Annette Taylor wrote:
> Apparently not according to the "science" people at our university,
> particularly the chemistry dept.
>
> Our annual students research fair is today, and I have a group of
> students presenting a poster on research they did in a lab class
> with me.
>
> Imagine my consternation when my students' poster was in a back
> section labelled "NON-SCIENCE PRESENTATIONS"
>
> Well, I sought out the person who had arranged and categorized the
> presentations and asked her what's with psychology being a "Non-Science"
> and she told me, "Well, what is it then? It's clearly not a science."
> and then _horrors_ she went on to say, "Well, when I took psychology
> in school it was just one of those classes that had nothing to do with
> anything." I mean, I felt so insulted and so denigrated and stepped
> on by this "chemistry, SCIENCE" person.
>
> I realize now that this is just her ignorance coming through. I
> realize she needs education, but the sad part is that she doesn't
> even know that she is ignorant and in need of education.
>
> Needless to say, and here I sit embarassed and upset, I went off
> like a roman candle LITERALLY. I couldn't contain myself--after all
> the hard, hard, hard work we all do to convince our students that
> psychology is a science here is a faculty member, a relatively young
> faculty member, who should have been schooled relatively recently,
> telling me that psychology can't be categorized in the 'science'
> category.
>
> Deep breath. Maybe I'm making too much of this.
>
> What would or what do the rest of you do when this comes up--and
> please don't tell me you go off like a roman candle because I don't
> feel like that was very effective--I think I just made an enemy instead
> of a convert. Dang my fiery nature.
>
> Annette Taylor, Ph. D.
> Department of Psychology E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> University of San Diego Voice: (619) 260-4006
> 5998 Alcala Park
> San Diego, CA 92110
>
> "Education is one of the few things a person
> is willing to pay for and not get."
> -- W. L. Bryan
Annette,
At my college, we have what is known as "Presidential Honors Research" which
is the highest honor a student can receive. Yesterday, a very capable and
talented senior undergraduate psych major defended her research paper before
a mixed group of faculty that constitutes the committee. Among the members
of the committee is a chemistry prof. who apparently went to the same
university as the professor you described. Essentially, he challenged her
results based on the expression of mean age, in this case 20.64, as being
totally inaccurate because the participants were not asked to list their age
out to two decimal places. Therefore, he surmised, the means being reported
for her dependent measure must also be inaccurate. I had not anticipated
having to defend APA manuscript guidelines; however, I was successful in
persuading the remainder of the committee that the issue did not alter her
statistical conclusions and the student's project was passed. Any comments
related to the accuracy of his position would be appreciated.
In the past 3 years, I have taken 3 students before the committee. On each
occassion, the Chemistry prof. basically attacked the scientific rigor of
the psych experiment in question. Without actually making a statement as
such, the implication by the chemistry prof. is that psychology is not a
science.
And so, my saga will continue. I would be interested in how others respond
to similar situations.
Chuck
--
***************************
Charles M. Huffman, Ph.D.
Chair, Psychology Department
Cumberland College
Williamsburg, KY 40769
(606) 539-4422
***************************
