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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
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
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- Copyright
- © 2006 The American Political Science Association
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
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to Political Science.” PS: Political Science and
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27–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar