How should scientific research and media be related? Interview with Professor Asamiko Miura, a social psychologist



In order to understand the news about science correctly,Directly read scientific papers that originated the newsThere are many things that you can not access the paper which becomes the information source from the news on the Internet, and there are many places to sell 'psychology' based on fantasy not books and websites but evidence. Professor Asamiko Miura of Kwansei Gakuin University is trying to improve the situation of such science, especially psychology in Japan. Do research on social psychology using technology such as "Majority of online survey company's monitors do not read teaching", "Track election activities with GPS and examine the linkage between campaign movement and voting rate" I asked Professor Miura "From why I became a researcher", "What kind of form should scientific research and reporting be?"

Arrived at Kwansei Gakuin University.


Miura 's Professor' s Room 's Door has "Mi" turned upside down The goodwill hangs.


Inside is like this. Books are lined all along the bookshelf across the wall.


Statistics, books of data analysis ... ...


Books in which characters are arranged such as the Internet, communications, mails, smartphones. Professor Miura's research field can be seen from the title of the book as well.


So, why Professor Miura who studies social psychology became a researcher, from the beginning how it is done with researchers and what kind of people they are, from the Internet to unique research contents based on the Internet , I have heard stories about digging root digging.

GIGAZINE (hereinafter, G):
How did Miura become a professor in the background? Because we in the general public do not know the process that isnt "become a professor", First Once Could Talk it.

Professor Mamoura Asako (hereinafter Miura):
That question is often done. Today I also asked the students, "I'd like to go to graduate school, but what is the biggest decisor I thought the teacher would go to graduate school?" I was asked, but I could not make an interesting answer. For most reasons, I have rarely thought of becoming something other than a researcher.


G:
Really?

Miura:
When asked "What would you like to be in the future?" From the time of elementary school, there was no answer other than researchers. I wonder if I wanted to be a newspaper reporter for about a year. I wanted to be a researcher rather than a university teacher all the rest.

G:
Why did you want to become a university researcher at elementary school?

Miura:
In a simple story, my grandfather was a college researcher. I do not remember listening to another story like "What is research", but "life with researchers" is normal for me and I never thought of a special occupation at all.

G:
It was a very common occupation.

Miura:
so. I also liked to research something. My father asked me "Please investigate this" and have studied research on free research. Also, if there is something you do not understand something, even at the time of eating the meal, I will search the house until I get a certain conclusion by pulling a dictionary or a dictionary for the time being. Talking to people, "There are not many such houses", but my house was normal.

Even after entering the university, I did not have a phasic struggle to go on to graduate school and I thought that "graduate school is going". When it says that a girl becomes a university professor, it seems that it is often said that "Do not say bad things, please stop it", but my house says "I want to do it and to prove the ability to do it even more Since there was a policy of doing anything if there is something likely to happen, I have never been opposed.


G:
From my point of view, I became a researcher quite naturally.

Miura:
That's right. So there is no hesitation and I have not been opposed, so I can not answer anything if I was asked the chance. However, it says in my graduation album of elementary school "I want to do research of history". My grandfather was a researcher of Chinese history, so I wanted to do history as well. But my grandfather asked me "Stop history because it does not cost money".


G:
It is a tremendously easy reason, history can not be money (lol)

Miura:
It seems painful that I was poor. The story remained in the impression, because I did not like poverty, "History should not do."

G:
(Lol)

Miura:
I wanted to do psychology because I attended a girls' school at junior high school and high school and a mission school, and I was at school with my sisters. They say, "I have to do this", "I must do this" or "I have to do something like this" from my point of view is unreasonable. I thought, "Why are these people?" But, they have a strong belief to marry God, from there, I wondered, 'Do you believe in God or religion?' "Why do people want to believe in God?" I thought that was psychology. At that time the examination magazineSnowfall ageI learned that there are many kinds of psychology. I did not have an open campus at that time.

What I want to do is social psychology even in psychology, because I was interested in something like social and human interaction. Is religion going to influence the movement of society? If Christianity carries out crusader expeditions, now it is a story of Islam. At that time I was not structured and thinking that far.

But then, after entering university I was surprised that about 80% of people trying to learn psychologyClinical psychologyIt was that he wanted to do. In many cases, there are troubles of your own mind, and how to solve it? A person who starts from the place of saying, and has a margin in mind, aims to be a counselor by wanting to help others. But I did not know anything about clinical psychology until I entered college and I did not even think there are people who are interested.

G:
That is the story of Osaka University.

Miura:
That's right, I was planning to do social psychology from the time I entered Osaka University.

What you want to study has changed, but the rest have not changed at all. In various ways, I think that the family environment was blessed.


G:
When living normally and working normally, it would be like this.

Miura:
It is such feeling. So I summarized it about 10 characters, "I wanted to be." It's not overly strange, is not it? I think that I'd like you to say that I'm getting somewhat lost as to asking a question, "I decided to become a university professor after going through such twists and turns," but what I am sorry I did not become a reference.

G:
Professor Miura's websiteAnd research map, "My research interest is to consistently and elucidate the mechanism by which communication and interaction create new" something "since the beginning of learning social psychology, so as its output I am interested in decision making and creativity, or emotional expression and interpersonal networks in that process ... ... "What does this mean?

Miura:
I'm sorry it is not easy (lol) I think there are various types of researchers in psychology as well. For example, there is a theory which becomes the mainstream, a type which thinks to do this to verify it, a person who wants to set up a new theory. I like to capture phenomena, that is, to draw out what is going on as it is. People always exist behind social phenomena. If I can get data directly from people, I like to explain that these people are supporting this phenomenon by collecting the psychological data of the people behind one phenomenon is.

For example, if you are talking to a person, even if you do not consider "to create something new idea", something new comes out from there that you can not think of by yourself. I was interested in those days when I entered university. My father was a technician related to electric power, but technicians are not "totally unique", but how to make something better even a bit better than ever before, with a brain in the group Who are you thinking together? From that point on, I want to do the research that "Which group gathers what new ideas can come out", I wanted to do the best research, and since I entered the social psychology laboratory at the university 3 years, I was doing research.

As an experiment, students evaluated and examined the contents of the idea by having a group of 2 or 3 people work out ideas. As a result, in order for us to draw new ideas according to the theme, it is not only that we need to collect disjointed people, but there is a common part in everyone, and there are various knowledgeI found that it has the best effect.

At that time, it was an experiment that we discussed subjects such as wire hangers and CD-ROMs and discussed themselves so as to think about "useless usage". I will let individuals issue ideas before starting work in the group, but "a group with a lot of ideas that individuals have in common, with more variations," derived the best result.


G:
The website says, "We are currently focusing on online scenes via the Internet", but when did you start to pay attention to this?

Miura:
Long ago,Grassroots BBSThere was personal computer communication called, I was interacting in various ways around 1992 when I entered postgraduate school. I got married to a person I met there, but (laugh)

G:
It is a run of net love affair.


Miura:
That's right. When grassroots BBS at that time was not a city code number, the telephone bill was high, but we are near the house by the city code number. Since we had a lot of off-club meetings, I became friends since I met them. In that sense it was a run of net love affair.

I think that I have noticed in my previous talks, but I am researching almost based on my own experience. In the past I did not do it very conscientiously, but I think that it will be such a way in the long run.

G:
That's what it is. Also, when I look at Professor Miura's Twitter account, I thought that the number of tweets is 140,000 tweets and I thought it was a mistake ... ... It is a great tweets number.

Oʞɐsɐ ɐɹnıɯ (@ asarin) さ ん | Twitter
https://twitter.com/asarin


Miura:
I registered twice in April 2007, so I keep tweeting over 10 years. Because it is 14,000 a year, 40 less per day ... ... How much is it? By the way, there seems to be only one day when I did not tweet one.

G:
How did you start using Twitter as a trigger?

Miura:
Because I heard the rumor that "Twitter was made" as a trigger. When you have a net communication tool, for exampleMastodonWhen I heard that "Mastodon seems to have been made", I will make an account for the time being.

G:
I see. Trying to create an account for the time being (laugh)

Miura:
Mastodon does not know the mechanism of what he made, he left it as it is .... "Asarin"Is the handle name I use since I first played Dragon Quest, but I do not want others to take it. So, if you can do something new, I'll take a handle name "asarin" for the time being. It will be up to the community depending on what will become afterwards.

G:
The style of keeping it for the time being is similar to getting the company's domain name.

Miura:
It looks alike. If "asarin" can not be taken, it becomes "nobody, who?" (Laugh)


G:
All of them lead to Professor Miura's research.

Miura:
That's right. At first I made my own website and I kept a diary every day for 12 years until the fall of 2013.

So, as a person who is writing a web diary, I issued a book titled "Psychology of Weblog". I wrote this book with four people including me, but three of us other than me were seniors who were originally studying internet communication and I am a teacher of the generation about 20 years older than me. We heard a voice saying "There is a strange social psychologist who has written a web diary."

Psychology of Weblogs | Kiyomi Yamashita, Yoshiro Kawakami, Yasunori Kawaura, Asako Miura | Books | mail order | Amazon
https://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/ASIN/475710149X/gigazine-22


G:
Professor Miura's webpageWhen I saw this book with "What kind of book is it?" I was thinking about that. If you look only at the course of your research, how do you select and research themes? I was wondering.

Miura:
It is often said. If you see what you are doing, you are scattered.

G:
Looking at it from here, it looks like it falls apart, but if you try it from yourself it is all about the territory.

Miura:
My research is at least my interest and experiences as well as my continuity. Recently there are a lot of researchers getting acquainted with people who knew on the Internet, especially those who originally knew but who are exchanging via the net "This kind of research is not interesting?", So it may seem more disagreeable not.

In the most recent research, I took a reaction to what people voters performed campaigning in the mayoral election of Hyogo prefecture · Ako city which I lived from about 3 years old until I entered university We conducted research to investigate whether or not. I like to take data in various forms, so I asked the candidate to record how I moved in the city with GPS for the election period, and the voters listed on the voters list I did a questionnaire survey on a part of it. Since the address list is also included in the voter list, I can tell how far the candidate approached the electoral campaign for the residents of those who responded. And I examined what kind of campaign campaign it was when approaching, whether it was linked to voting. Because I was not familiar with political psychology, inviting my colleagues at the same university, analysis of GPS data was also an amateur at all so borrow wisdom to the juniors of the university. To put it briefly, when coming close, it is linked to voting, but it did not lead to favorable impression.

It is a research that our graduate students stuck to the campaign for a week while helping out the campaign, but the candidates who got stuck with me are classmates of kindergarten and elementary school. Elementary school 5 or 6 years was a so-called boyfriend.

I have never met private school since I was a junior high school student. After I graduate from elementary school, I have never met, but when I register my school that I graduated on Facebook, I get a list saying "This person is your friend?" Is it? I came out there four or five years ago and I became friends thinking that I'm acquainted. He was a candidate for the election, so I was doing a variety of activities of town development, but as part of that I was told that "I would like you to come to the lecture on psychology" and for the first time in 30 years in Ako city I met him. So it is said that you are being invited to run for the mayoral election on the way to the destination by riding a car. As soon as I heard about that, I thought "This is the data ... ...."


G:
That way of connecting is tremendous.

Miura:
I often say that people look like data, but for me the data is so important. I think that the person told is bad, but I do not mean to take down the person himself. I fortunately asked him "I want you to do research like this because I want to do research like this," OK you. He also taught me other activities he is doing and I got all the data to be changed. But he says he will not win.

Kobe Shimbun NEXT | Society | Name conversation in the election car, what a vote effective effect studies large scale study
https://www.kobe-np.co.jp/news/shakai/201704/0010129963.shtml


Miura:
Also, I frequently use an online research company to gather data, but when I was watching the data gathered, I often saw the data "I did not answer this person seriously."

G:
That is what "the majority of online surveyors' monitors are answering without reading teaching". I saw this and smiled as saying "It is a great result."

Japan Social Psychology Association | Asako Miura, Tetsuro Kobayashi Online survey collaborators do not read the question?
http://www.socialpsychology.jp/ronbun_news/31_01_01.html


Miura:
Even in a survey conducted by paper media for university students until now, there were people who responded poorly, did not they? Try all three or try drawing a pattern with a mark.

G:
Does anyone have made such a response?

Miura:
Because psychology question paper research is very long and there are lots of items, and the same thing is asked, so if you do not motivate you will get hated soon. So you can see that someone plays in the answer column. However, I received a lot of impression in the online survey. So, if you investigate how many people have bad answers and how they will affect the results, perhaps about 20% of people choose not to read anything It turned out to be a result of deaf.

I thought this was a great result, Tweet "I got such a result, I got it", I heard that Kobayashi, who co-worked together, "was told to do research", so I studied If you do, you invited me to do it together and did it. Kobayashi was also a researcher of net communication, he was a graduate student since he was a graduate student since about fifteen years ago but I knew that this was the first time that he collaborated. I had a rip but I feel it last.

G:
This article is very interesting, is not it? "It is a trap (trap) to discover" collaborators who have not read the teaching ".


Miura:
In the case of psychology, it is very difficult to ask the question "What would you do in a situation?" For example, "You are walking in the street, the house over there is a fire, it seems the dog is left behind, so do you actually go to help?" I can not let the fire get up, put the dog, let him go. As a result, the dog will die, the house will burn, if that person will die, it will be tough.

So, if you want to know if you want to help in that scene, let me read the story "Do you think that you are in such a situation, what would you do?", "If you burn this way go to help" Or, "How to call various people", "Calling for help", "Saying Nanjidamida Buddha", and various ideas are answered. But in that case, we should not have had to read the prerequisite sentences. Moreover, there are cases where conditions are experimentally manipulated, such as "being inside grandmother", "being inside is a dog" or "being inside is valuable and expensive" We may ask you to go to. "I will leave it if a dog, but if my grandmother goes to help" or "If my baby helps but I am going to leave my grandmother", you may have options such as having to read the sentences properly and it makes no sense ?

So, I wanted to investigate the five online research companies to investigate, but two companies issued OK for the survey, and the other three companies gave out NG. The objectionable positive reason is "Because I am doing fool surveillance monitors," he said. I am not deceiving just by writing what I am instructed to do. But, if you do something like catching up, it seems that claims come from the monitor. Three companies declined and eventually they went by the other two companies, one company was caught in a trap by about 50%, and one company caught 80% of people.

G:
It is a shocking number.

Miura:
That's right. So, it took a call from the headquarters of about 80% who caught people. I wrote a letter saying "I will never announce that the company here is 80%" (laugh)


G:
If it is said that 80% of the responses are garbage, it will be involved in the foundation of the company.

Miura:
However, recently, it has become widespread that "there are many people who answer without skipping teaching or reading a question sentence", so both researchers and survey companies have taken measures, monitors I got used to it considerably, and the number of bad answers decreased. Right now I am taking data with crowdsourcing, but now, people who are caught by the same question is about 10% ~ 20%. So I will not say that a bad answer could be eradicated, but thankful for this if you just pay attention not to catch on.

G:
I heard stories of the questionnaire and thought "I have read something similar somewhere", but "Van Halen"In the 1970's the famous band called"M & amp; M'sTo prepare the chocolate in the dressing room. In the case that the same conditions are not satisfied, it is said that they wrote about canceling the show after paying full galleries "in the middle of the contractFamous episodesthere is. I felt that nothing had changed since that time.

Miura:
Everyone has not read to the end. It seems that the insurance policy, something, is going to purge deliberately. It is the opposite idea to us (lol)

G:
Although it is another topic, on Twitter as well as the article of the Asahi Newspaper "I think that this article is often interviewed, but at least, at least, only a digital version may be enough so link to the original thesis I do not need to increase the number of letters since I'm covering up with the author so I'm hoping for that day I appeal to the appeal that many times, "but as I was posting it, original papers Please tell me the reason for the idea that I want you to link to.


Miura:
The morning reporter who wrote the coverage article mentioned here is a acquaintance of me, who is interviewing my research well from a long time ago. However, despite being always posting it very well as an article, he says he will not issue the original paper. When asking why he will not publish the paper, he says, "It is because the reader is not asking for it." That habit "I was issued today ~" I like it. I do not like to have good news but I do not need anything to check confidence.

As I told about my growth process, I feel like I am a dictionary or a dictionary when I have something in doubt and I will check certain knowledge to a certain extent, so I feel really bad if I can not understand it. Research thinks that it is impossible to judge the contents of the article if it does not properly understand the process that "it is such an assertion because it did the way of taking such data". If the source was an English paper, there may be few people who can judge by looking at the paper, but it should be issued. There is absolutely a distance to what the newspaper reporter writes and the contents of the actual research and thesis, so I would like to know that.

G:
That is, accessibility to the original source should be secured.

Miura:
That's right. As for that, the acquaintance says that "the press reporter wants to hide the story of his article."

G:
in shortConcealment of news gathering sourcesIt seems to be confused with.

Miura:
But I thought it would be different. There was a newspaper article of the research that my acquaintance researcher said, "About 40% of the students belonging to university students' physical education system are experiencing gambling" this morning, but this is something typical .

Athletic-oriented student, 40% is related to high co-ordination of gambling? - Kyodo News 47 NEWS
https://this.kiji.is/254705828599726085?c=39546741839462401


Miura:
There is no information of the original thesis at all. There is Arai's face photo. I have had a similar experience and introduced a study on the reaction of the general public to the nuclear accident at the time of the Great East Japan Earthquake Disaster, but somehow my face picture. From acquaintance "I saw your face suddenly when I saw LINE news, I clicked on the map, it was magnified", I got in touch, I am too embarrassed because I am too similar to research.

G:
When I want to know a little more detail, I doubt where I can see it.

Miura:
That's right. When I went to Mr. Arai's website I found out that the paper was scheduled to be published and asked if I would like to contact you on Twitter and send me a message, so thankfully I got the paper soon. I am talking about it because I got acquainted with Mr. Arai and if it relates to overseas research, I desperately want to find information on this article. Imagine your words trying to spell your name or become a keyword of research. Even if you write a word, you can not do such a meaningless thing. It seems that there are circumstances that this paper was in such a form because it is because it is going to be published in the general magazine now and it is not yet open. Usually it is mostly seen on the net, so I feel that "If you attach even one link, it is easy to find out."

In addition, since we are doing psychology with the "way to say things using data with a scientific approach" as the core, do not write the core things, I feel like being introduced to. In this article it says "there is a tendency to cooperate", but this strictly speaking is not "high cooperativeness" to measure in character examination. The extent to which I consider myself to be able to do collaborative actions in club activities,Self-efficacyAs I heard "Personality's character is not" cooperative "is high. It is written properly in the manuscript, but when written in articles like this ... ....

G:
You can catch it differently. Or rather, the impression is quite different from what I heard right now.

Miura:
That's right. Mr. Arai is supposed to be talking about "self-efficacy ......", but I guess it has shrunk. Since most of the newspaper articles do not take the final approval of the principal, it is sometimes thinking that "it is wrong ... it is completely different" since it was issued.

G:
In short it is not being asked "Is this expression right with this expression, but the expression is wrong, if it is issued as it is.

Miura:
There are times when that happens. It makes me check if I say it noisily, but after that I go through the desk ... ....

G:
When it comes to talking about what we are checking for.

Miura:
There is something that the reporter did not do as it wrote. For example, if you write self-efficacy on cooperativeness, you get cooperativeness because there are many characters. And if you look at professionals later, the content is going wrong.

G:
The meaning is steadily losing like a message game.

Miura:
That's right, and especially the newspaper is tough.

G:
There are circumstances for the paper ... ....

Miura:
That's right. I hope you have written even "just announced here" at least. Many papers are on-line recently, so if you link like GIGAZINE, I'm very happy.

If media with great influence like a newspaper do not make that effort at that time, if the access to original information is refused "If you do not ask such a thing", the reader gets information clues I lose the opportunity. People do not learn forever unless they have the experience of "investigate and understand", and I think that it is strange to report in such a way that they do not make experience.

G:
I see. This article is truly just a simple example.

Miura:
Even if the paper surface is impossible, in the case of the electronic version I would like a little interest. "For example,Social psychology researchPeople who have hobbies to search may find out "research on social psychology," even if only posting the publication source.


G:
I want you to be kind to the reader more or less.

Miura:
But probably, I think that it does not seem to be gentle to the reader.

G:
It is a story that you are not using the hyperlink mechanism even though it is the Internet. By the story that it is on the internet for what it is.

Miura:
I think that there is also a lack of effort, but I wonder if it is difficult to understand the part that "What kind of process thinks and what kind of data is used to say what is important?" So, in the past few years I have my own press release letters written by my university when I will publish my own paper. Then, at that point, the newspaper company will come to cover the material and see the paper for a while, if you are introduced on the page, if you say "This press release on this sentence is this" Since there is always a link of the article in the text of the release, I think that I have been able to trace it yet.

I am doing a job of collecting data and writing a paper based on that data, so I think that it is difficult to understand if it is in its original form. So I think that it is very important to work that rewrites it to some extent to have ordinary people make it easy to understand. So I'd like you to do things like GIGAZINE more and more. And in the case of Mr. GIGAZINE, I understand that we understand our work to some extent and introduce it with respect, by having a link to the original text properly.

But, we do not have a route to directly provide articles to Mr. GIGAZINE, but we have not been able to use it much ....

G:
In short, I can find many articles on foreign papers, but I can not find anything in Japan at all.

Miura:
There is a lack of efforts of Japanese academic societies. For exampleAmerican Psychological AssociationThere are hundreds of staff, there are science writers, there are lots of journals on it, if there are any papers that seem likely to be, make science news before publishing the article and send news along with the public on your own I am doing it. But I have not done any Japanese journal at all. I am now"Experimental social psychology researchBecause it is an editorial chairperson of a magazine named "magazine", I can transmit it in advance, but there is no systematic way to do that kind of thing, so I do not have a resource that keeps systematically providing news.

First of all, it is the first step for the organization to have a firm awareness and to shape it so that we can do that. But it is not something I can do alone and it probably will take time. Therefore, individual efforts are necessary. Anyway, if my research comes out, it will be announced that it will be adopted as an article, "This is out". Then, we may be able to say that our experts are "articles firmly out of research based on authority, judge the validity of contents". With the information "This is a psychologist / proof," the article can be in the form of being highly reliable. I think that it would be a good thing for us if we can work well with the media that is publishing scientific news in some form like that.


G:
It is also good for readers reading articles.

Miura:
I agree. Looking at GIGAZINE's article, I think that it is understanding that research is published in this way because there are people seeing the link destination thinking "Why are you linking?" you know. However, as publishers are publishing many overseas journals, reading the text is a fee. Fortunately my university contracts with many journals, so most of it can be read for free though. In that respect, there are almost no paid items in Japanese psychological magazines, so you can read all the papers. Moreover, because it is Japanese, it is easy to read and easy for Japanese people. What I became concerned with interacting with the people of the newspaper company was that "quick reporting without meaning" was cherished. Many psychology studies are not "new substance discovery!" Or so separately, so it is not necessary to give much emphasis on expressability.

Also, recently suddenly,The Japanese Psychological AssociationI was told that I could become PR chairperson of the company.

G:
The story has gone forward.

Miura:
I have not done anything in particular though. Suddenly in the course of class sending me an email saying "Do you want me to do it?" And "I will do it." I wonder if I was trying to disseminate science news while I was a public relations chairman of the Japanese Social Psychology Association until this March. It probably was a cumbersome payment because there are not so much peers who like publicity, but I was given a chance to give me the opportunity and thankfully for giving me the opportunity. Everything is done in such a way.

G:
I feel that the wind of the times is changing.

Miura:
I am thinking that I would like to do a lot of things because it's a big deal. Even if I do my own research or coverage of psychology research in general, I realize that if I tackle greedily there will be reality accordingly.

G:
I see. Thank you very much for talking with us today.

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