Douglas Pugh wrote:
> I agree with many of the comments regarding inappropriate student requests
> (i.e. "please write my paper for me"), but, I'm compelled to point out that
> it is not just students making these requests. Check out HRNET, and look
> at the frequency of messages asking "has anyone ever done an employee
> survey....and can you send me all of your information?". I agree that
> internet mailing lists are a great place to share information among
> professionals, but quite a few requests are essentially for free consulting.
>
> As far as the web versus library for information, I routinely caution my
> students against using the web as a primary source of information for
> papers (as supplemental source, it is great, but not for the bulk of the
> paper). To illustrate the problem with uncritically accepting all that's
> on the web, I frequently search for the worst sources of information out
> there. My latest favorite is graphology (handwriting analysis). Plenty of
> slickly designed web sites promoting graphology as the solution to all your
> employee problems. Of course, if you tried to find reputable scientific
> data to back this up, you would find none.
>
> S. Douglas Pugh, Ph.D.
> Assistant Professor of Industrial/Organizational Psychology
> San Diego State University
Dr. Pugh,
I couldn't agree with you more. As a student in a M.S. program in I/O with a
background in experimental psychology, I am shocked at the amount of scientific
farces and forgeries that lay people succumb to and associate with my beloved
field. The internet has done wonders to foster such beliefs and deteriorate the
field, pardon my cynicism.
The lastest I have seen is a resurgence in phrenology; are we doomed or what?
Eric S. Berghoff
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"Oh brave new world that has such people in it."
-Aldous Huxley
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