The hottest Empirical Studies Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
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The Counterfactual's year in review, and an announcement

The Counterfactual • 79 implied HN points • 29 Dec 23
🔬 Science Empirical Studies
  1. The Counterfactual had a successful year, growing its readership significantly after a popular post about large language models. It’s great to see how sharing knowledge can attract more people.
  2. Key posts focused on topics like construct validity and the understanding of large language models. These discussions are crucial for improving how we evaluate and understand AI technology.
  3. In 2024, the plan includes more posts and introducing paid subscriptions that allow subscribers to vote on future research projects. This will encourage community participation in exploring interesting ideas.

Results from poll #2

The Counterfactual • 59 implied HN points • 08 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Empirical Studies
  1. The poll showed that readers are interested in how well large language models (LLMs) can change the readability of texts. This will be explored further in a detailed study.
  2. The study will involve real people judging how easy or hard the modified texts are to read. This is important because readability is something people understand best.
  3. Updates on the study will be shared about once a month, along with regular posts on other topics related to language processing and understanding.

"Republic.com 2.0" is a terrible book title

Never Met a Science • 61 implied HN points • 06 Jan 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Empirical Studies
  1. Academic research often focuses heavily on citing previous works, sometimes forgetting to build on fresh ideas. It's important to also look forward and explore new questions.
  2. There’s a debate about how much theory should inform empirical research. Striking a balance between solid theory and real-world relevance is crucial for effective studies.
  3. The conventions of academic writing can limit exploration of current issues in digital media. Researchers should prioritize relevant topics instead of strictly following old academic norms.

Psychology Findings You Can Bank On

Unsafe Science • 54 implied HN points • 24 Dec 24
🔬 Science Empirical Studies
  1. Psychological research has produced valuable insights that can enhance our understanding of human behavior. It's important to pay attention to these findings.
  2. Some claims made in the social sciences are questionable and need to be critically evaluated. Not everything that is published is reliable.
  3. There's ongoing debate about the quality of psychological studies, so it's good to be skeptical and look for well-supported evidence.

Big Data and the Entertainment Industry

Joshua Gans' Newsletter • 0 implied HN points • 04 Sep 16
💼 Business Empirical Studies
  1. The book 'Streaming Sharing Stealing' by Mike Smith and Rahul Telang offers valuable lessons in the digital economy, particularly in the entertainment industry, emphasizing the importance of understanding and utilizing data properly.
  2. Entertainment executives often made critical errors due to not trusting data analytics for decision-making, relying instead on outdated assumptions and untested suppositions.
  3. Studies, like Sandra Barbosu's research, show that big data can provide valuable insights to industries like movie studios, helping them predict box office success and avoid producing movies that underperform.
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