reason for rejection
PP: paper is out there open for anyone to openly critique and i welcome this 3/9
Read 9 tweets
9 Jul
why i am no longer publishing (my own) #research in #academic journals - a (long) thread 1/38

#AcademicTwitter #AcademicChatter #academicpublishing #academicjournals #peerreview #ecrchat #OpenScience #publicationbias

(some references at the end of the thread)
(i still have a few collaborative papers to write and these will be published properly for the benefit of my co-authors)

i will soon publish a paper on a pre-print server, with no intention of submitting to an academic journal. my reasons for this are manifold 2/38
1. #academia is inherently corrupt & the publication model facilitates this:
- unpaid labour (editors, peer-reviewers,& authors [ok, they do get paid by the uni which oft = public funds yet journals privately profit & we see none of this unlike other forms of publishing]) 3/38
Read 45 tweets
24 Jun
recap of a lil #hydration #sciencefromhome #experiment me & some mates ran over the last ~year. analysis not finished, but will release #bloodsugar data before H4H conf starts🤓

Pt 1. A fair while back we had a rather exciting delivery...What have we been up to?1/ Image
Pt 2. After the rather exciting delivery (and some more) arrived, the study design needed to be finalised:

Non-randomised controlled study where we *planned* for experimenters to do the CONTROL arm first, followed by the INTERVENTION arm

🤔
2/
#hydration #sciencefromhome Image
Pt 3. Equipment ordered & study designed.

Minor problem: i hadnt cannulated in > 1 y & my mates had never learnt at all

Cue odd evening remembering/teaching cannulation on poor Snuffles belly...

*GULP*
My ❤️of #science > my fear of needles it seems
3/
#sciencefromhome #hydrate Image
Read 9 tweets
18 Jun
for those who missed my @aberdeen_ucu talk today on #sugar, #breakfast, #health & #appetite, a wee thread on the fascinating properties of sugar...
full talk (poor sound qual) can be found here:

1/21
#sugar is demonised in the media, literally described as "evil". myths include: its addictive, causes cravings, makes you hungry, makes you overeat, makes you gain weight.

current #publichealth guidelines target reducing sugar
2/21
#breakfast is touted the "most important" meal of the day. what does "important" mean?

breakfast is the highest #sugar meal of the day so a good meal to target to reduce total sugar.

breakfast = complex to define, but broadly breaks the overnight fast (break-fast) 3/21
Read 24 tweets

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