Academic outsourcing

Though co-authorship between leading academics and graduate students is common, and can often be of mutual benefit, it is reasonable to expect the professor in question to make a substantial contribution to the end product - especially if they are the lead author.

A key issue is how much credit should be given those who do the hard slog of gathering the evidence and crunching the numbers? When co-writing papers I have always insisted they be the lead author, but I suspect this is often not the case. This paragraph from an article by Jacob Hale Russell in magazine 02138, A Million Little Writers, caught my eye:

One of academia’s up-and-coming darlings is Roland Fryer, an assistant professor in the economics department who began teaching at Harvard just last year. Fryer is a media star: He has appeared on CNN and been written about in the New York Times, Esquire, and this issue of 02138 (see page 34). Fryer’s group, the American Inequality Lab, works on a half-dozen or more major research areas at a time. To do so, Fryer now employs seven full-time “project managers,” mostly recent college alums, and works with dozens of others. The students, generally recent college graduates like David Toniatti, each manage a research project, from designing the methodology to collecting the data and running the numbers. Fryer writes the final papers, for which he is accorded primary authorship. “It’s him casting a vision, us working through the details, and him correcting it,” Toniatti says. “Everyone can run the regression; it’s really the idea that counts.”

I am sure what goes on at Harvard's American Inequality Lab is quite common, and that many economic professors engage in such 'atelier' practices. And at least Fryer is said to write the final papers. But to what extent should such academic outsourcing be accredited? Is co-authorship enough? Comments welcome - especially if you have been party to these kind of arrangements yourself.

UPDATE: Tim Harford links to this post at his FT Undercover Economist blog, and comments:

This makes perfect sense to me, but the 02138 article also lays out some of the risks and problems of too much outsourcing. Roland Fryer, incidentally, is a very impressive figure and features in The Logic of Life. Stephen Dubner (co-author of Freakonomics) wrote a truly astonishing profile of him here - if you never read anything about an economist every again, at least read that.

Comments

[Some physics dude]

In physics, generally the lab leader (with a job analagous to Fryer) is the last name on the paper. The general understanding is that he provides guidance, while the students do much of the grunt work. The order of the names of the students indicates who did more of the grunt work.

If all authors made an equal contribution, alphabetical. Sometimes (especially in PRL, since their LaTex style makes this the default), by institution, then alphabetical within the institution.

Math people tend to do everything alphabetical.

[jsalvati]

As someone who will probably be an econ graduate student soon, I think Fryer's approach is totally appropriate. The people with the idea should be most credited; don't we prize ideas more than gruntwork abilities in scientists?

[Ace]

"As someone who will probably be an econ graduate student soon, I think Fryer's approach is totally appropriate. The people with the idea should be most credited; don't we prize ideas more than gruntwork abilities in scientists?

Posted by: jsalvati"

I don't think this is acceptable at all. NOT everybody can do the regressions, it takes lots of hard work to put together the the evidence and make the regressions work. I have got my PhD in Econ and have done a lot of the data crunching, my experience is that the one who has done most writing / most data crunching comes in the front, those who have merely provided comments / advices / guidance comes in the back. I have looked at one of Fryer's paper - the idea and concept isn't that new and he has conveniently (like many US academics mind you) forget to quote their fellow folks across the pond who have been working on the same area.

[Arthur Eckart]

In economics, you can outsource regressions. However, you can't outsource ideas. So, it seems, ideas, whether big or small, are more important. Of course, big ideas, e.g. the Linder Effect (link below) are more influencial.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linder_hypothesis

[JD]

About Roland Fryer

"Roland Fryer, incidentally, is a very impressive figure..."

I don't know much about this economist but at first sight, I can't find anything impressive about him. He looks like a regular mainstream economist, conveying regular mainstream ideas. I can't see why this guy is presented as the next revolution in human science. Can someone enlight me? I would say a priori that these kind of ideas reflect so much common sense in the U.S. that they could be outsourced rather easily.

JD.

[Jasmine Rose]

As a member of the University Faculty, I have read and was inspired by a visitor editorial1in these pages a few years ago that I kept in my office. In the assessment of writing, Recently, I observed a practice that has the potential to become an imbalance in our work, a practice, I will describe how academic outsourcing.

Outsourcing occurs when a company buys goods or services from an external source, rather than the production of goods or the provision of services "in-house". For example, General Motors (GM) have outsourcing, if it has a component of one of its mini-vans by a non-GMO manufacturer's instructions. This practice has been celebrated as one of the means for improving the cost-effectiveness of the management and enable enterprises to remain competitive, although defendant as a potential cause of job insecurity by workers.

I think the term can also be used in the academic community from physical therapy, to describe the practice of the Faculty to provide additions to the "goods". Representative of the ability to work as a visiting professor, laboratories and instructors lab examiners, and, of course, to serve as coordinators. If this practice, a place in the exhibition of a curriculum of physical therapy? The speed of answer is "yes". "You can immediately see a number of positive results. Often, the complement of the Faculty are practicing physical therapists. Students have expressed interest irritated, if a teacher is practicing therapist, to be grounded in the day-to-date clinical experience supply. profession and the additional faculty member to benefit, because it is a mechanism for the transition between hospital and the classroom. Clinicians may be additional academic opportunity to try before we have a career of teaching. These facilitate the movement in the academic world, the positions often cited lack Faculty of physical therapists.

For the institution, the benefits of the use of the Adjunct Faculty are tangible. In our Institute, Faculty Supplement are paid less than a quarter of the salary of a full-time job on the faculty to teach the same three courses of performance. As Adjunct Faculty are, in general, with only symbolic benefits, is cheap, the savings for the establishment are even more dramatic. Representative of the Faculty often receive no fixed desk, no technician does not have the resources for research (Land Management, peripherals, time, resources), and there is no real commitment to the Faculty development opportunities. As a result, academic institutions, as well as the company subcontracts, the profits from the reduction or elimination of many of the costs associated with benefits in relation to the finished product. Representative of the Faculty are a real price.

I think, a realistic assessment of costs is necessary. Representative of the Faculty are not always in the business, full-time faculty members and conducting at the University of the division operates as in the working committees and task forces and academic and professional advice. Full-time faculty can also expect formal or informal, to provide additional aid University Faculty in the context of management. This may include advice on the classification, the checks carried out, in writing, the classroom and teaching management techniques, and maybe even the hours and unexpected absences. The result was a decision to increase the use of the Adjunct Faculty has the very real potential in an item in the obligations of the faculty full time. As a small, but concrete, hypothetical example, if 250 physical therapists students need a physical therapy faculty advisors, and they are 10 full-time teachers, while each member of the faculty to work with 25 advisees . But if members of the Faculty 5 (full-time), without debate, Adjunct Faculty responsibilities, then everything else full-time were 50 teachers advise students. Such examples can be attendance at cinemas, recruits, and many other academic responsibilities.

I would therefore urge caution in the implementation of the earth complement instructors, ifthe main objective is to reduce costs. The widespread use of the option in a surplus in May of the net reduction in the yield of full-time or nuclear weapons, of the Faculty. The supporting role of full-time teachers to play in this scenario are rarely informed and a work plan and a reduction in teaching, research or administration and / or clinical practice of each member's full-time Faculty. This practice can also help, stress and loss of balance Mr. Stith so brilliantly described. The possible reduction in the productivity of full-time faculty is probably not enthusiastically by faculty members or to improve their capacity, the mandate and the promotion deserve. The same applies if the department or institution as a whole can be seen as effective (cheapest), the large-scale deployment of this practice.

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