scholarly journals Addressing two blind spots of commonly used experimental designs: The highly-repeated within-person approach

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vivian Zayas ◽  
Vasundhara Sridharan ◽  
Randy T. Lee ◽  
Yuichi Shoda

Two well documented but still neglected blind spots of often-used study designs limit a researcher’s ability to make inferences about psychological phenomenon. First, typical designs focus on effects of conditions at the group level and are not able to assess the extent to which effects characterize each participant in the study. This blind spot can lead to erroneous (or incomplete) conclusions about the effects of manipulations both for a given participant and at the group level. Second, commonly used research designs often use only a limited sample of stimuli, constraining conclusions to the particular stimuli. This blind spot can lead to non-replication when different stimuli are used. We propose that the Highly-Repeated Within-Person (HRWP) approach helps mitigate these limitations. Using a study on the effects of anti-smoking messages, we illustrate how the HRWP approach helps alert researchers when the conclusions at the group-level may not apply to all (or any) participant, quantifies the heterogeneity of effects of manipulations across people, and increases confidence regarding the generalizability of the effects. We discuss how the HRWP approach may help conceptualize issues of replicability in a new light.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernt Skottun

The fact that we are generally unaware of our blind spots is supposed to be the result of the visual systemfilling them in. This brings up the question of what would be the case if no filling-in were to take place.In other words, what would be the difference between the presence and absence of filling-in. The lack of aclear answer to this question makes it unclear what is to be explained by filling-in or even if any explanationis called for. Because filling-in is supposed to be accomplished by some ”mechanism” the lack of an answeralso raises a question regarding what is to be meant by ”mechanisms” in this case.


2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vivian Zayas ◽  
Vasundhara Sridharan ◽  
Randy T. Lee ◽  
Yuichi Shoda

Apeiron ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 257-284
Author(s):  
Roberto Grasso

AbstractThis paper aims to identify several interpretive problems posed by the final part of DA II.11 (423b27–424 a10), where Aristotle intertwines the thesis that a sense is like a ‘mean’ and an explanation for the existence of a ‘blind spot’ related to the sense of touch, adding the further contention that we are capable of discriminating because the mean ‘becomes the other opposite’ in relation to the perceptible property being perceived. To solve those problems, the paper explores a novel interpretation of Aristotle’s claims, arguing that they describe a homeostatic physiological reaction by which the sensory apparatus responds to perceptible stimuli. According to the proposed interpretation, such homeostatic reaction constitutes a necessary condition for perceiving what Aristotle refers to as ‘proper’ perceptible features, which include properties like ‘hot’ and ‘cold’ as well as colors and sounds.


Perception ◽  
1987 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. 649-654 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aries Arditi

Although the ‘filling in’ of each blind spot by healthy retina in the other eye has long been described as an adaptive property of the spatial arrangement of the optic disks, an explanation of why the disks are specifically located where they are has yet to be proposed. A rationale for their horizontal position in humans is offered that is based on the projections of the blind spots in visual space in relation to fixation distance and to the protrusion of the bony facial occlusion of the nose bridge.


1994 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 1103-1113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hidehiko Komatsu ◽  
Ikuya Murakami

AbstractIn human subjects, the blind spot is perceptually filled-in by color and brightness from the surrounding visual field. The present behavioral study examined the occurrence of color filling-in at the blind spot in monkeys. First, the location of the blind spot was determined using a monocular saccade task. The blind spots were located on the horizontal meridian at approximately 15–17 deg from the fixation point in the temporal visual field. Then, filling-in at the blind spot was tested by determining if the monkey could discriminate between an annulus presented on the blind spot and a homogeneous disk in the normal visual field. In this task, the monkey was required to make a saccade to a homogeneous disk of the same color and size as an annulus presented simultaneously in the opposite field. Both stimuli were large enough to cover the blind spot and the inner circle of the annulus was confined inside the blind spot. All four monkeys tested performed this task correctly in over 80% of the trials. However, when one eye was covered and the annulus was presented on the blind spot of the uncovered eye, performance deteriorated significantly. To confirm that these results reflected filling-in, one monkey was trained to maintain fixation when two identical homogeneous disks appeared in opposite visual fields. When only one eye was uncovered, and the annulus was presented on the blind spot of the uncovered eye, the monkey maintained fixation in most of the trials. These results show that monkeys were unable to distinguish an annulus from a homogeneous disk when the annulus was presented on the blind spot. This indicates that color filling-in occurs at the blind spot in monkeys and opens possibility to physiological experiments to study the neural mechanisms of filling-in.


Author(s):  
Rei-Jo Yamashita ◽  
Hsiu-Hsen Yao ◽  
Hiroki Yamashita ◽  
Lo Chi

Abstract—Prevention and vigilance plays a key role in preventing threatening risks and potential dangers when one is driving. In other to achieve the goal of averting danger when driving, people need valid and up to date information about: driving behavior, driving environment and vehicle status. There are a lot of factors that needs to be considered in order to keep a driver safe. Drunk driving, blind spots, bad driving habits, fatigue driving, and vehicle status are all factors that needs to be taken into account if safety is to be improved. Driving comfortability greatly depends on vehicle’s status and driver’s behavior. To evaluate the comfort level for a particular ride, we developed a number of formulas for evaluating various variable like vibration which has their base from the ISO. Rules for detecting these factors like fatigue driving, blind spot collision, etc., were set in this study, each of which has a threshold that shouldn’t be exceeded. In this paper, we introduce an in-car monitoring system for driving safety and provide alert and alarm functions using Android device connected to the car’s on-board diagnostics system(OBD-II) and the in-car module.


Author(s):  
Merve Dede ◽  
Eiru Kim ◽  
Traver Hart

AbstractIt is widely accepted that pooled library CRISPR knockout screens offer greater sensitivity and specificity than prior technologies in detecting genes whose disruption leads to fitness defects, a critical step in identifying candidate cancer targets. However, the assumption that CRISPR screens are saturating has been largely untested. Through integrated analysis of screen data in cancer cell lines generated by the Cancer Dependency Map, we show that a typical CRISPR screen has a ∼20% false negative rate, beyond library-specific false negatives previously described. Replicability falls sharply as gene expression decreases, while cancer subtype-specific genes within a tissue show distinct profiles compared to false negatives. Cumulative analyses across tissues suggest only a small number of lineage-specific essential genes and that these genes are highly enriched for transcription factors that define pathways of tissue differentiation. In addition, we show that half of all constitutively-expressed genes are never hits in any CRISPR screen, and that these never-essentials are highly enriched for paralogs. Together these observations strongly suggest that functional buffering masks single knockout phenotypes for a substantial number of genes, describing a major blind spot in CRISPR-based mammalian functional genomics approaches.


Author(s):  
Francis Müller

AbstractIn our everyday world, we operate within a reality that we experience as “normal,” and which we do not question further, although it is actually man-made and designed. In design ethnography, however, we need to define this reality not simply as given, but as constructed and contingent. We need to make blind spots visible and decompose the reality that we classify on the basis of received knowledge in a phenomenological way, which is epistemologically relevant. We must deliberately alienate ourselves from the familiar in order to seek new connections of meaning in it.


Author(s):  
Michael Kalu

A satisfactory research question often signifies the beginning point for many researchers. While this can be true for quantitative studies because of pre-defined research questions, qualitative research questions undergo series of revisions through a reflective process. This reflective process provides the framework for the subjectivity associated with qualitative inquiry. The continuous iterative reflective process is an essential component for developing qualitative research questions that correspond with the various qualitative study designs. Although qualitative inquiry is term exclusively subjective, there is a need to use a framework in developing qualitative research questions. The Emphasis- Purposeful sampling- Phenomenon of interest – Context (EPPiC) framework guides qualitative researchers in developing and revising qualitative research questions to suit a specific qualitative approach. This article addresses both the development of a research question using the “EPPiC framework” and demonstrate how to revise the “developed” research question to reflect two qualitative research design. I developed a qualitative research question for Sally Thorne’s Interpretive Description design using the EPPiC Framework and subsequently revised the research question to suit a grounded theory design.


2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-28
Author(s):  
Annie Waldherr ◽  
Stephanie Geise ◽  
Merja Mahrt ◽  
Christian Katzenbach ◽  
Christian Nuernbergk

Abstract Computational communication science (CCS) is embraced by many as a fruitful methodological approach to studying communication in the digital era. However, theoretical advances have not been considered equally important in CCS. Specifically, we observe an emphasis on mid-range and micro theories that misses a larger discussion on how macro-theoretical frameworks can serve CCS scholarship. With this article, we aim to stimulate such a discussion. Although macro frameworks might not point directly to specific questions and hypotheses, they shape our research through influencing which kinds of questions we ask, which kinds of hypotheses we formulate, and which methods we find adequate and useful. We showcase how three selected theoretical frameworks might advance CCS scholarship in this way: (1) complexity theory, (2) theories of the public sphere, and (3) mediatization theory. Using online protest as an example, we discuss how the focus (and the blind spots) of our research designs shifts with each framework.


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