Jerry Muller’s book on The Tyranny of Metrics argues that metrics are overused. (I have discussed other frustrations with the book here). Muller, however, very neatly illustrates the problem with his approach. Anecdotal evidence, by this here I mean stories not rigorously detailed, is problematic in justifying an argument. Basically he throws some numbers into…
Are You Tyrannized By Metrics?
If you are tyrannized by metrics in this way I have just the book for you. Headline: “Tenured Professor Tyrannized By Metrics” Jerry Muller has a popular book — The Tyranny of Metrics. I have to say it is pretty bad. The problem is that it is a weak attempt to capitalize on concerns, some…
Spoilers And Movie Box Office
What is the relationship between spoilers and movie box office? It is easy to tell a story that spoilers reduce anticipated enjoyment and so lower attendance at movie theaters. (I write during times of Covid so it is hard to imagine how anything reduces attendance further but you get the general idea). Is this the…
Why Would You Go Test Optional?
In 2020 many universities decided to become: “test-optional” for entrance, see here. This was an interesting development. My worry is that test-optional isn’t always the benevolent response from universities that it might seem to some. I was reading about this in a chapter by Sheila Slaughter and Gary Rhoades. I would want to know more…
Prejudice Against The Machine: Impact Of Chatbot Identity Disclosure
Whenever technology progresses a major question arises: What can technology do as well, or better, than humans? Since the luddites, and probably before, people reacted to technology with hostility. This raises the question whether machine learning algorithms can replicate (or outperform human behavior) but still be unpopular due to human reaction. A group of authors…
The Problem Of Understanding Others
A second post on Gad Saad’s, The Parasitic Mind. I’m not sure this was his central aim but he did make me think about the problem of understanding others. Is Society Really Collapsing? I really wanted to know why he thinks society is collapsing. I have never known why people think this. It is not…
Scientific Thinking Is Hard (Especially For Academics)
I must confess to being disappointed with Gad Saad’s The Parasitic Mind. Before purchasing the book I knew I would disagree with many of his points given his robust public profile. (For background, Saad is the sort of evolutionary psychologists your mother warned you about. Lots of sex differences in consumption). That I would disagree…
Defining Customer Experience And Its Role In Customer Journey
Customer experience is one of those phrases that crop up in marketing that seems important but it isn’t always 100% clear what people mean by it. As such a key task taken on by Katherine Lemon and Peter Verhoef in a 2016 piece was defining customer experience. They then note how this relates to the…
Web Scraping For Marketers
MSI (the Marketing Science Institute) issues working papers on issues of interest to marketers. The institute’s purpose is to bring together academics and practice. As such MSI advice aims to be of importance to both academics and practitioners. I recently read an interesting offering on web scraping for marketers, written by Johannes Boegershausen, Abhishek Borah,…
Audio Mining And Marketing: Great Potential
We have a recent article on audio mining and marketing, see here. It is an exciting topic. Unstructured data is increasing being analyzed. Audio data, a key type of unstructured data, has great potential to give insight. People Use Their Voices To Persuade People often use their voices to persuade. This can be positive or…
