Back in February 2020, pre-corona times, we visited Johnny van Doorn and asked him about three personal items in his office. Johnny is part of the Psychological Methods department and he is the lecturer for the Basic Skills in Mathematics, Programming & Statistics course. His research is focused on developing Bayesian Methods to process ordinal data. He is also involved in the development of JASP, an open-source statistical program mainly being developed by researchers at the UvA.
Pile of Books
‘I love reading non-academic books. It helps me to relax and they keep me sane. I especially like going to one of the parks or CREA and reading when the sun is out. The most recent addition to this pile is the book by Tim Fransen. He is a Dutch comedian, but he also studied philosophy. In his stand-up shows, there are plenty of goofy jokes, but they are also full of philosophy. One of his stand-up shows made me understand Nietzsche much better, which wasn’t easy up until then. Philosophy can be a very dry subject, but he combines it with humour which makes it easy and fun to understand. This is quite inspirational as well, especially in terms of teaching, since statistics is also quite a dry subject. Adding some humour makes it easier to convince people that it is important and interesting to learn.’
The D20: The Multi-faceted, Multi-functional Die
‘The die is very central. It is a great icon for statistics and probability, as it is supposed to be completely random. This one is particularly nice because it is used to play Dungeons & Dragons. I have been playing it since high-school and I still do with people from the department. I love this game as it creates a realm of imagination where anything is possible and much is governed by how you roll the dice. In the game, if you get the number one, then you suffer a critical failure. Similarly, with this die, there is a five percent probability of rolling a one. This is the same probability of making a Type One error with the significance level commonly used in psychology. I really like this parallel. We also use it to make small decisions here. If we are going for lunch, we roll it to see who gets to choose the place.’
JASP Teddy Bear: The Most Supportive Co-worker
‘Some programmers have a rubber duck on their desks. They verbalize their code to the duck, which makes it easier for them to spot bugs. The JASP teddy bear is an equally good listener, so I use it in the same way. Sometimes, I just look at the teddy bear in the corner, he has this nice little smile that comforts you. But most importantly, it represents JASP, or as I personally like to call it ‘Johnny’s Awesome Statistics Programme’. It is a project I really enjoy being part of because it has allowed me to bring the Bayesian methods I develop to a lot of people. Sometimes, when you’re developing more obscure methods, it’s hard to get them across to a larger audience. In that sense, JASP makes me feel that my work is useful and is helping others, a somewhat infrequent feeling when working in academia. It really is a project I am thankful for.’
Pile of Books
‘I love reading non-academic books. It helps me to relax and they keep me sane. I especially like going to one of the parks or CREA and reading when the sun is out. The most recent addition to this pile is the book by Tim Fransen. He is a Dutch comedian, but he also studied philosophy. In his stand-up shows, there are plenty of goofy jokes, but they are also full of philosophy. One of his stand-up shows made me understand Nietzsche much better, which wasn’t easy up until then. Philosophy can be a very dry subject, but he combines it with humour which makes it easy and fun to understand. This is quite inspirational as well, especially in terms of teaching, since statistics is also quite a dry subject. Adding some humour makes it easier to convince people that it is important and interesting to learn.’
The D20: The Multi-faceted, Multi-functional Die
‘The die is very central. It is a great icon for statistics and probability, as it is supposed to be completely random. This one is particularly nice because it is used to play Dungeons & Dragons. I have been playing it since high-school and I still do with people from the department. I love this game as it creates a realm of imagination where anything is possible and much is governed by how you roll the dice. In the game, if you get the number one, then you suffer a critical failure. Similarly, with this die, there is a five percent probability of rolling a one. This is the same probability of making a Type One error with the significance level commonly used in psychology. I really like this parallel. We also use it to make small decisions here. If we are going for lunch, we roll it to see who gets to choose the place.’
JASP Teddy Bear: The Most Supportive Co-worker
‘Some programmers have a rubber duck on their desks. They verbalize their code to the duck, which makes it easier for them to spot bugs. The JASP teddy bear is an equally good listener, so I use it in the same way. Sometimes, I just look at the teddy bear in the corner, he has this nice little smile that comforts you. But most importantly, it represents JASP, or as I personally like to call it ‘Johnny’s Awesome Statistics Programme’. It is a project I really enjoy being part of because it has allowed me to bring the Bayesian methods I develop to a lot of people. Sometimes, when you’re developing more obscure methods, it’s hard to get them across to a larger audience. In that sense, JASP makes me feel that my work is useful and is helping others, a somewhat infrequent feeling when working in academia. It really is a project I am thankful for.’
