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Silencing the Dummy Variable: A Plea to Heed One's Audience and Publish More

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2006

Stephen L. Wasby
Stephen L. Wasby
Affiliation:
University at Albany-SUNY and University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth
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Extract

No—this is not what it seems. This is not a discourse on statistics, but it is a discussion of a type of methodology—that of how, when they are writing, political scientists can better approach their audience. Put differently, this article is related to the more general proposition that scholars need to demonstrate not only that they can conduct research but also that they can communicate it effectively to a wide audience. And, although critical of some social science writing, it carries a suggestion for increasing your range of publication options.

Type
THE PROFESSION
Information
PS: Political Science & Politics , Volume 39 , Issue 3 , July 2006 , pp. 491 - 493
Copyright
© 2006 The American Political Science Association

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Footnotes

On the basis of the sage suggestion of a colleague that “silencing” is like placing your hand over the mouth of a dummy when you have one audience, and removing your hand when you are in the presence of one that is more appropriate, this title is slightly altered from the original, which spoke of “Outlawing” or “Banning” the dummy variable.The author wishes to thank the anonymous reviewer for PS for trenchant, helpful comments, and wishes to acknowledge the comments of a number of people who read an early version: Lauren Bell, Chris Bonneau, Jolly Emrey, Gene Flango, Susan Haire, Robert Howard, Rita Peterson, and Greg Rathjen.

References

Frank, Robert H. 2005. “Students Discover Economics in Its Natural State.” New York Times, Sept. 29, C2.Google Scholar
Jacobs, Lawrence R., and Theda Skocpol. 2006. “Restoring the Tradition of Rigor and Relevance to Political Science.” PS: Political Science and Politics 40 (January): 27–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar