the committee should not let the student engage in a project that the committee itself ... is not able to help the student with (this happens at times just because a topic is "hot" at the moment) ... and it should be clearly within the "doable" for the student AND the committee
i find that far too often, committees "approve" and let students pursue topics and specific dissertations that ... they themselves are not comfortable dealing with (ie, really don't know the appropriate analytical procedures, the best ways to "design" the investigation, etc. etc.) ... i find that often, the committee (perhaps even explicitly) says to the student .... well, we want you to do X, Y, and Z ... and, if you have troubles with that .... go FIND someone to help you ... when the committee should not let the student even attempt X, Y, and/or Z ... if the members of the committee themselves are weak in those areas ... and/or the student has not done sufficient course or project work to know what X, Y, and/or Z really amount to the best projects for dissertations are those, even though rather limited in scope, are within the grasp of the STUDENT ... ie, he/she has the skills and expertise to define this project and carry it out ... to the end ... with minimal help ... (but if help is needed, the committee should be able to provide it) At 02:50 PM 3/25/02 -0700, Harold W Kerster wrote: > It is the job of the student's major professor to protect the student >from kooks. I don't know how to handle the situation if only the >social-constructionist member remembers anything about stats. > >On 25 Mar 2002, Eric Bohlman wrote: > > > Harold W Kerster <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > Yes, a t test may be enough. Students should also learn that results > > > obvious on their face need no stat analy at all -- don't gild the lily. > > > > And then they run into a radical social-contructionist committee member > > who insists that the observed difference in pregnancy rates between the > > male and female subjects is not "obvious on its face" and demands a > > p-value :) > > > > . > > . > > ================================================================= > > Instructions for joining and leaving this list, remarks about the > > problem of INAPPROPRIATE MESSAGES, and archives are available at: > > . http://jse.stat.ncsu.edu/ . > > ================================================================= > > >. >. >================================================================= >Instructions for joining and leaving this list, remarks about the >problem of INAPPROPRIATE MESSAGES, and archives are available at: >. http://jse.stat.ncsu.edu/ . >================================================================= Dennis Roberts, 208 Cedar Bldg., University Park PA 16802 <Emailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED]> WWW: http://roberts.ed.psu.edu/users/droberts/drober~1.htm AC 8148632401 . . ================================================================= Instructions for joining and leaving this list, remarks about the problem of INAPPROPRIATE MESSAGES, and archives are available at: . http://jse.stat.ncsu.edu/ . =================================================================
