Avuncular meanness: A quantitative study
INTRODUCTION
For many years, Uncle Craig has asserted with some pride that he is the meanest uncle (ChickenSteven, 2007). Up until now this has only been supported with anecdotal evidence and shameless self promotion. Our review of previous literature has found no published works on avuncular meanness. This study is the first to quantitatively assess the relative meanness of Uncle Shaun and Uncle Craig.
METHODS
Subject, a four year old boy, was recruited using a convenience sample. The child was given an oral structured interview and asked to assign a linear estimate of meanness for each uncle. A baseline was established by having the child assign a linear estimate for paternal meanness as well. Three trials were performed to ensure the reliability of this measure. Interrater reliability was achieved using two independent evaluators in conjunction with photo documentation.
RESULTS
How mean is dad?
How mean is Uncle Shaun?
How mean is Uncle Craig?
DISCUSSION
There was high agreement between the two evaluators. No significant differences were found between the baseline, paternal meanness, and the relative meanness of Uncle Shaun (p<.05). The findings, however, did not support Uncle Craig's original hypothesis. Statistically significant differences were noted between all trials for Uncle Craig and Uncle Shaun with relative meanness for Uncle Craig consistently scoring lower than both Uncle Shaun and the child's father (p<.01). Although not within the scope of this study, the evaluators did note a qualitative difference in the subject's facial expressions that further supported our findings.
CONCLUSION
Although the data did not support the Uncle Craig Hypothesis, we feel that this study represents groundbreaking work in the area of avuncular meanness. The methodology is novel and lends itself well to our follow up study: Avuncular Nerdiness.
For many years, Uncle Craig has asserted with some pride that he is the meanest uncle (ChickenSteven, 2007). Up until now this has only been supported with anecdotal evidence and shameless self promotion. Our review of previous literature has found no published works on avuncular meanness. This study is the first to quantitatively assess the relative meanness of Uncle Shaun and Uncle Craig.
METHODS
Subject, a four year old boy, was recruited using a convenience sample. The child was given an oral structured interview and asked to assign a linear estimate of meanness for each uncle. A baseline was established by having the child assign a linear estimate for paternal meanness as well. Three trials were performed to ensure the reliability of this measure. Interrater reliability was achieved using two independent evaluators in conjunction with photo documentation.
RESULTS
How mean is dad?
How mean is Uncle Shaun?
How mean is Uncle Craig?
DISCUSSION
There was high agreement between the two evaluators. No significant differences were found between the baseline, paternal meanness, and the relative meanness of Uncle Shaun (p<.05). The findings, however, did not support Uncle Craig's original hypothesis. Statistically significant differences were noted between all trials for Uncle Craig and Uncle Shaun with relative meanness for Uncle Craig consistently scoring lower than both Uncle Shaun and the child's father (p<.01). Although not within the scope of this study, the evaluators did note a qualitative difference in the subject's facial expressions that further supported our findings.
CONCLUSION
Although the data did not support the Uncle Craig Hypothesis, we feel that this study represents groundbreaking work in the area of avuncular meanness. The methodology is novel and lends itself well to our follow up study: Avuncular Nerdiness.
9 comments:
The evidence seems very conclusive, although I'm having trouble understanding why, exactly, you would want to be the meanest uncle, especially of such a cute nephew.
Great study and conclusion. But I do see one problem with your study. How often does the subject see the Uncle Craig compared to the Uncle Shaun? Then to add to the study, How often does the said Uncle Shaun take care of the subject compared to Uncle Craig? I honestly think the your study is inconclusive based on the subject doesn't know Uncle Craig.
I like that the survey sample's face reflects the seriousness of this study...
Nice! Subject looks different than I've seen him recently, less rounded face :)
It's also clear he takes his research VERY seriously.
You present a qualitative study with no data tables and no graphs. Please fix this. The reviewer also recommends corroborating your results with a second subject.
This study addresses an issue that has been ignored by other researchers and, as such, is to be applauded. However, there are several deficiencies in this study that remain to be addressed.
1) No controls were given to determine the meanness scale. It is possible that the meanness of one or two of the subjects was off scale.
(2) There is no control for the effect of the distance between the evaluator and the subject being evaluated. It is probable that there is a (1+K)/R factor in the perception of meanness that should be included in the evaluation of the results.
(3) There is no attempt in the study to correct for temporal correlations. The lapsed time between interaction of evaluator and subject will probably have a response that varies as exp(-t/tau) where tau is the relaxation time constant and t is the time since interaction between evaluator and subject has stopped.
(4) Because all three subjects and the evaluator as well are descendants of the the world's meanest dad, there is the genetic possibility that this trait has been passed on, perhaps in a diluted form, to the evaluator and that part of the response is affected by the meanness of the evaluator toward the subject being evaluated. The study should have addressed this issue.
Overall, this provocative study should generate more research in the future. It is important to conduct this research with care.
I want to smother the subject with kisses!
You are so funny Shaun! I laughed so hard that I started choking. Once I recovered from that I realized I hadn't had a great, spontaneous, gut-busting, uninhibited laugh like that in too long. Thank you so much. You have obviously spent a large chunk of your time in an academic world. I hope you don't mind if I pass this on to my loved ones so they may enjoy a laugh as well.
I don't want to be the meanest uncle. But I'm not offended by it either. As Jessica stated, he doesn't see Uncle Craig that often. Plus, I was the same mean as his dad so I can't be all that bad. After all, often times when I visit he wants to know when I'm coming back again. And to Laralin, of course you can share it. I'm glad you enjoyed it. Based on my dad's response (Grandpa D) you can see that I come by this sort of humor honestly.
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