Quantitude

Patrick and Greg draw on their experience in author, reviewer, and editorial roles to talk about the manuscript review process, and offer strategies for revising a manuscript and crafting a letter in response to editorial guidance and reviewer feedback. Along the way they also discuss spring break for octogenarians, spitting on graves, being flabby and unfocused, Milo and Otis, meat on a stick, su...

In today’s episode, Greg and Patrick start a conversation about how COVID-19 has had an instantaneous and lasting impact on research, what we can do about it right now, and what we can be thinking about for the future as we move forward, together. Along the way they also manage to mention... elevators of blood, Joe Exotic, wisdom of crowds, a fatted ox, skinned knees, intellectual judo, I meant to...

Patrick and Greg spend an hour stumbling through the world of Monte Carlo computer simulation methodology as a way of knowing within the quantitative sciences. They also delve into: bad ideas, the Dans in Patrick’s life, unique Zoom backgrounds, typical birth weights, theoretical models underlying reading glasses, Jan Ken Pon, being due, archery, blue and green blox pots, felonious speeding, horse...

Greg and Patrick are inspired by possibly the greatest Western movie ever filmed as they navigate The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly of factor analysis. In addition to arguing that exploratory factor analysis isn't really exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis isn't really confirmatory, they adroitly traverse topics including sabbatical do-overs, Corona Academy, leeches, tall ship win...

Patrick and Greg are inspired by the community support we are witnessing during this time of crisis, and they expand this discussion into the community of science. They drill down into the collaborative approach of integrative data analysis in which models are fit to data that have been aggregated across multiple independent samples. They also discuss Quarantudesday, setting food on fire, when the...

Greg and Patrick waste an hour of your time drunkenly wandering along the dangerous cliffs overlooking mixture modeling. In addition to exploring the potential promises and unadulterated dangers of mixture models as a mode of scientific inquiry, they also mention drama nerds, hunchbacks, date night for the Lincolns, name dropping, UConn women's basketball, inductive-deductive wishin'-and...

Patrick and Greg celebrate St. Patrick's Day with Irish storytelling of some of their own epic academic fails, interspersed with a selection of quantitative limericks submitted by Quantitude listeners (as well as a few of their own). The final selections are read by a special guest (who, be warned in advance, is a bit grumpy). Also mentioned: white elephants, nuns fighting, Garfield phones, a...

Patrick and Greg have a blast hanging out with quant super-star Katherine Masyn, arguably one of the coolest people on earth. In addition to talking about professional development, the futility of making plans, and how to make meaningful contributions to science, the trio also discuss the power of three, mad cow disease, evaporated metal films, green laser pointers, mashed potatoes, and Patrick ge...

Greg and Patrick start with what seems like a reasonable metaphor linking musical compositions to planned missing data designs, and then they proceed to beat it to death. Then, just when you think they've buried it, they dig it back up and beat the carcass some more before eventually just running out of time. In addition to planned missing designs, they also mention the Kenny G paternity test...

In Episode 16 of Quantitude, Patrick and Greg have more fun than is probably socially acceptable when talking about missing data. In addition to embracing the Zen-like paradox of "the presence of missing data," they also discuss West Point, "is" versus "are," middle school English teachers, relentless tenacity, talking narwhals, being completely pregnant, taking in sh...

Greg and Patrick embark on a free-ranging discussion of many of the things no one bothers to tell you when entering academia, some that were particularly (and often pleasantly) surprising. They also talk about learning to fly, parenting, Richard Russo, Bayesian personality, Craisins, just noticeable differences, crayon giraffes, academic mulligans, final_final_final drafts, dead birds, Britney Spe...

Patrick and Greg take on the topic of model evaluation and fit, particularly as applied to structural equation models. They also discuss compulsive counting, mashed potatoes, letting the horses out of the barn, building model 747s, Jenga, Moses's third tablet, the Pirate Code, demon conferences, and Roo Mates.  Stay in contact with Quantitude! Web page: quantitudepod.org TwitterX: @quantitude...

Greg and Patrick pursue several topics raised on prior episodes on scale reliability and measurement invariance to their logical conclusion. Namely, they ponder the multitude of persnickety issues associated with putting a set of items into the psychometric sausage maker to grind out scale scores for use in subsequent analysis. In addition to bickering with one another over a host of trivial issue...

In this episode, Patrick and Greg respond to a call-in question that raises a host of issues revolving around measurement invariance testing. In addition to complaining about horrible terminology commonly used in quantitative methodology, they also address pirate mothers, irreverance, time machines, quadruple negatives, buying firewood, digging up bodies, the Schotz clock, and dumpster fires. Ther...

In Part 2 of a two-part series, Greg and Patrick draw on their experiences with the National Institutes of Health and the Institute of Education Sciences (as grant PI/co-PI, reviewer, panelist, and panel chair) to offer recommendations for those planning to seek funding for their own research projects. They also talk about a thousand monkeys, stages of grief, Southwest vs. Spirit Airlines, proper...

In Part 1 of a two-part series, Patrick and Greg draw on their experiences with the National Institutes of Health and the Institute of Education Sciences (as grant PI/co-PI, reviewer, panelist, and panel chair) to discuss aspects of the grant review process, including the scoring criteria, conflicts of interest, what it's like "in the room," and what happens after grants are reviewe...

In this first episode of 2020, Greg and Patrick welcome the new year by offering what listeners have come to expect: no apparent plan for the episode, followed by rambling, circular, and barely internally-consistent discussion. At least they are, well, reliable. In fact, their meanderings lead them to a discussion of just that topic -- reliability. In an impromptu segment they call " Grumpy O...

HI! This iz JiffffY the leeemur. Im the nU Qwante- quawnti- QPod inteRn. Here iz a speshuL hoLliday eppisowd i made for ar lissnerz, with a seEkrit gesstt! The qDoods wil be bAk innn Janyouairie with alll Nu eppisoads. HapPppee hoLlidayz!!!!!! And pleeZ share this eppisowd with frenDz! Stay in contact with Quantitude! Web page: quantitudepod.org TwitterX: @quantitudepod YouTube: @quantitudepod Mer...

In this episode, Patrick and Greg respond to a call-in question from Alexis, asking about how one describes to another human being what a quantitative methodologist actually is, leading to a broader discussion about how one makes unique contributions to the sciences from a methodological framework. In addition to talking about quantitative methodology as a way of knowing, they also mention: portma...

In Episode 6 of Quantitude Greg and Patrick take their very first phone-in question, which seems to confuse both of them as they are on the computer and not the phone. Regardless, they talk with Tessa from the University of Maryland about her question of how to best use modification indices when fitting confirmatory factor models out in the real world. In addition to completely ripping off the Car...

In this episode of Quantitude, Patrick and Greg have the pleasure of talking with the always-entertaining and high-energy Don Hedeker, University of Chicago Professor of Biostatistics. They discuss Don's work in nonlinear mixed effects models, the importance of variance as an outcome, and ecological momentary assessment, as well as his advice for graduate students and indeed anyone presenting...

In this episode of Quantitude, Patrick and Greg draw on their 50+ years of combined experience to offer what is clearly questionable advice for graduate students. They begin with a discussion of a recent survey of the best and worst ranked jobs possible (spoiler alert: don't be a taxi-driving logger on your newspaper reporter beat). They then proceed to discuss challenges facing graduate stud...

Greg and Patrick plan the episode around one topic, but things take an unexpected turn as the episode rapidly devolves into a series of pop quiz questions thrown from Patrick at Greg and back again. Rules of engagement are negotiated on the spot: without preparation, each person has 90 seconds to respond to a question of the other's choosing, which is in turn graded and argued over. Pop Quiz...

In the second episode of Quantitude, Patrick and Greg channel the spirits of the two old men from the Muppet show (Waldorf and Statler, in case you're curious) and argue about the relative risks and benefits of statistical power analysis. They also discuss Patrick's mother, leaf blowing, 11 year-old saxophone players, the fortuitous ambiguity of child labor laws, vision in pigs, the poop...

Patrick and Greg offer a brief non-Hollywood quality trailer that gives an initial sense of what is in store for future listeners of Quantitude.  Stay in contact with Quantitude! Web page: quantitudepod.org TwitterX: @quantitudepod YouTube: @quantitudepod Merch: redbubble.com