Welcome!
On this site you can find books I’ve written, my resume, and other information about my work, interests, and priorities. At the top of this page there are navigation tools, including a contact form you can use to leave a message. I would be pleased to hear from you.
Thank you for your visit!
George's Office Wall
"A moral point of view too often serves as a substitute for understanding in technological matters." Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media, p. 327.
The American voting "system . . . uses 19th century technology to implement ideas from the 18th century" Will Brunch, Chicago Tribune
"A new medium [e.g., the Internet] is never an addition to an old one, nor does it leave the old one in peace." Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media, p. 237.
"the double blind [women are in]: to be childless, and therefore less important than a mother; or to be a mother, and therefore less important than one's children." Sally Rooney, reviewing Sheila Heti's, Motherhood, London Review of Books, 8/30/2018, p. 35.
"Each new technology creates an environment that is itself regarded as corrupt and degrading." Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media, Critical Edition, p. 13.
"News is not what happened but a story about what happened." Robert Danton, reviewing Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2018/06/28/fantasyland-bunk-greatest-show-on-earth/
"Facebook uses algorithms to feed us news that we will like." Robert Danton, reviewing Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2018/06/28/fantasyland-bunk-greatest-show-on-earth/
"the industrial complex continues to generate wealth, but not prosperity" Don Tapscott and Alex Tapscott, Blockchain Revolution, 2016, Portfolio/Penguin, p. 93.
Don't use metaphors. Don't say what something is like, say what it is.
For more of George's Office Wall, visit my blog post GEORGE'S OFFICE WALL.
News
NEW REVIEW
The most recent review of my book, The Problem with Survey Research, is by Professor Floyd Fowler and, using his own words, I’ve titled his review:
No Informed Person Would Dispute His Core Premise
[P]resent[s] evidence . . . that the topic, the ways questions are worded, the mode of data collection, and . . . askers themselves, affect answers in ways that clearly imply error.
[C]riticizes researchers for ignoring or downplaying known sources of error such as biased and undefined sample frames and low response rates. . . . also criticizes researchers who use monetary incentives (“bribes”) to improve response rates
[E]xtensively footnoted and referenced
No informed person would dispute his core premise that there is plenty of error in surveys that . . . can produce distorted results [emphasis added].
---Floyd J. Fowler, Jr., Contemporary Sociology, Sept. 2014, vol. 43, no. 5, 660-62
New York Review of Books Review
My book, The Problem with Survey Research, is reviewed in the New York Review of Books by Andrew Hacker: “an unabashed. . . . spirited. . . . indictment of surveys. . . . `The flaws of polls,’ he writes, `are so extensive and severe that survey research, as a method for finding out what’s really going on, should be abandoned’ . . . the issues he raises are important. . . . For one thing, `respondents lie’ or `do not have relevant and correct information.’ For another, `question wording skews results.’ Those who sponsor research `disguise, or hide’ its `actual or primary purpose.’ Even location matters. The answers given in classrooms differ from those given in dormitories, even when both are anonymous. Beam’s advice: `If you want to find out what’s really going on, don’t ask’”. For the complete review, click here.
