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Sunday, May 30, 2010

Trust: People don't have any in me

As I am writing my proposal, I realize that a lot of it is based on trust.

You write so that the people above you will trust you. Since they don't trust you at all, any statements you make should be backed up by saying "well, that guy (reference journal paper) says what I was going to say, so your beef is with him, not me."

I am learning very quickly that any reasonable (and some unreasonable) statements that you want to back up with a reference can be readily backed up. Its more a question on if you can find that guy's (or gal's) statement quickly.

Once you get to "expert" status, then you can say whatever you want[ok, within reason], people will publish it, then someone else can use you as the person that everyone trusts.

Can't we all just go out and get a beer together to build trust instead?

(I suppose that's whats conferences are for)

4 comments:

Unknown said...

I agree with your "what conferences are for" conclusion but have to add:

People trust "findings" because they are results from [presumably] reproducible experiments or work. Conference-style personal interaction lets you know who asks interesting questions, but a lot of times you can't just do a thought experiment to reveal a result everyone should be confident in.

Alas. Back to data gathering. Good blog post!

sstc said...

I am mostly talking about the background information or motivation, not the "findings". I should be more explicit.

I hope that any findings that I make will be fully reproducible by anyone.

I hope your data gathering is going well.

Spatchcock said...

First post!?!

How did the proposal go?

sstc said...

Well, it turns out that you can't just quote someone else. Your credibility will still be called into question.

I think when people don't understand something, they are afraid of it.

Wasn't bad per se, but there are a few changes that need to be made.