Robin Kok, PhD – All content CC BY-NC 4.0.

A stir about Elsevier…

02/01/202302/01/2023 robin_k No Comments

academia

Royally late, but I’ve caused a bit of a stir around noted science parasites Elsevier. I kept getting irrelevant “newsletters” (aka spam) from Elsevier’s journals, and did a subject access request under my GDPR rights to find out what they know about me. It went smoothly, but the result wasn’t pretty. Then I tweeted about … Read More “A stir about Elsevier…” »

Sir Henry at Rawlinson End

11/01/201913/08/2019 robin_k 5 Comments

nerdy

Well, it was bound to happen. The story so far…. While the 1980 movie “Sir Henry at Rawlinson End” (IMDB link) may be obscure, the radio series that precipitated it is probably even more obscure. Although Stanshall intended to compress the original BBC radio series in the eponymous 1978 album, by then Stanshall’s alcoholism had … Read More “Sir Henry at Rawlinson End” »

About Firth’s “Apps for Depression” meta-analysis…

23/03/201808/06/2018 robin_k 1 Comment

academia, nerdy

WARNING: Long rant. Shield your eyes and read with a fluffy animal, narcotics, and a bucket for vomit/stool within reach. Great! A meta-analysis on smartphone apps for depression. UPDATE: After I wrote this blog, Joe Firth got in touch with me on Twitter. He explained that (paraphrasing here) the reason for rating studies as “low” … Read More “About Firth’s “Apps for Depression” meta-analysis…” »

Robin looks for meta-analysis alternatives 1: JamoviMeta.

08/08/201701/09/2017 robin_k 1 Comment

This is published as CC BY-NC, Uncategorised

Meta-analyses. So much meta, many analyses. I’ve done a few, two are under review, and two almost ready for submission. Red thread in this is the Comprehensive Meta-Analysis (CMA) meta-analysis software package. CMA has brought the practice of meta-analysis (or ‘an exercise in mega-silliness‘, as Eysenck called it) to a broader audience because of its … Read More “Robin looks for meta-analysis alternatives 1: JamoviMeta.” »

High-resolution Risk of Bias assessment graph… in Excel!

11/03/201608/08/2022 robin_k 25 Comments

academia, nerdy, This is published as CC BY-NC, Uncategorised

UPDATE AUGUST 2022: Back in 2015 or 2016 when I made this, there weren’t too many alternatives to RevMan for RoB assessment graphs. You can still use the Excel thing below, but I strongly advise you to use other, newer (and vastly better) methods like the {robvis} package in R. For more information and hands-on guidelines for … Read More “High-resolution Risk of Bias assessment graph… in Excel!” »

eMental Health interview with VGCt [Dutch]

24/01/201601/09/2017 robin_k No Comments

academia, This is published as CC BY-NC

Nothing like an interview on eMental Health to make you feel important I’m still reeling from the festivities surrounding my H-index increase from 3 (“aggressively mediocre“) to 4 (“impressively flaccid but with mounting tumescence“)*. Best gift I got: a sad, weary stare from my colleagues. Yay! But back to eMental Health (booooo hisssss). Some while … Read More “eMental Health interview with VGCt [Dutch]” »

Save the Data! Data integrity in Academia

24/04/2015 robin_k No Comments

academia, nerdy

Data integrity is integral to reproducibility. I recently read something on an Internet web site called Facebook, it’s supposed to be quite the thing at the moment. Friend and skeptical academic James Coyne, whose fearless stabs at the methodologically pathetic and conceptually weak I much admire, instafacetweetbooked a post over at Mind the Brain, pointing to … Read More “Save the Data! Data integrity in Academia” »

New paper in the bulletin of the EHPS

28/02/2015 robin_k No Comments

academia, nerdy

What’s up with the speed of eHealth implementation? Fresh off the virtual press at the bulletin of the European Health Psychology Society: Jeroen Ruwaard and I investigate into the rapid pace of eHealth implementation. Many bemoan the slow implementation and uptake of eHealth, but aren’t we in fact going too quickly? We examine four arguments … Read More “New paper in the bulletin of the EHPS” »

Re-amping Ritual, Rejoice!

30/07/2014 robin_k No Comments

bass, nerdy

In preparing the re-issue of our critically acclaimed but sold out 2003 debut album The Apotheosis, we decided to have a little fun and re-record a few of the old tracks, just a tad shy of 10 years later. And wow, has technology come a long way since 2002/2003. We now do basically everything ourselves. No wait, … Read More “Re-amping Ritual, Rejoice!” »

Quick thought

07/07/2014 robin_k No Comments

nerdy

“Meta-analyses are ventriloquist’s dummies. Sitting on a wise man’s knee they may be made to utter words of wisdom; elsewhere, they say nothing, or talk nonsense, or indulge in sheer diabolism.” – Adapted from Aldous Huxley