books
how professors think inside the curious world of academic judgment
p excellence . originality . intelligence . everyone in academia stresses quality . but what exactly is it and how do professors identify it p in the academic evaluation system known as peer review highly respected professors pass judgment usually confidentially on the work of others . but only those present in the deliberative chambers know exactly what is said . michele lamont observed deliberations for fellowships and research grants and interviewed panel members at length . in how professors think she reveals what she discovered about this secretive powerful peculiar world . p anthropologists political scientists literary scholars economists historians and philosophers dont share the same standards . economists prefer mathematical models historians favor different kinds of evidence and philosophers dont care much if only other philosophers understand them . but when they come together for peer assessment academics are expected to explain their criteria respect each others expertise and guard against admiring only work that resembles their own . they must decide is the research original and important brave or glib timely or merely trendy pro diversity or interdisciplinary enough p judging quality isnt robotically rational ; its emotional cognitive and social too . yet most academics self respect is rooted in their ability to analyze complexity and recognize quality in order to come to the fairest decisions about that elusive god excellence . in how professors think lamont aims to illuminate the confidential process of evaluation and to push the gatekeepers to both better understand and perform their role .
hardcover harvard university press 2009 isbn13 9780674032668 isbn10 0674032667
abridged n isbn 13 9780674032668 number in series 1 number of pages 330 publisher harvard univ pr release date 62135769600000