In an attempt to make my procrastination a slight bit more useful than just zoning out to Netflix, I’ve found some podcasts that seem valuable and interesting to me (and probably a lot of other people). In an attempt to help others make their personal procrastination issues less severe, I want to share those podcasts here. I might add more as I discover them. As a note: I realize some of these are old news, but I still want to share them here for any other podcast newbies like me.
The Effort Report: Useful and entertaining advice on how to survive life as an academic (or “life in the academic trenches” as the creators describe it). Professors Elizabeth Matsui and Roger Peng (both from Johns Hopkins University) have been recording this podcast since July 2016. It already has 60 episodes, so there is plenty to listen to. Topics cover all aspects of academic life (e.g., how to write a fundable grant, the role of gender, where your salary comes from, finding and maintaining collaborations, and what your academic wardrobe should look like).
The Bayes Factor: A new podcast recorded by Alex Etz (UC Irvine) and J.P. de Ruiter (Tufts University) about the people behind Bayesian statistics and related methodological issues in psychological research. So far, this podcasts has 3 episodes, but they only started on November 3, 2017, so the number of episodes seems to grow at quite the pace. The hosts invite someone that has an opinion about a specific methodological issue (not necessarily Bayesian) and discuss/interview them.
The Black Goat: Hosted by Sanjay Srivastava (University of Oregon), Alexa Tullett (University of Alabama), and Simine Vazire (UC Davis). They are three psychologists who discuss different aspects of doing science. Also relatively new (I mean, I guess even the Effort Report is still somewhat new), this podcast started in March 2017. They have recorded 21 episodes so far on topics such as the role of teaching in a faculty member’s life, how to have a disagreement with other scientists, applying for an academic job opening, maintaining friendships outside of academia. The hosts discuss these topics by looking at their own personal experiences with these issues.
Not So Standard Deviations: A podcast about the latest in data science and data analysis in academia and industry. Created by Roger Peng (yes, the same as the co-host of The Effort Report… Where does he find the time to do all of his other work?) and Hilary Parker (who works at Stitch Fix – the company that sends you tailored-for-you clothing). The combination of someone from academics and someone from industry is very interesting and makes for good discussions. This podcast is focused more on data science as opposed to quantitative psychology/statistics. The hosts don’t just discuss the statistics, but also more technical issues such as private cloud servers and building data science products that have good user experience. This podcast started in September 2015 and currently has 49 episodes.
This is my list so far. When I succumb to more procrastination later, I might find some more!
UPDATED to add:
Everything Hertz: A podcast about methodology, scientific life, and (as they themselves say) bad language. Hosted by Dan Quintana (University of Oslo) and James Heathers (Northeastern University). This podcast is sort of a mix between the Effort Report and the Bayes Factor (though not really focused on Bayes). What I’m trying to say is that they talk about topics that have to do with professional development and the general research process. But then they also talk very specifically about how to interpret effect sizes and how we are misunderstanding p-values. They have already recorded 54 episodes in about a year, so there’s plenty to listen to. Daniel Lakens (Eindhoven University) is a frequent guest on the podcast, which leads to some interesting conversations.
The Startup Scientist: This podcast is also hosted by Dan Quintana. He seems to have recorded some episodes earlier this year, then he took a break but now he’s back. He talks about professional development issues that are important to any researcher in any field (think: building your online presence, picking a research project) These podcasts are like mini-podcasts, with about 6 minutes of material at a time. So if you’re just waiting for the bus or the start of a class, these would be perfect. I hope he keeps adding new episodes!
The Quantitative Psyche 