Jim Guinee wrote:
>
>Yes, but who is responsible for the lack of imagination?
>
>In a recent article (1995, Prof Psych: Res & Practice), Karon (Mich
State)
>argues that the academic system and how students are trained by the
>faculty is largely responsible for the lack of imagination in today's
psych
>research.
>
>Karon draws from Bakan (1967), who in "On method: Toward a
>reconstruction of psychological investigation" argues that the real
intention of
>the academic system is to ensure that students will never become a
>competitor of the faculty. Therefore, research is often made
intellectually
>uninteresting and painful.
>
>Further, Karon argues that:
>1) the oversimplified paradigms imposed on doctoral research are such
that
>few American Departments of Psychology would grant a doctorate for any
>research that Erik Erikson or Jean Piaget ever did.
>
>2) helping students do interesting, important, and/or creative
research has
>nothing to do with getting the faculty member's grant research done
>
>This sounds like the advice I was given when asking a faculty member at
>Illinois how to get my dissertation done: "THINK SMALL."
>
>Further, Karon suggests a formula for getting published:
>1) Investigate something trivial
>2) Investigate it by a technique that is well-known and frequently
used
>3) Find exactly what everyone would predict you would find
>
>Mostly someone else's .02
>
Boy, is it refreshing that someone had the courage to bring this up.
Many is the convention that I have seen "legend in his own mind" types
more interested in adulation from females than engaging in a
professional conversation with male colleagues. When I talked to them,
many of "Mr. Big's" grad students echoed the feelings expressed above.
So perhaps part of this "lack of discoveries" equation rests on the
shoulders of some of the pioneers who weren't motivated to encourage and
train successors so that the field would flourish after they went to the
big skinner box in the sky.
Rip Pisacreta, Ph.D.
Professor, Psychology,
Ferris State University
Big Rapids, MI 49307
email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
