Thinking seriously about social science research

I haven’t linked to the Baby Name Wizard in awhile. . . . Laura Wattenberg takes a look at the question, “Does a hard-to-pronounce baby name hurt you?” Critical thinking without “debunking”—this is the way to go.

6 thoughts on “Thinking seriously about social science research

  1. To what extent does Laura engage in critical thinking when she takes a finding arising from extremely naive analysis as correct and focuses her discussion only on its generalizability (to first names)?

    The key study in the paper uses the success of lawyers as the dependent variable, and the ease of pronounciation of their last name as the i.v. It controls only for a binary variable of whether the last name sounds foreign or not. That’s it.

    Considering that last names have heterogeneity that extend well beyond such binary distinction, the conclusion seems premature and naive; the concern about extending to first names perhaps natural to a website about first names, but ultimately lacking in critical thinking regarding what we can learn from data and how such data should be analyzed by social scientists.

  2. At least both of the previous posters would have easily-Googleable names, which may well end up being more useful than pronouncability :-)

    All this would have been unnecessary if people had implemented an old AT&T proposal: give every baby a permanent phone # at birth. :-)
    These days it would be email+domain name.

  3. I have warned my Dutch friends not to name their daughter
    Kike [key kuh]
    because of the way it is spelled. I have also warned my Dutch friends not to name their daughter
    Jente [yen tuh]
    because it is pronounced identically to the Yiddish word for gossiper.
    Norwegians should avoid naming their daughter
    Randi
    because in England it is identical to the American word, horny.
    And while we are at it, never any name with the so-called “liquids” because an “L” or an “R” are often difficult to pronounce or distinguish in many Asian and African languages. Also, avoid “H” because French and Spanish speakers won’t know what to do with it. Of course, any voiced “TH” is completely out of the question.

  4. Then there’s this one:

    http://www.ibras.dk/montypython/episode06.htm

    “Why is it that the world never remembered the name of Johann Gambolputty de von Ausfern- schplenden- schlitter- crasscrenbon- fried- digger- dingle- dangle- dongle- dungle- burstein- von- knacker- thrasher- apple- banger- horowitz- ticolensic- grander- knotty- spelltinkle- grandlich- grumblemeyer- spelterwasser- kurstlich- himbleeisen- bahnwagen- gutenabend- bitte- ein- nürnburger- bratwustle- gerspurten- mitz- weimache- luber- hundsfut- gumberaber- shönedanker- kalbsfleisch- mittler- aucher von Hautkopft of Ulm?”

    Oddly, it’s not hard to google this, since google is smart enough to find it given the clue: “monty python sketch johann” :-)

  5. Paracelsus (born Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim, 11 November or 17 December 1493 – 24 September 1541)

    I’ve never figured out why he didn’t just use his own name. He was, however, a pretty successful character.

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