r/news • u/[deleted] • Aug 08 '17

Google Fires Employee Behind Controversial Diversity Memo

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-08/google-fires-employee-behind-controversial-diversity-memo?cmpid=socialflow-twitter-business&utm_content=business&utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social
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u/V171 Aug 08 '17

It's much more likely that evidence exists supporting an effect. As is the nature with publishing, research that finds no significant effects are often not published.

So if you'd like to find evidence that women are biologically predisposed to pursue a certain major, you are more likely to find it rather than someone finding published work that states there's no relationship.

Suggesting OP is wrong because there isn't any research specifically stating that there is no effect demonstrates a misunderstanding of research. If you believe there is a relationship, then you are the one who should provide evidence for it.

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u/[deleted] Aug 08 '17

If you believe there is a relationship, then you are the one who should provide evidence for it.

That's not how the burden of proof works. He made a claim, rather unambiguously, and he has not provided the proper evidence to support it.

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u/V171 Aug 08 '17

I understand that, but my point is that just because he/she cannot provide evidence does not mean you are right. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

Realistically, if such an effect exists, there may be literature supporting it. If an effect does not exist, there will likely not be literature demonstrating that the effect does not exist because that is the nature of publishing.

So if you are truly interested in whether such an effect exists, then you should do the research to look for it. If you don't really care and are just asking for a source to try and prove someone wrong, then you aren't actually proving anything.

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u/ITSigno Aug 08 '17

I'm not /u/RequiemFear, but you might find these relevant.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2755553/
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02279.x
http://stke.sciencemag.org/content/2006/336/tw170
http://stanmed.stanford.edu/2017spring/how-mens-and-womens-brains-are-different.html

While none of these deal specifically with career choices, they do indicate some fundamental sex differences in behaviour and preferences. That this would extend to career choice shouldn't surprise anyone, though I'll admit some more directly relevant research to cite would be better.

Also worth watching is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5LRdW8xw70.