Why we need more psychology programmers/ EL Knife, a data utility for transforming spreadsheets

Abstract

Software can be a curse. Like most people, I often feel guilty about all the software that sits idle in the box or on my hard drive because I have not yet had time to learn to use it. Even within the specialized area of psychology, there has been a lot of software development.Much of this has been described in Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers or can be found in on-line software directories such as CTI Psychology (Hammond & Trapp, 1991; www.psychology.ltsn.ac.uk/ ). So it comes as a surprise to me that I am going to argue that we need more software and more people writing it, especially more psychologists. The greatest need is software for research.There are two reasons why we need more programmers. The first is to ensure the continued health and growth of psychology. Any research field that fails to improve and invent new tools will not be able to recruit the best young minds and will eventually dry up. The second reason has to do with giving individualsthe greatest possible control of their own intellectual and professional lives. Researchers need to acquire at least journeyman-levelprogramming skills so that their careers will not be limited by the bounds of somebody else's imagination. What I am suggesting is that we need both: more people who publish software for general use and more people who can write their own software. Let us consider some objections to this thesis.Objection 1. Software creation should be left to wellfunded companies that can afford to develop and maintain quality products. It is true that a large company, employing a full time team of software developers, can produce a more professional looking product than a lone psychology professor working over summer break. The problem is that software is expensive to develop and the market is too small (Schneider, 1991). Large software companies can find other, more lucrative opportunities for their money and talent. As a result, most psychology research software has been written by individuals and small companies with limited resources. This means that development for psychology is slower than in the commercial mainstream and lags behind changes in hardware and operating systems.If large companies will not spend the money and small companies do not have it to spend, what can we do? Well, here is what we have done. First, we have relied on software that was written for a broader market. There is excellent software available for electronic instrumentation, digital imaging, and statistical analysis, because these functions are needed by scientists in all fields. Second, companies making software specifically for psychology research have survived by selling to the education market. Almost all of the research software packages for sale now have sets of experiments for use in undergraduate laboratory courses because, although still small, this market is much larger than that for pure research. This trend is good because it supports software that could not exist otherwise and it trains students on professional tools that they can cont...

The Potential of Computer-Assisted Direct Observation Apps

“…Science improves with better tools [41] and with ingenuity that "leads to new means of making more valid comparisons" [4]. Whether they will actually fulfill this potential is beyond the scope of this article.…”

“…For example, some research needs are too specific for commercial software [41]. Science grows and improves with new tools [41], it is less constrained by other people's conceptions and allows for more creative solutions ( [41]; [42]). The scientific imagination also encourages innovation [43] (also one reason for the present paper), and it allows for better cross-disciplinary communication, even if a professional programmer or company does the actual development and programming [42].…”

“…While many features are waiting to be used by commercial providers of mobile observation PAPER THE POTENTIAL OF COMPUTER-ASSISTED DIRECT OBSERVATION APPS software, there is also huge potential for noncommercially developed apps. There is a long tradition of scientific participation, and there are good reasons for scientists to develop new tools, or to be closely involved in their development (see, e.g., [41]; [42]). For example, some research needs are too specific for commercial software [41].…”

“…There is a long tradition of scientific participation, and there are good reasons for scientists to develop new tools, or to be closely involved in their development (see, e.g., [41]; [42]). For example, some research needs are too specific for commercial software [41]. Science grows and improves with new tools [41], it is less constrained by other people's conceptions and allows for more creative solutions ( [41]; [42]).…”

Using open-source solutions to teach computing skills for student research

“…In certain areas of psychological research (such as computational modeling), students typically develop extensive programming abilities, but most of our students could instead be described as nonprogrammers who are competent users of basic computer applications.Although students can benefit from being taught to use existing research software (see, e.g., Goolkasian, 1997), the introduction of students to computer programming in the context of research has additional potential benefits. First, there is a need for psychological software more specialized than what is available commercially, as well as for researchers to be able to develop their own (Beagley, 2001). If students understand the basics of programming, they may have better insight into the limitationsof existing software, and they may contribute to the development of better research software in the future.…”