Are Twitter and Blogs Important Tools for the Modern Psychological Scientist?

Weinstein, Yana; Sumeracki, Megan

doi:10.1177/1745691617712266

Cited by 9 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 13 publications

(11 reference statements)

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“…Furthermore, sample sizes are often underpowered (4)(5)(6), at times leading to conclusions that do not hold up with larger-sized replications or metaanalyses (7). At the same time, scientists are increasingly encouraged to describe their work in an accessible manner, to reach out to broad audiences, and to make bold, interesting claims about the wider implications of their findings (tweets, TED talks, and so forth) (8). These trends are reflected in the introduction of new condensed formats (such as research highlights) and metrics that focus on popularity and uptake (journal impact factors, H-indexes, AltMetrics).…”

Section: Scientific Communication Poses a Challengementioning

confidence: 99%

Generic language in scientific communication

DeJesus

Callanan

Solis

et al. 2019

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Scientific communication poses a challenge: To clearly highlight key conclusions and implications while fully acknowledging the limitations of the evidence. Although these goals are in principle compatible, the goal of conveying complex and variable data may compete with reporting results in a digestible form that fits (increasingly) limited publication formats. As a result, authors’ choices may favor clarity over complexity. For example, generic language (e.g., “Introverts and extraverts require different learning environments”) may mislead by implying general, timeless conclusions while glossing over exceptions and variability. Using generic language is especially problematic if authors overgeneralize from small or unrepresentative samples (e.g., exclusively Western, middle-class). We present 4 studies examining the use and implications of generic language in psychology research articles. Study 1, a text analysis of 1,149 psychology articles published in 11 journals in 2015 and 2016, examined the use of generics in titles, research highlights, and abstracts. We found that generics were ubiquitously used to convey results (89% of articles included at least 1 generic), despite that most articles made no mention of sample demographics. Generics appeared more frequently in shorter units of the paper (i.e., highlights more than abstracts), and generics were not associated with sample size. Studies 2 to 4 (n= 1,578) found that readers judged results expressed with generic language to be more important and generalizable than findings expressed with nongeneric language. We highlight potential unintended consequences of language choice in scientific communication, as well as what these choices reveal about how scientists think about their data.

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Section: Scientific Communication Poses a Challengementioning

confidence: 99%

Generic language in scientific communication

DeJesus

Callanan

Solis

et al. 2019

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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show abstract

“…A few scattered studies are beginning to describe social media’s roles in psychology. For example, in a sample of 327 speakers at the 2016 Psychonomic Society conference, 19% had Twitter accounts and 6% had blogs (Weinstein & Sumeracki, 2017). These findings suggest a passive use of social media: Few are leading the conversation, but many more may be following it.…”

Section: Precedents For Who Posts What About Whom and With What Effementioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring Research-Methods Blogs in Psychology: Who Posts What About Whom, and With What Effect?

Nicolas

Bai

2019

Perspect Psychol Sci

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During the methods crisis in psychology and other sciences, much discussion developed online in forums such as blogs and other social media. Hence, this increasingly popular channel of scientific discussion itself needs to be explored to inform current controversies, record the historical moment, improve methods communication, and address equity issues. Who posts what about whom, and with what effect? Does a particular generation or gender contribute more than another? Do blogs focus narrowly on methods, or do they cover a range of issues? How do they discuss individual researchers, and how do readers respond? What are some impacts? Web-scraping and text-analysis techniques provide a snapshot characterizing 41 current research-methods blogs in psychology. Bloggers mostly represented psychology’s traditional leaderships’ demographic categories: primarily male, mid- to late career, associated with American institutions, White, and with established citation counts. As methods blogs, their posts mainly concern statistics, replication (particularly statistical power), and research findings. The few posts that mentioned individual researchers substantially focused on replication issues; they received more views, social-media impact, comments, and citations. Male individual researchers were mentioned much more often than female researchers. Further data can inform perspectives about these new channels of scientific communication, with the shared aim of improving scientific practices.

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“…They allow psychologists to ensure that research is represented accurately, whilst also facilitating bi-directional communication that addresses misunderstandings and allows nuanced discussions (Weinstein & Sumeracki, 2017).…”

Section: Main Findingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Endurance athletes’ current and preferred ways of getting psychological guidance

McCormick

Anstiss

Lavallee

2018

International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology

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This study examined how people who participate in endurance events currently get guidance on psychological aspects of their events and their preferred ways for receiving guidance from researchers and practitioners, so that psychologists can use these ways to disseminate research-derived knowledge. People in the United Kingdom (N = 574) who participated competitively or non-competitively in running (5km and greater), road cycling (time trials, road races, or sportives), or triathlon events completed an online survey. The main questions addressed ways they have intentionally used to find psychological guidance, how they have got guidance without intentionally looking for it, and their preferences for receiving guidance. The most common ways of intentionally finding guidance were looking on websites (48.1% of participants), asking other athletes (46.7%), and asking coaches (32.5%). Athletes most commonly tried to find guidance on coping, motivation, and managing nerves. Posts on social media (51.3%), spoken word (48.0%), and magazines (45.9%) were common ways of unintentionally getting guidance, and athletes (68.1%) and coaches (45.9%) were most often the source of unintentionally received guidance. Websites (49.5%) and online videos (41.8%) were the most preferred ways to receive guidance, although researchers and practitioners working with coaches (35.5%) and event organisers (34.8%), and magazines (34.7%) were also preferable. Psychologists are encouraged to disseminate guidance to endurance athletes using websites, online videos, social media, magazines, and by working with coaches and event organisers. The data can also inform the design of intervention efficacy and effectiveness trials that deliver interventions in these ecologically-valid and preferable formats.

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Are Twitter and Blogs Important Tools for the Modern Psychological Scientist?

Cited by 9 publications

References 13 publications

Generic language in scientific communication

Generic language in scientific communication

Exploring Research-Methods Blogs in Psychology: Who Posts What About Whom, and With What Effect?

Endurance athletes’ current and preferred ways of getting psychological guidance

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