Hiring Practices

Discussion in 'Online & DL Teaching' started by Kizmet, Jul 4, 2017.

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  1. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

  2. jonlevy

    jonlevy Active Member

    Italian study likely full of junk data. Last names could indicate neoptism but without further proof means nothing at all.
     
  3. Abner

    Abner Well-Known Member

  4. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    So you're saying that because it's Italian, it's worthless?
     
  5. jonlevy

    jonlevy Active Member

    Yes but not because Italian but because the sample is flawed. In a European country, one would expect to see more duplications of the same last name than in the USA for example. Remember it is supposed to be a scientific study but I suspect the standard deviation on this one makes it pseudoscience or the data has been logged to death to make it seem acceptable. The premise that duplicative last names in European university faculties means nepotism and bias seems flawed to me. For example in the USA, Smith might come up a lot but of course that means nothing by itself unless those Smiths are realted by blood and marriage.
     
  6. sanantone

    sanantone Well-Known Member

    I wonder if this is actually true. Since the U.S. is mostly made up of relatively recent immigrants, our last names appear to be more limited. For example, there aren't very many different last names among Hispanics who have been here for generations. When I see a Spanish surname I've never seen before, it's usually because the person is an immigrant or descended from recent immigrants. In the U.S., you'll mostly see Garcia, Garza, Hernandez, Rodriguez, etc. If you go to Latin America or Spain, you'll see greater variation in surnames.

    The same applies with British/Scottish/Irish last names. How many millions of black and white people in the U.S. have the last names of Williams, Smith, Johnson, Jones, etc.?
     
  7. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    I suspect you're wrong about this but, like you, I have no evidence to support my assertion.
     
  8. jonlevy

    jonlevy Active Member

    Very simple, the smaller the sample, the less accurate a study like that will be. And remember one can easily and acceptably massage the data in multivariate statistics to get closer to the result desired. Some countries like Serbia and Croatia have very few last names for example. The US is going to have the most diversity because it is land of immigrants. Additionally, the same result could be achieved just by eyeballing a roster of faculty and seeing last names repeated and stating "scientically< that it must be nepotism.
     
  9. sanantone

    sanantone Well-Known Member

    The U.S. has greater diversity of ethnic groups, but less diversity in surnames within ethnic groups. You'll find greater variation in Italian last names in Italy than you would in the U.S.
     

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