Category Archives: David Hodges

Counterintuitive Econundrums

Posted on February 10, 2012 by davidbdale

If you’re racking your brain for a good counterintuitive research topic, the ecology team at Mother Jones have cooked up a series of columns you should cull for inspiration. They’re full of challenges to “common knowledge” claims many of us … Continue reading →

Posted in Counterintuitivity, David Hodges, Professor Posts | 1 Comment

Advertising Failure

Posted on February 9, 2012 by davidbdale

The story of Doctor Kim A. Adcock’s approach to solving a problem in the radiology department at Kaiser Permanente in Denver reads like script background for one of those “procedural” TV shows such as CSI. We know who died (far … Continue reading →

Posted in Advertising Failure, Assignments, David Hodges | 27 Comments

Grade Levels

Posted on February 9, 2012 by davidbdale

I won’t always be able to tell you why your essays don’t quite achieve the grades you want. Even after you respond well to feedback and make your essay grammatically correct, provide good sources, and make reasonable arguments, you might … Continue reading →

Posted in Course Documents, David Hodges, Professor Posts | Leave a comment

Finding Pheasant on a Foxhunt

Posted on February 7, 2012 by davidbdale

I’m working on a post about the proper role of research, which, if you can’t guess from the title, is to be open to surprise. Hunters at a foxhunt first release a fox they’ve already captured, then track it down … Continue reading →

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What’s So Bad about Rhetorical Questions?

Posted on February 7, 2012 by davidbdale

I am working on a post about rhetorical questions to help those of you who like them to begin to dislike them. Keep your eye on this space for that helpful advice and/or comment below if you think you know … Continue reading →

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Risking the Baby: Logos, Ethos, Pathos

Posted on February 6, 2012 by davidbdale

Last week when Ally Hodgson asked how learning about claims would make her life better I answered somewhat clumsily with a brief argument about vaccination. Do you remember the argument? Good. Did you notice that it contained elements of logos, … Continue reading →

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Can a Cheeseburger Be a Placebo?

Posted on February 2, 2012 by davidbdale

This is really hard to believe. You’re all familiar with the placebo effect, I imagine. Patients engaged as subjects in a study to test the effectiveness of a new medication routinely receive one of two regimens: half get the actual … Continue reading →

Posted in Counterintuitivity, David Hodges, Professor Posts | Leave a comment

Why We Still Have Polio

Posted on February 2, 2012 by davidbdale

White Paper: Why We Still Have Polio PROFESSOR’S NOTE: Later in the course, you’ll be asked to produce a White Paper on your chosen research topic. Today, for our fourth reading, I offer you this model of what I hope … Continue reading →

Posted in David Hodges, White Paper Polio | 2 Comments

Please Categorize

Posted on February 1, 2012 by davidbdale

Larger numbers of posts require better navigation tools. Please be sure to check the right Categories before you publish to the blog. This can be done while posting or after. In the case of the Safer Saws assignment, for example, … Continue reading →

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The Front Bottoms “Maps”

Posted on January 28, 2012 by davidbdale

Ally Hodgson introduced me to this one. They recently played the Free Friday concert series at WXPN in West Philly. Check out these concerts if you have the time.

Posted in David Hodges, My Music | Leave a comment