I’ve come to the conclusion that the average researcher in an average university assumes that he’s pretty pretty ironical (speaking from experience, not from research). He is like the flatmate who puts a Calvin and Hobbes comic strip on the fridge which stays there for the next 10 years (together with the flatmate). As he thinks Calvin and Hobbes are funny on a fridge door at home why not putting one on his office door at university? So he does it. (No objections from my side, its a free world, your irony is not my irony but I would defend to a Voltairian death your right to have it, at least metaphorically, and yes, sometimes I think I am funny too, and yes, many people don’t think so). But sometimes the funny researcher finds something in the abundance of comic strips and quotes which nails it. One of my colleagues has put the following quote on his door:
“In God we trust; all others bring data.” (The “Internet” gives credit to the statistician W. Edwards Deming)First bring me data, then, if you still have the burning desire to do so, put a narrative around it.