Comments on: War, Perception, and Social History http://www.brettschulte.net/CWBlog/2009/01/15/war-perception-and-social-history/ Informed Amateurs Blog the American Civil War Sat, 11 Feb 2012 11:41:50 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= By: Fred Ray http://www.brettschulte.net/CWBlog/2009/01/15/war-perception-and-social-history/comment-page-1/#comment-2211 Fred Ray Sat, 17 Jan 2009 03:19:33 +0000 http://www.brettschulte.net/CWBlog/?p=2362#comment-2211 Thanks, Jim. All these studies have some common problems: 1) the tendency to conflate correlation with causation 2) confirmation bias 3) failure to consider alternative explanations Not saying that's the case here, but it's easy to "prove" what you go looking for Thanks, Jim. All these studies have some common problems:

1) the tendency to conflate correlation with causation

2) confirmation bias

3) failure to consider alternative explanations

Not saying that’s the case here, but it’s easy to “prove” what you go looking for

]]> By: Jim Schmidt http://www.brettschulte.net/CWBlog/2009/01/15/war-perception-and-social-history/comment-page-1/#comment-2210 Jim Schmidt Fri, 16 Jan 2009 22:05:44 +0000 http://www.brettschulte.net/CWBlog/?p=2362#comment-2210 Good post...I saw the review in the Wall Street Journal and may get a copy as well...the authors used the "Early Indicators" database pioneered by Nobel laureate Robert Fogel...a lot of other folks have used that database for some interesting Civil War-related research...I've written columns about it: http://civilwarmed.blogspot.com/2008/06/medical-departmnet-17-purple-hearts-and.html http://civilwarmed.blogspot.com/2008/03/medical-department-13-ambulance_10.html Of course, the danger in relying too much on the database is that it can become a "lies, damn lies, and statistics" exercise...if the authors of Heroes/Cowards really have used other sources - soldier journals, etc. - then it could be a good study and an interesting read. Keep up the good work. Jim Good post…I saw the review in the Wall Street Journal and may get a copy as well…the authors used the “Early Indicators” database pioneered by Nobel laureate Robert Fogel…a lot of other folks have used that database for some interesting Civil War-related research…I’ve written columns about it:

http://civilwarmed.blogspot.com/2008/06/medical-departmnet-17-purple-hearts-and.html

http://civilwarmed.blogspot.com/2008/03/medical-department-13-ambulance_10.html

Of course, the danger in relying too much on the database is that it can become a “lies, damn lies, and statistics” exercise…if the authors of Heroes/Cowards really have used other sources – soldier journals, etc. – then it could be a good study and an interesting read.

Keep up the good work.

Jim

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