(it's not a recent story, but I saw it yesterday, and I really liked this amazing series, so I wrote it.

in the Christmas season around 2005, there is always an old man who is more punctual than Santa Claus.

he won't wear red Christmas clothes, nor will he bring presents to children. What he has to do is watch secretly-standing next to the shopping mall staff playing Santa Claus, watching the children and parents who come to visit. And? Write them into papers.

Christmas observation

the grandfather's name is John Trinkaus, a retired professor at the City University of New York's Zicklin School of Business. If you search for his name on Google academic search, you will find some serious work-related books, as well as a wide variety of "informal observations" that are large enough to drown the former. Five consecutive years of Christmas observation is a series of these informal papers.

(Christmas series: annual observation | Pubmed screenshot)

what is written in these papers? Here, Trinkos uses the facial expression scale to assess how children feel when they see Santa Claus.

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according to the data he has unremittingly collected for 5 years, the most common mental activity of local children facing Santa Claus is probably indifference. No matter which sample is taken, more than half of the children will show an uninterested expression in the face of Santa Claus, and they seem to be far less emotional than their parents. However, when Christmas is just around the corner, there will be a little more children with happy faces.

(of course, there are also people who cry directly. | Improbable Research)

how to solve the problem? write a paper

the magic little paper written by Trinkos is of course much more than that. In the 1980s, he began his "informal observation" series, writing more than 80 articles. For these confused and persistent "observations", he won the Ig Nobel Prize in 2003.

(Trinkos (middle) at the 2003 Ig Nobel Awards ceremony, this trophy was also very interesting, encapsulated in the plexiglass cube-- 1 nanogram of gold. | Improbable Research)

the subjects of these informal studies are all derived from Trinkos' own life. When he encounters any annoying or curious situation in his life, he always wants to stop and observe, collect some data, and then write a small paper of one or two pages.

for example, these are his observation questions:

how many people will occupy the fire escape when parking

how many people will ignore the speed limit signs on campus and drive fast

how many people use their hands to grab bread from the bakery

how many young people hate to eat Brussels sprouts

how many young people wear baseball caps and throw their brims behind

.

these "informal observation" research methods are not technical: find an observation site, set a condition, then start counting, and then aggregate the data, that's all. Trinkos is always in charge of collecting data.

in addition to Santa Claus, another series of "masterpieces" by Trinkos is the observation of traffic rules. This series is also a five-part series It also has simplicity and clarity. Unadorned title:

stop sign compliance: informal observation

stop sign compliance: another observation

stop sign compliance: further observation

stop sign compliance: follow-up observation

and the end of 1997: stop sign compliance: final observation

(consistent naming style | screenshot of the paper)

in these "informal observations" Trinkos studied whether drivers would obey the stop signs. From 1979 to 1987, he made a 90-minute observation count at the same time every year at the same four intersections, followed by a supplementary observation in 1992 and 1996. The old professor was saddened by the observation: drivers in the area are becoming less compliant with stop signs year by year, and fewer and fewer people will actually stop at the signs.

Trinkos himself admits that his survey methods are limited: he has not carefully controlled the variables and has never conducted in-depth statistical analysis. However, he also said that if very rigorous research is really carried out, it will go against his original intention of having fun.

this is probably the unique joy of life of the old professor.

PS: if you are interested in these confusing papers, you can see a summary of them on the Ig Nobel Prize website: I will not post https://www.improbable.com/airchives/paperair/volume9/v9i3/trinkaus0.php

references, because there are so many (unfortunately, Trinkos has passed away in 2017, and his "informal observation" will never be updated.

how many young people hate to eat Brussels sprouts

how many young people wear baseball caps and throw their brims behind

.

these "informal observation" research methods are not technical: find an observation site, set a condition, then start counting, and then aggregate the data, that's all. Trinkos is always in charge of collecting data.

in addition to Santa Claus, another series of "masterpieces" by Trinkos is the observation of traffic rules. This series is also a five-part series It also has simplicity and clarity. Unadorned title:

stop sign compliance: informal observation

stop sign compliance: another observation

stop sign compliance: further observation

stop sign compliance: follow-up observation

and the end of 1997: stop sign compliance: final observation

(consistent naming style | screenshot of the paper)

in these "informal observations" Trinkos studied whether drivers would obey the stop signs. From 1979 to 1987, he made a 90-minute observation count at the same time every year at the same four intersections, followed by a supplementary observation in 1992 and 1996. The old professor was saddened by the observation: drivers in the area are becoming less compliant with stop signs year by year, and fewer and fewer people will actually stop at the signs.

Trinkos himself admits that his survey methods are limited: he has not carefully controlled the variables and has never conducted in-depth statistical analysis. However, he also said that if very rigorous research is really carried out, it will go against his original intention of having fun.

this is probably the unique joy of life of the old professor.

PS: if you are interested in these confusing papers, you can see a summary of them on the Ig Nobel Prize website: I will not post https://www.improbable.com/airchives/paperair/volume9/v9i3/trinkaus0.php

references, because there are so many (unfortunately, Trinkos has passed away in 2017, and his "informal observation" will never be updated.