text:
Is it possible to sit in a class without registering it?
I wanted to know that whether it is possible to sit in a grad-level course or undergrad course without registering?
What should I do before going to the class? should I talk to the professor?
Is it illegal to participate in a class without registration?
I need to learn about some other area that is why I need to participate in other classes as well.

You have to look to your university's regulations.  We have no way of knowing whether it's legal or permitted where you are.

Just ask the professor, they can tell you the if any of this applies--and whether they mind regardless of what the rules say. One problem you might run into however is course materials may be within some management system like blackboard so you need to be formally added as an auditor.

@ASimpleAlgorithm: regarding "just ask the professor": In some countries, this is not at all expected and can be annoying. Indeed, our dean once told us he was annoyed because somebody asked him a similar question, so he gave the student a wrong.answer.

In the US, as far as I'm aware, the term you're looking for is "auditing" a class. You'll need to check your school's policy for this, as they vary.
For example, here's the audit policy for The University of Texas at Austin, which requires filling out a form, getting permission from the professor and there being space available in the class. But, when you're auditing, you only go to lectures, you don't participate in discussions or do any of the actual coursework.
This is pretty similar for other schools I've looked at but, as noted, you'll need to check your specific university's policy for it. Hopefully knowing the term will help.
For huge classes with 100+ students, you may be able to get in the unofficial way but for smaller classes of 10-30, the professor will probably notice that there's someone extra in the class, particularly if there aren't enough seats in the room.

I'll add that many universities have such an audit option is partly to prevent walk-ins of unregistered students. This is due to liability concerns. The concerns may be overblown, but they exist. Also, most audit systems require the payment of some fee to help defray the cost of any services used, including salaries as well as space.

(Per the comments, this might be country-specific. In my experience, this answer applies to the countries where you can take as many or as few courses as you like per semester, for the same price).
Are you a student of the university? If so, you're generally free to sit in, although it's polite to ask the lecturer first (I've never had a lecturer say no, in fact they were very happy, so don't worry). Still, if you're going to sit in, I'd also try to take it formally for credit.
If you're not a student of the university, then it's mandatory to ask. Again however, I've never seen a lecturer say no, and they were even happy to talk to me about the material after class even though I'm not a student.
In both cases, you won't be able to do anything other than sit in for the lectures - so no tutorials, no labs, no homework assignments, and so on.

Just to add to your answer: unless the course requires some lab facilities or consumables that attendees may be using. As well as understanding the code of conduct for that course.

Hm, this doesn't reflect the situation in the US, as I've seen it.  Students are generally required to register for the class (and pay, if applicable).  Audits may be allowed (you don't get a grade and you pay nothing or a nominal amount) but almost always require the instructor's permission.  The instructor is often not allowed to let non-registered, non-auditing students attend, nor non-students (though sometimes it happens anyway).  It would basically be giving away the university's expensive product for free.

@orezvani in my case, I was only sitting in for the lectures. I didn't attend tutorials or labs, and didn't have access to homework problems, exam questions and the other things that come outside of lectures.

@orezvani yes there would be a lab also each week.

@NateEldredge weird, I have never seen a roll call in a university class. It's possible the lecturer memorized every face of every student and compared them to the class records, but that seems rather implausible, given that there are so many students. I did not take classes in the US however - it was in the UK, Singapore, and Australia.

@nikki2 if you're not enrolled in the course, you almost surely won't be able to attend the labs, unfortunately.

@nikki2 Does the lab has some special facilities or consumables that you may use?

@Allure: In a large lecture, as for an introductory course, you might get away with it.  But advanced courses often have only 10-20 students.  Someone who's not registered would be noticed quickly.

@Allure I agree with Nate in this one. It is quite easy to notice non-registered students in the lab, as they are small. In addition to that, instructors are advised to let only registered members to attend, to ensure the safety of others. I usually let non-registered students to sit in my lab, as long as they have a valid university ID.

@Allure No need for that, I will edit your answer.

@orezvani I've never actually have to pay to take a course - I was basically free to take as many or as few courses a semester as I wish. For example when I was in Singapore, the recommended courses per semester was five, the minimum was four, but there's no upper limit. I took 6 per semester for the same price, and I know some who went all the way to 8/semester. Not sure what to do about this - perhaps edit the answer to say it's country-specific.

@Allure It is certainly country-specific. But there is a general rule, if you want to get credit or make use of equipments, you need to register (in some case pay) for it. Otherwise, it really depends on the lecturer and yourself.

@orezvani yes, that's what I meant to say in the answer.

@Allure I can make another exception that in Australia, you can actually register and get access to the material as well. But if you want to get credit, you must pay for it.

@NateEldredge Instead in some countries like mine (Italy), universities are public and anyone can attend lectures for free without being enrolled and without the need of notifying the professors (even though it's corteous to do so). Indeed you need to be enrolled to get credit.

Many online universities offer free online classes without registration for getting knowledge. You need to attend these classes in your manageable time period.


text:
small sample for an article proof, how to deal with it?
I have written an article about using technique X as a methodology for lecturing an Information Technology classroom. At the beginning of the experiment I hypothesize that the use of this technique would have a negative effect on the learning outcomes of the students, even though a colleague was pretty sure that it was going to be the opposite way around. Anyway, when the experimentation part ended I was right, the methodology applied was worse than the old method applied and we wrote a paper about this experience. The problem is that we tested the methodology only in a small group of students, 30 approximately, but we have some doubts if it could get rejected because the sample is too small considering other experiments in which there are involved hundred of students.
Bottomline, how to deal this issue in a research paper? Should I only present the results and not make any statistical hypothesis testing? I have performed an h-test, but one colleague told me that still the sample is too small.
Any help?

In order to know what sample size you need, you have to know in advance what size of the effect you expect to observe (i.e. by how much your results will differ from the null hypothesis). This is what the statistical power of the test tells you. Ideally it should be conducted prior to your study, even before you start collecting data. However, the common problem is that often you want to reject the null hypothesis and measure the size of the effect at the same time, based on the same dataset. This is a questionable practice, and practices based on h-tests have been criticized quite a lot. See, for example, the book by Richard Royall, "Statistical Evidence: A Likelihood Paradigm", CRC Press. The approach presented in this book allows to report statistical results in a language that remains valid even for small sample sizes.

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text:
another master's degree or just single courses?
My case is the following, I have already got a MSc in Computer Science, but my field of specialization was Theoretical Computer Science. Actually I am really interested in the field of Machine Learning, but unfortunately I did not follow any course about that topic in my previous master's degree.
At first sight, I was thinking to follow a PhD that has some relation to Machine Learning; so in that case I should really follow some Machine Learning courses by my own. I have just put this thought for a while, mainly because I have not been so lucky in my last PhD applications.
In any case, I was wondering if I should follow another Master's degree in Machine Learning; and maybe because I have already got my other MSc, the time for completing this new MSc would be only one year instead of the two years that is the common duration of these studies.
Also I was thinking that maybe I could take some single courses, for example some online courses, even though I am not really a fan of MOOC courses.
What it would be the best course of action?

Follow another MSc degree?
Follow some online courses in this topic? if that is so, which university offers them that the certification is recognized?

Updated info:
About my goals are the following:

Need of learn machine learning topics for academic purposes: teaching undergraduates and independent research
Some good PhD positions in which I am interested require that knowledge

Any advice would be great.
Thanks

What's your end goal? I assume you're not aiming for degreeCount = degreeCount + 1. As stated, it sounds like you're simply considering taking courses for the sake of learning new material. There are a lot of ways to learn new fields without the expense of graduate school (see my answer to here).

@eykanal it appears your link has been removed, perhaps due to over moderation.  By chance does it exist elsewhere?

@Lee - see my answer below, I edited in my (other) answer there.

Oh really where is that?  Are you referring to the huge section of text below, clearly labeled with your name and picture, and positioned no more than 1 inch immediately below where I commented?  Thank you @eykanal, I think it see it now :).

Given both of those stated goals, I would not pursue additional coursework to learn the material. Your current masters degree is likely good enough for either teaching or getting into a machine learning PhD program, and no degree is necessary for independent research. I would recommend that you use other resources to learn the material.

EDIT: Given that the question in the above link was deleted, I'm reproducing it here:

There are many ways to learn new topics. Taking a university-level
  course is only one option. Other alternatives are:

read textbooks
online video tutorials (Khan academy, youtube)
online pre-recorded lectures (e.g., iTunes U, but many, many others exist)
talking to peers
reading publications (for specialized topics)

Taking a non-required university course is usually not the most
  optimal approach, for a number of reasons:

You will spend a lot of time learning material not relevant to your problem, simply because it's part of the syllabus and the teacher
  found it interesting
The requirement to pass will require you to spend likely (disproportionately too much) time doing homework, studying for tests,
  etc.
It is very expensive

This isn't to say that self-study doesn't require homework, or that
  learning topics not directly related to your research is a bad thing.
  I'm simply suggesting that by pursuing more self-directed learning
  opportunities you will be able to make better use of your time.

Some universities like ETH in Zurich (Switzerland) offer the "Master of Advanced Studies" degree for the undergraduates that have finished a given minimal number of additional courses with success, only one or two of them mandatory (assigned by a mentor). This would give the wanted additional expertise over shorter time.
Taking the whole master degree second time is a huge effort that may not be worth it.

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text:
crossroads between continue working or going to a PhD
Here is my situation, I got a MSc from a renowned university in Europe and I have been working as a lecturer in a non-EU country until now. I am in my mid thirties (upper part =)) and I have came to an important decision to make:

I have been offered to work as a full time lecturer with all my benefits in a local renowned university in the country that I am staying
At the same time I have an offer to follow PhD studies in a ZA university, but I am not very keen about it, mainly because the problems with the crime rates and low salary per month

I have seen that there are a lot of possibilities for getting funded PhD positions worldwide, but I am afraid of the following:

That after my studies and if I do not get an academic position in the place that I did my PhD studies, to not be able to get another academic position as the one that they are currently offering me (I will be ending my PhD at 42 years old approximately)

I have a high interest for academia, unfortunately the universities in the country that I am working are not so much oriented to research, but only to lecturing. That is why I feel like bored and stressed to do the same task everyday, to do research is very hard because I must occupy my little free time and most of my ideas get stuck after a while (mainly because there are not other academics to talk about problems encountered along my projects)
I would not really like just to end with the MSc and I feel that is something missing in my life, this has lead me to a problem of anxiety and depression.
Any advice?
Thanks

First of all, nobody can tell you what the best decision for you in such a decision is.
That said, what you need to look at are the opportunity costs of your different options. What do you gain from each of the different possible choices? Equally important is to ask yourself what will you have to give up to pursue those choices.
For you, you need to ask yourself:

How important is being a researcher compared to being a lecturer?
How difficult do you think it will be to get a position when you finish your PhD?
Is your offer of graduate admission worth the upheaval it would cause in your life?

And other questions like these. Once you get a feel for how important these issues are to you, the easier it will be to make a decision. It will still be a very tough decision (these sorts of choices always are), but ultimately it will be your decision, and you'll need to be comfortable with the decision you've reached.

No. My point is that the problem she has posed is not unanswerable in its given form. I can't tell her "stick with your current job" or "go back to school." I don't know how important it is for her to do research? Does she think that it's an essential component of the remainder of her career or not. Therefore, I'm saying she should prioritize her "needs" and "wants," and figure out which option works best. Recommending a specific path would, in my mind, be irresponsible.

You are contemplating a choice that has a high risk of failure.

Risk of not completing Ph.D.
Risk of not liking research.
Risk of not finding even a lecturer position afterwards, much less a research position.
Risk of unhappiness due to the conditions during the Ph.D.
Risk of being academically unrewarded/isolated even in a research position.

If all things unfold perfectly, then you will achieve a research position in some years.  You may like this more, but will objectively be similar to the position you have now: indoor work, no heavy lifting, job security and benefits, education field, some things you like and some things you dislike.
This seems like a poor risk, particularly for someone already pushing 40 -- the potential upside is smaller.  My advice is to correspond with scholars at other institutions, to achieve your spiritual fulfillment while still earning a good paycheck.


text:
Recently published paper deliberately not citing our very relevant work -- anything to do?
Note that the difference between this question and a related question (Recently published paper does not cite my very relevant work) is that the authors in my question are fully aware of our work, whereas, in the related question, the authors were not aware of OP's work.
A recent paper did not cite our very relevant work.
There are significant overlaps among the scopes of the papers, and one of the important figures and the related conclusion are almost identical.
The leading author of the paper in question has been informed about our work even before we submitted the paper. I've asked for a reason for not mentioning it, and the answer was that our paper was noticed during the revision of the paper, and the authors do not feel obliged to mention it.
Is it OK to not mention a paper because of ``seeing it too late?''
Regarding this: does the date of submission/acceptance play a role?
Our publication date is before their submission date.

One minor comment. On your previous question you refused to cite related work proposed by the reviewers, because you believed it was not relevant. Now your work is not cited for some other "strange" reason. Conclusion? When you are not 100% sure it is better to cite the work than not citing it.

I think the "more general" question is too broad and distracts from the question at hand.  At the very least, it should be asked in a separate post (but review previous questions on [tag:citations] first, and even then it might get closed).

@user37208 Ture, but this would be a waste of resource, if the same job has to be done several times..

@NateEldredge yes fixed

@CapeCode The difference is in our case the other side is fully aware of our work...

It is up to authors to determine what previous work is both relevant and important enough to cite. Missing one citation is trivial and will almost certainly make no difference to your ultimate impact (unless perhaps their work is almost identical to yours and has been published in a higher-profile journal).

Note that if much of the work is essentially the same, and your work is known to other people, the authors of the other paper look bad (in the sense of they weren't aware of the literature or weren't novel) for not citing your work.  So it's not worth worrying about (as long as your paper is not obscure).

It is my understanding that this question is fundamentally different than the marked "duplicate" question in that the authors in this question are fully aware of OP's work. Voting to reopen.

I apologize for missing the part that they were aware of your work. Voted to re-open.

thanks and hope this would be helpful to those under similar situations.

@Alexandros The paper nowadays is already citing much more than 10 years before. The conclusion? A uniform standard for citation as opposed to (a) citation as merely mutual benefit (b) citing because of coercive power.

"The paper nowadays is already citing much more than 10 years before". Of course. There is a lot more literature now than 10 years ago. So what? Adding one more citation does no harm but missing one is done because of a) sloppiness b) malice b) ignorance d) disrespect to other authors. I'd rather cite one remotely related paper than forget essential literature.

@Alexandros  Adding irrelevant citations leads to ``inflations'' of citations, which is not fair for those work really worked on relevant topics. We don't need more citations, we need to do the right citations. Without a standard, the worry is that the privileged few would get all the citations, and others none, which I think is happening.

You have no real recourse. Authors can cite what they like and snub others for no reason. Plus, you can't cite everything so someone's going to get left out. But if it seems purposeful it very well may be. I would send your paper(s) to the snubbing PI and say something like 'looks like these slipped past you'.
It's in their best interest because of your work truly is that related, you'll probably review their papers eventually.

perhaps the silence has already proved the "no real recourse" conclusion. Just a side remark -- the coauthors of the other paper seems to have high profiles, and a more like scenario is they would be reviewing my future papers.

In such a situation, you should warn the editor. Articles can be changed between the time they are published on the internet and the time they are printed. Whatever happens, the editor should know and will make a decision.

We don't know which editor handled the paper. Even as the author, I don't know who is the editor. Is this common?

As per your post, the concerned paper which was published utilized your work but didn't cite it. There are two angles to look at this.

Plagiarism. If they really did copy-modify your figure and conclusion, then it could be considered as an act of plagiarism -- the use of a work of another without proper attribution. With sufficient evidence, you can claim against this, if you are willing to go through the trouble for this one citation.
Lack of research defense. You stated that the party in question was informed of your paper before publication. This is something you ought to avoid. If their submission date is before your publication date, then you cannot claim against them for plagiarizing your content.

Having said the above, it should be up to your responsibility to guard your research before its publication. This sort of thing happens all the time. All you have lost so far is a citation, but people have lost their opportunities for the publication of research ideas for the lack of protection of their research ideas. It would be advisable to take it to your experience and move on.

The OP doesn't seem to think they copied his work, rather that they independently did similar work and didn't cite his even though they knew about it. I don't see the relevance of this answer. ("Guarding your research" does not force people to cite you.)

Normally, we do communicate with others about what we are doing. I did inform the lead author about one of our findings, which is related to the ``almost identical plot''.

Issac is right, in that if our earlier exposure of the work does not even help the others to recognize the work in the very basic form, we should have thought twice before communicating the results. But it would be very sad if these have to be kept as secret.


text:
How to see peer review comments when rejection letter does not list them?
I recently had a paper rejected by a peer-reviewed journal, but the rejection notice gave no indication of where to find the reviewers' comments.  I gather (from questions like this one) that it is customary for authors to get to see this information.  So how do I go about finding it?  Should I contact the editor and ask to see the comments?

Well, there isn't really anything you can do except ask the editor, since he/she is the only one who has them (except of course the reviewers themselves, whose identities are not and will not be known to you).  So if you want those comments, that's what you'll have to do.
Of course, it is possible that:

the paper was "desk rejected" by the editor and never sent out for review at all; or
this journal has a policy of not sharing reviewer comments; or
the editor has decided for some reason that in this case it is not appropriate to share the comments with you.

Fourth possibility: the reviewers gave no comments, just a rating or recommendation.

Fifth possibility: somebody or something screwed up, and the authors were actually supposed to get the reviews but didn't. (not likely, but a possibility)

Why would a journal not share reviewer comments?

Why would a journal have a "policy of not sharing reviewer comments"? At least I wouldn't submit there, and IIUC that's a working policy as author in most (all?) communities.


text:
Negotiating PhD stipend
I have been admitted to a PhD at an american university. The practice there is that the university provides the fellowship for the first year and thereafter the group you are working with gives you the stipend.
I have 4 years of relevant work experience in my area of research. I believe that I should get a stipend that's higher than the minimum requirement set by the university. How should I go about doing this at an american university?
(Note: I have already accepted the offer)

I came across this related question which is for a German PhD where he succeeded, but he had multiple offers which he used to negotiate this.
Safely negotiate a salary for a PhD offer - Germany

Get multiple offers.  Apply for fellowships.  It's not unusual for extra pay to be offered spontaneously at good universities in departments where students are in demand.

Have you already accepted the offer to join the PhD program? And do you have other offers?

@DanRomik - It sounds like you're saying you've seen this happen in the U.S.?

@aparente001 I'm not saying anything (and I'm not sure what you mean by "this"), just asking for more information that's relevant to the question.

@DanRomik - Sorry I wasn't clear.  The previous comment mentioned some pay negotiations with departments where demand for students is high.  I've never seen any variability in stipend amounts within a department and am wondering how to interpret your question.

@DanRomik have accepted the offer, although the faculty funding will start only from next year. added the info the the question

In my experience, there are both tax and salary benefits to having fellowships rather than being paid as a research/teaching assistant. Otherwise (and this may vary by field), in my field the stipends are set strictly by federal funding agencies and are not typically flexible. In some cases it might be possible to offer you multiple appointments (i.e., a fellowship+a research assistantship), but these would be special circumstances and the additional funding would come with some strings attached, like additional responsibilities.

Good luck, everyone has a reason they think they should be paid more.  You are no different from anyone else.  Just accept what they offer you for the first year.  After that, there may be some wiggle room depending on the lab/ funding.

@Hobbes that is a needlessly dismissive and completely unhelpful comment. Everyone might indeed think they should be paid more, but some of "everyone" might be more correct in thinking that way than others, so your statement "You are no different than anyone else" may be completely false.

@Hobbes Work experience is a particularly adequate reason to be paid more. In Germany, PhD students are often employed as research assistants and will be paid more if they have relevant work experience.

@DanRomik, first day of orientation when I got to grad school (US), all the grad students were gathered in a lecture hall and the Dean of the Graduate School opened up by saying 'Leave your egos behind.'  If you enter grad school thinking you are entitled to something more, you are going to have a bad time.  Accept what the university gives you for that first year, negotiate later.  Seems like a helpful comment to me.

@lighthousekeeper, The same for Norway.  It seems like Europe in general considers the PhD to be more of a profession (like any other job) than the US.

Further, you don't accept a job and then negotiate pay.  Check the document you signed when you accepted.  If it outlines the specific amount of the fellowship for the first year, this isn't even up for debate.

I must say that I am surprised with the answers here.
I am willing to bet a fair amount of money that you will not get a raise from your institution. And I can think of a million reasons. Here are a few big ones.
A part of my reasoning stems from my personal experience, where I had multiple offers to top-tier US universities, and also from a slightly lower level US university, which offered me a salary that was almost 10k higher. When I took this offer to other top-tier US universities, they shrugged and said, "Oh well. You can't have everything." Also, in my experience, the top tier universities offered similar amounts that were not worth negotiating.
Another reason is that grad students are very replaceable. You may have some relevant experience, but they can easily fill your seat with someone else (and never know what they're missing out on, because you haven't demonstrated any of your academic and research abilities yet) so it's not really worth it to the admission committee to try and negotiate your salary.
Also, note that you may not have been admitted without your relevant work experience, so you may have already "cashed out" from your experience.
Then there's the fact that a lot of grad students are admitted each year (as opposed to a couple of professors/postdocs). If the administration tried to negotiate salaries with 20+ graduate students a year, it would be a nightmare, not to mention that it would seriously hurt the morale of the student population to compare salaries and realize that there is some sort of a ranking amongst the grad students. Being in grad school is already damaging to your ego; can you imagine the student next to you getting paid a lot higher salary, and realize that you're not as wanted as her?
Anyway, I have never heard of grad students negotiating higher pay (unless you count getting federal funding, or research support from your advisor, or extra summer teaching etc.), and combined with the fact that you've already accepted your offer, I really don't see your institution increasing your salary. In fact, I wouldn't even try, because you're already committed to going there, and the people will remember you for trying something like that (OK, maybe it wouldn't hurt to ask once, but I wouldn't try very hard).
That being said, I am aware of a few cases where the grad students had two-body problems, and the institution was willing to accommodate that, but only in the cases where at least one of the two applicants were stellar.

-1 for "I wouldn't even try, because you're already committed to going there, and the people will remember you for trying something like that". We can debate the rest of your answer with which I have some not very important disagreements, but this sentence is based on a flat-out incorrect (and very harmful IMO) premise that there is something wrong with "trying something like that". At least in an American cultural context, there is nothing wrong with asking for pay commensurate with one's skills and experience. It may indeed not work, but no one will "remember you" in a negative way.

... but no one will "remember you" in a negative way. Quite the opposite - as I said in my answer, if your request is presented in a polite and professional manner and is grounded in a solid analysis, you are likely to gain a small amount of respect from the people you are negotiating with, even if the request is turned down. It is a small effect, to be sure, but it goes in the opposite direction than this answer claims.

@DanRomik: well, people won't really hold a grudge for asking (as Sana said, it wouldn't hurt to ask once), but if you first accept an offer and then start negotiating as if starting at that university is still up for debate, that will likely be seen as very negative.

@dimpol You are right that it should not be presented as a negotiation, since OP has no leverage by this point. It should simply be presented as a request for a higher salary or an improved funding package, accompanied by supporting evidence for why that makes sense. If you still think that will be seen as negative, then I guess we will simply have to disagree.

@DanRomik, I don't think we disagree, I think we both interpreted it differently when Sana wrote: "(OK, maybe it wouldn't hurt to ask once, but I wouldn't try very hard)"

@dimpol let me say again, I downvoted the answer for "I wouldn't even try." You are welcome to upvote it (or to not be concerned about that part of it) because of the contradictory parenthetical remark "maybe it wouldn't hurt to ask once." In my opinion writing two contradictory statements does not mean you get to claim that your opinion is the one your reader agrees with most.

I dont understand why people hate this answer from SANA; she or he, answered what reality is!

Sana, Hobbes, @dimpol, SSimon, and others who upvoted this answer: I don't mean to cause offense, but I notice that some of you seem to be graduate students or early career researchers. I'm wondering (again, naively and not out of a desire to offend) if part of your resistance to OP asking for improved conditions might have something to do with simple jealousy - i.e., an aversion to the notion that a talented and unusually qualified grad student might be able to gain access to higher compensation or other improved funding terms. Is that really so hard to accept, or am I missing something?

Also notice that in my own answer I also agreed that the chances that OP could get a raise at this point are quite low. So perhaps we don't disagree as much as it seems. All I'm saying is that asking for a raise when there is evidence to support that a higher salary figure makes sense is a completely reasonable and acceptable thing to do, and would not be viewed negatively by anyone. If Sana revises his/her answer to remove the implication that there's anything negative about asking for a raise, that would make this answer a much better one.

@DanRomik, quite to the contrary, I am not that junior (professor at a large research university with a large PhD program), and my answer is definitely not stemmed from jealousy. I actually think that asking for a raise does have negative implications (a slight one, but people do talk, and if OP turns out to be a bad fit for the department, this kind of behavior only provides more ammunition to his/her critics), and I do not plan on revising my answer. This is exactly what I would advise my undergraduate students.

@DanRomik, I don't know if it's fair to assume I'm jealous.  I think I have some survival instincts that were telling me that this individual is at risk of making himself look foolish.  I'm not faculty,so I have limited experience, but the first year fellowship, in most cases, is basically a gift from the university.  It is designed so that the student doesn't have to commit to a lab right off the bat.  Asking for more money, especially after having already accepted, just seems straight stupid to me.  Especially if the justification is 4 years of work experience.

@DanRomik, In my cohort, there were veterans (literally someone who 4 months previous was dealing with their soldiers being killed) as well as students coming from 10+ years of leading industry experience.  No one asked for more money.  After that first year, by all means negotiate.  But that fellowship is a gift.

I believe that I should get a stipend that's higher than the minimum requirement set by the university.

In a context such as this, the word "should" carries very little meaning. To a very large extent, what "should" happen is what you have the power to negotiate.

How should I go about doing this at an american university?
(Note: I have already accepted the offer)

Unfortunately, by accepting the offer you have given up essentially all the leverage that you had. You may be able to threaten to un-accept the offer, but this would be a rather dishonorable thing to do (with potentially negative consequences for your reputation and future academic career) unless you were in a situation where the increase you are seeking to your stipend was absolutely crucial to your well-being, and would likely also be perceived as an empty threat unless you also had other offers (from PhD programs or from industry). So, I would expect that your chances to have your stipend increased at this point are very low. You might have better luck if you wait a year until you have already entered the program and demonstrated to your PI that you are an unusually talented and hardworking student and are providing their group with great value for what they are paying you; even then, your leverage would be low, but leverage isn't necessarily everything and your PI might be receptive to moral and reputational considerations, such as the PI's desire to have other people know that they are treating their students fairly.
With that said, I believe asking for pay commensurate with your skills is a very reasonable and acceptable thing to do, so it can't hurt to try, and can pay off (either by having the request succeed, or failing that, simply by signaling that you are a confident person who knows his worth, which may earn you a small bit of respect) if done in a professional manner. The way to do it would be to write an email (phone, skype or a face to face meeting would also work obviously) to the graduate program director communicating your request politely and including any relevant information on how much money you were earning, how much other similar positions pay (specifically, if you can get information showing that other PhD positions at universities with a similar profile to yours pay more than what you have been offered to people with your level of experience, that could be helpful), etc. The better prepared and explained your request is, the higher the chances of success, though as I said I think they are still low. Avoid formulating your request in emotional, accusatory or drama-laden tones, or implying that you have some moral entitlement to being paid more. And make sure you get the details right -- asking for a stipend that's considerably higher than what your experience suggests is reasonable will only annoy the people you are trying to negotiate with.
Finally, I should add that I don't have any specific experience of incoming PhD students negotiating higher pay, but I have certainly heard of departments improving the terms of an offer to students they want to attract (typically before they have accepted the offer and when they have competing offers, alas). Note that in many departments the pay is standard and dictated by university policy or various union-negotiated labor contracts that are fairly rigid and do not allow much room for paying different students different amounts. However, even in such cases where the department can't pay you more there should still be some flexibility, in the sense that if they really want to help they may be able to offer other improved terms (such as access to funds for traveling or buying equipment, or replacing a teaching assistantship with a research assistantship).
Good luck!

Clear, well-written answer. // Access to funds for traveling sounds doable in the short term; as does switching from TAship to RAship after a year.

I agree with Sana.
I don't think PhD stipends are negotiable. In the US, the grant of a research group is actually controlled by the university. Every time the PI wants to spend it on something, (s)he has to make a request. In most case, these requests are just formality, and are always approved. But I doubt that (s)he can request for his/her PhD student a salary which is higher than the norm of the university.
I think this is also the case for postdocs, and I'm not aware of any PhD students/postdocs who can negotiate their salary.

Postdoc positions are most definitely (sometimes, not always obviously) negotiable.

I have 4 years of relevant work experience in my area of research.

This may or may not be relevant. It will very much depend on your cohort - for example, there are programs where everyone has work experience.

I believe that I should get a stipend that's higher than the minimum
  requirement set by the university. How should I go about doing this at
  an american university?

Your belief, as noted, doesn't necessarily carry any weight. There are a couple things you can do to strengthen this position:

Have other offers - the best negotiating position is being able to show someone else thinks you're more valuable, and that you can go with them. As noted, given you've already accepted the offer, this is now somewhat harder.
Apply for additional fellowships, etc. Demonstrate value.

One thing to keep in mind is that the university may be constrained. For example, they may be working off NIH pay scales, which are relatively inflexible. The money for funding you may be coming at a certain rate, so paying you more not only means spending more, but spending precious unallocated funds. And there may be rules - for example, while writing a grant I was told I had to lower the amount I was paying myself because graduate students were only allowed to make a certain range (to keep things fair).

Also clear, well written answer.


text:
Is having a tracker on your homepage generally ok in Academia?
I have a homepage where I typically put my published manuscripts on together with information about me. I have a tracker/analytics page that tells me which paper is getting more downloads/views, because I am interested in knowing which of my work/projects people are most interested in (citations don’t always equate that, my most “active” paper has a few citations).
A colleague of mine told me this might be perceived by some as inappropriate. I don’t really check countries/individual information of visitors, just an aggregate on a per paper basis.
Is this generally ok or should I deactivate the analytics link?

The web server logs that info, in any case, by-the-way...

I'd say it's inappropriate to use any data without explicit consent. (Even if most people won't care.)

Asking about a "tracker" is deeply ambiguous whether it's a tracker that logs and exposes individual IP addresses, vs a tracker that only reports in aggregate which document got how many hits, in which date-range, from which country or domain (.com/.edu/.net/.tld...).

@paulgarrett: To /dev/null :-)

Please specify exactly the raw information you are collecting

@user2705196 I am not collecting any data. It’s through a third part tool (google analytics) and it shows me the aggregate information (although it does also have country based statistics, etc).

@user3508551 Whatever the data is that google analytics shows you is data that you are collecting. Please specify what exactly that data is. I understand that I could just look that up, but it's best if you specify it here so we can decide how ethical, anonymous, and normal collection of such data on your academic website is.

@user2705196 For a specific date period, how many 1) Visits on a certain page are there 2) Which countries visited which pages the most (I never look at this as it is irrelevant) 3) The geographic location (countries/cities) of the visitors 4) Whether there was a visitor in the last 30 minutes (called real time visitors), and if so, geographic location (country, but not city), which pages they interacted with. I also get to see if it was "direct" or "referral" meaning coming from Google search, or as a "referral" from one of my co-author pages that link my page (I don't know referral source).

If there are issues with using a cookie-based tracker, use of something like webalizer that just looks at the server logs of requests should fill your described needs.  Just watch the number of times the paper download link is requested and you're good to go.

If said homepage is hosted by your employer (probably the university), check with your employer what is allowed and what is not.

From a software perspective, if you want to avoid any issues with browser-based analytics, since these tend to be quite invasive, you could capture all of the information you want in your back-end quite simply

I think the question should include the fact that you are using Google analytics.  Because having a download counter that does exactly that under your control, or having a data hungry third party analyse the heck out of the visitor across many sites, is fundamentally different.

Just be careful you're complying with consent.
Perhaps the most rigorous is the EU's GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), which states the following about cookies:

To comply with the regulations governing cookies under the GDPR and the ePrivacy Directive you must:

Receive users’ consent before you use any cookies except strictly necessary cookies.
Provide accurate and specific information about the data each cookie tracks and its purpose in plain language before consent is received.
Document and store consent received from users.
Allow users to access your service even if they refuse to allow the use of certain cookies
Make it as easy for users to withdraw their consent as it was for them to give their consent in the first place.

I am genuinely curious if GDPR applies in this case. There is a reasonably broad carve out for personal websites (https://www.visitor-analytics.io/en/blog/what-does-gdpr-compliance-mean-for-personal-websites/); IANAL but this would seem to apply to academic websites. Of course, "analytics" are typically collected by a third party provider such as Google, in which case IDK.

A colleague of mine told me this might be perceived by some as inappropriate.

By whom exactly? "Some?" As opposed to what, every single website on the Internet? It does not seem that you are proposing to place a cookie that will track the user's activity across the Internet. You just want to see how many people are visiting your page. Totally appropriate.

Yes, certainly there is a huge difference between logging/counting the IP addresses that visit your site, and planting cookies on somebody's browser...

Using a readymade analytics solution will, however, track the user across the Internet, it just reports only per-site statistics to site owners.

Any web server will generate a log in a standard format, and there's 30 years' worth of scripts for analysing those. There is absolutely no need to start messing around with cookies, much less "social media" trackers.

@Mark Morgan Lloyd: Yes, assuming the web server logs are accessible. That is not the case for many hosting solutions, e.g. shared hosting.

@PeterMortensen in that case find a competent ISP. If research etc. is published openly, which is after all the tradition in academia, then it's debatable whether the author has the right to find out who's read it (unless they publish derivative work) let alone Google et al.

You're not proposing planting a cookie; you're just proposing the execution of third-party Javascript that will likely fingerprint their browser and send information to some mother ship somewhere.

Is this generally ok or should I deactivate the analytics link?

It depends in part on what you mean by a "tracker":

If you're really just counting page views (that is, tracking views rather than viewers) then I don't think anyone would object.

If you're logging and analyzing information that users provide anyway (the IP addresses from which requests originate, for example) then I don't think most people, academic or otherwise, would object, but you may be on shaky ground with respect to some privacy laws, such as the GDPR.  In this case, you should consider deactivating the analytics for your own protection.

If you're installing tracking cookies or using similar technology to identify visitors and track their activity then that's not ok with me, and probably not ok with the EU (GDPR), and maybe not ok with various other countries and their privacy laws.  Probably my browser foils your attempt, but I would consider it rude that you tried.  In this case, you should deactivate the tracker for your own protection, for your reputation, and because it's the right thing to do.

It's your homepage, you can put whatever you want on it.
There does, in my experience at least, tend to be a higher concentration of 1) people who understand the privacy issues of trackers, and 2) people who care about trackers, in acadaemia but there's no general consensus that this is unacceptable.
Anyone who has a problem with internet trackers probably has browser extensions to block them anyway, and they're always free to not use your website anyway.
Just make sure you have the appropriate consent notices.

As a side note, you could capture all of the information you mentioned in your back-end quite comfortably and avoid needing any sort of browser based tracking entirely.

I'd appreciate some context as to the downvote so I can improve this answer...

I'm guessing people don't agree with the "It's your homepage, you can put whatever you want on it" statement. There are many things that are illegal that you can't put on your homepage. In particular, for European visitors, it is illegal for you to collect certain type of information about them without consent.

@CrisLuengo - I did say that you need the appropriate consent notices...

Many things are illegal with or without consent.

I would have assumed that that goes without saying... It's obviously unacceptable to host illegal content

The question isn't about whether this is legal, it's about whether it's appropriate.

@kaya3-supportthestrike - Not sure if that was aimed at me or Cris... But my answer addresses whether it's appropriate or not with "there's no general consensus that this is unacceptable"

EDIT 2: I have just read that you are using Google Analytics. I did not realise that was the case when originally reading your question. I think that you should mention this in your question, because it is very different to what I had imagined when originally reading it. In this case, I would most definitely recommend that you have a disclaimer that you are using Google Analytics on your web page. Google Analytics, as others have said, sells data to third parties, that's why the service is free. There's no such thing as a free lunch, as they say. I'd recommend you use something other than Google Analytics to track your downloads. How are you hosting your site? Is it through a paid server, or are you hosting the server yourself? There are plenty of ways that you can analyse how many downloads of your papers are occurring without resorting to Google Analytics.
EDIT: (After received constructive criticism)
I personally do not view it as inappropriate, so long that you are collecting anonymised data, and not logging the IP addresses of individuals who download your papers. If this is the case, you can have a simple message saying "I compile anonymised data relating to the download and view counts of individual papers, to help me determine which of my papers garner greater interest, which guides me to understand which of my topics people are most interested in. I do not log the IP addresses associated with these downloads nor do I log any other personal information." If this is the case, I believe that it is not an invasion of privacy, because you aren't logging who has read your papers.
I find it strange that an individual would state that people would find this inappropriate when it is a standard feature of virtually all cloud hosting services, and (assuming it is anonymous) does not seem to me to constitute an invasion of privacy, because you would not know who any of those people were. Regarding the country of origin, that could be beneficial to know which countries are most interested in your research, which would be relevant for obtaining grants etc. I don't think it would be an invasion of privacy, because countries comprise large numbers of people, and you would not know which people specifically were reading your papers (again, given that you do not track the IP addresses).

Downvoted because this answer seems to be an opinion regarding the acceptability of internet tracking in general,  rather than an answer to the question. The last paragraph regarding your personal life obviously has meaning to you but is entirely irrelevant to answering the question.

This answer treats the question as if it is a simple yes or no answer ("either it is inappropriate or it is not"), but offers an opinion, rather than a real answer. I agree that the last paragraph has nothing to do with the question.

Despite the moderation strike, I removed the wildly inappropriate final paragraph (for anyone reading traktor and Bio's comments now). Accusing an anonymous person you've never met of gaslighting is certainly something.

I apologise for answering in a way that obviously was not in line with the regulations of the forum. It was my first post ever here. What does the moderation strike mean? Yes, I posted my opinion, I didn't realise that wasn't what people do on forums? Are people supposed to have citations that refer to other people's peer reviewed opinions?
I am against tracking on the internet, but having anonymised statistics about how many people download your paper is not tracking, is it?

The last sentence, in retrospect, was inappropriate, however it was relevant to the question. The OP stated that their colleague stated that "some" people may find it inappropriate. I was trying to illustrate with an analogy that the term "some" is vague, and is often used to refer to a minority (e.g. "let's go to the supermarket and buy some bread) - are you going to buy every loaf of bread in the store? Highly unlikely.

I am confused about what the moderation strike is, and I am also confused why writing such a down-voted post gained me 11 reputation. It can't be because this is the first time I  have answered a question, because I have answered questions on other areas of StackExchange, and have not received reputation for it. How does this system work? Does it mean that the up-votes count more than the down-votes?

So I just read how the reputation system works. If you get an upvote, you get +10 reputation. Downvotes give -2 reputation. I received +12 reputation (the +11 was an error). With a score of -9, this means that: 10x - 9*2 = 12, 10x - 18 = 12, x = 30/10 = 3. So 3 Upvotes and 9 downvotes gives a positive reputation. I find that interesting. Thank you to those who upvoted me, I am learning and I appreciate the kindness. EDIT: I just realised that if it were 3 upvotes and 9 downvotes then the overall score would be -6, not -9. So my maths is incorrect. Thank you for constructive criticism and votes

Also, is this comment invisible now? Because no one seems to reply to my questions or edits to the content of the response @AzorAhai-him-

@JavedAlam We do not receive notifications unless you @ ping someone.

@AzorAhai-him- could you please explain what you mean by the "moderation strike"? Thank you for your assistance.

@JavedAlam Many diamond moderators and high-rep users are refusing to perform moderation actions (such as close voting, or editing content) in protest of SE's generative AI policies. I am participating, but felt that your answer was egregious enough to edit in spite of the strike. You can find links in the meta sidebar.

@AzorAhai-him- I apologise, as a new user, I did not realise there was a strike. Apologies, and stand strong.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


text:
I applied for one program, but I still want to apply for other schools
I applied to one Masters program in Biology which is a course-based program. Now the application is under review and will get the results at the end of next month.
However, meanwhile , I am also looking for other schools/principal investigators to contact about my interest in their graduate programs.The reason is that I am not guaranteed an entrance to the initial school and I don't want to miss another year just because I only put all my eggs in one basket.
Is it bad to apply for multiple schools ( by multiple I mean 3 schools total)? and how do students normally get around with requesting the reference letters from their referees for more than one application? Not all referees like writing reference letters.

No, it is not bad, and most letter writers will just print out another copy of their letter and mail it.

@Compass What is this "print out" and "mail" of which you speak? Perhaps you meant "upload"?

@jeffE  Most programs require online submission thankfully, only one program that I am considering actually requires mailing the application along with the letters!! I was very surprised !!

@JeffE I have seen applications that still take paper recommendations. It is very sad but must be done =w=

It is absolutely accepted - and usually strongly suggested - that a student apply to multiple programs for grad school. Strong programs tend to be "competitive", which is a way of saying that not everyone who applies will get a spot so you aren't guaranteed to get in just because you applied. The amount suggested varies, but I've not heard anyone suggest less than 5-6, and some suggest more like a dozen (especially if some of those are departments with a very small admissions rate). So there is nothing unusual about you want to apply than more than one - you definitely should!
Reference writers usually write one letter, then make only small modifications depending on what program you apply to. I know it can feel weird to ask someone to take time for you in this way, but it's part of the job and part of what they agreed to when they agreed to write a letter for you. Be appropriately grateful, but do not hesitate to apply to a program you'd like to be able to attend for this reason. Any sensible person writing a recommendation letter wants you to get in somewhere you are excited to go, and would very much enjoy hearing a positive result for you, and are generally happy to do their part - even if it does take them a little extra time to submit letters to a few extra places.

Thank you for your response. My problem is that I feel very "Annoying" when I ask my professors to write me reference letters! they seem happy about it, but I don't want to stretch it out. Thats why I will only contact them If I'm certain about my other choices! I hope it works well for me.

As Compass said, it's fine to apply to multiple programs. I applied to two programs when I entered graduate school, and three when I was transferring to university. The letters that are written by your letter-writers are usually cut and paste, with appropriate parts tailored to the specific program.


text:
Does this count as a quantitative research?: word association
Does this count as a quantitative research?: quantifying the strength of a word association based on the average time each subject in an experiment gives a word associated to a stimulus word --the quicker the larger the strength would be.
I know that this involves quantifying but I thought more rigid methodology is going to be took when it comes to a quantitative research, which involves physical rulers and scales for example? --Is there a term to make a distinction between rigid one like using scales and less rigid one like my example? People probably can't come up with a better way than using scales to study weight of different substances, while people could come up with better methodology to quantify the strength of a word association.
Also if my example counts as a quantitative research, it seems to me that anything can be quantified. But I heard that some people say things like emotions and preferences can't be quantified. This is part of the reason why I'm not sure if my example falls into quantitative research.

What's the difference between a ruler and the stopwatch you use to measure response times? There are interesting questions about quantification and psychology, but the example you give is peculiar.

You answered your own question. You plan to "quantify the strength of word association." In this instance, yes, your work would be considered quantitative research.
[Wikipedia] defines quantitative research as "the systematic empirical investigation of observable phenomena via statistical, mathematical or computational techniques" 1. The example you cite does exactly that.
Yes, everything is quantifiable some way. The greater question is whether or not that quantification has meaning. Yes, you can quantify emotions (countries are compared on happiness scales all the time). How that concept was measured and what is done about it is much more important.
As evidenced by the comment left "the example you give is peculiar," there is a level of debate that scholars could have about the validity and credibility of your methodology. Whether or not your methods were quantitative is not at question (they were).
I then add one more question to your question: Does it matter? I would much rather argue the value of your research with you than whether it would be considered qualitative or quantitative in nature.


text:
After successfully publishing several good papers during my PhD, why am I getting so many rejections after my PhD?
When I was pursuing my Ph.D. degree, I published 4 first-authored studies and 1 third-authored paper. All first-authored papers were published in decent journals, not the first-ranked journals but still decent, second level. I published 2 more first-authored studies in those second-level journals within the first year after my graduation. Since then, I have only published 1 study in a journal that doesn't have impact factor. I have a long list of studies that were rejected 3-4 times by different journals.
I don't know what's wrong. If it's my problem, I don't know how I could possibly publish quite a few papers when I was just a Ph.D. student. My advisor helped me mainly with writing, so those studies were mainly completed by me, from literature review to study design, data collection,analysis, etc.
If it's not my problem, what's the problem? I want to say I have bad luck. This March I received a rejection letter from a mid-level journal. One reviewer didn't read my paper because he/she said I reported my R square wrong, but in fact I conducted a different type of regression analysis, so he/she was wrong. Another reviewer said my literature was outdated and that's it, which is a problem that could be fixed. But even with this type of crappy reviews, the editor still rejected my paper. This morning I just received another rejection letter, but the journal didn't send my paper to at least two reviewers. Instead, one associate editor read it and criticized a lot of design issues of my study. This paper was reviewed at two top journals, where it was rejected but reviewers gave promising and constructive comments. So I used those comments to edit my study and send it to two mid-level journals. But still got rejected and criticized as if it was a crap. I have no luck with my publication and it has been two years. I'm no nervous and frustrated. I even start to doubt if I should continue to stay in academia.
Thus, my question:
After successfully publishing several papers in good journals during my PhD, why am I getting so many rejections after my PhD?

Are publishing these papers as a sole author? If so, sometimes your advisor "name" has a lot of weight!

What exactly are you asking?

I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because OP does not ask a question. Rather, they share a problem they are facing.

I gave an edit to highlight what seems to be the implied question, but the body is quite specific.

Only advice is to continue to improve those papers, and your maturity as a researcher.  I've experienced periods where I had only rejects and then there are periods with many accepts.  There are many factors at play.  Also getting an experienced researcher to give feedback will be beneficial.  Some times, without such feedback, you think a paper is great just because you spent time on it.  However, by the community standard, it is poor.

If you can't take the tough reviews, mainstream academia probably isn't for you. That said, if you've published several good papers, you're probably doing well! If you enjoy it, don't give up!  It's normal to get a lot of rejections if the research and/or your methods/analysts is unusual or unexpected.

It's common for reviewers to make mistakes as in your R-squared example. If your reviewer -- who is closer to your topic than most in your field -- misread something, let that sink in and realize this annoying feedback might be worth more than you would think. Your work may not be wrong, but you may not have explained it clearly or sufficiently for tour audience. Or, it's possible your reviewer was rushed and simply made a mistake. It's often really hard to know whether their confusion was caused by their negligence or your writing.

The most immediate step may be to try to trade with a knowledgeable colleague in your general area/field (preference that they not be an expert in your sub-area, so they are more like someone who could review your paper), so that you will give deep feedback on their paper in exchange for deep feedback on theirs. I suspect you have seen these papers of yours so many times that you don't really "read" them anymore - you know what they say, you are kind of sick of them and just wish someone would publish the damn things already, and it can be very easy to have no idea how someone will read your paper the first time through.
I'm just spit-balling on this part, but from reading your explanation of what you've experienced I get the feeling that your reviews are going something like this:
Editor/reviewer gets paper, reads it over lightly. They might already have no interest in the paper - they aren't motivated or interested by the abstract/introduction, so now they really just want to get this review over with because it's a chore they aren't exactly excited to be part of at this point. They just want to reject your paper at this point and move on.
They can't just say, "boooooored - reject", so they have to do something. They now look over the paper for easy "red flags". Reviewing your paper in depth would take time and energy, but an easy shortcut is to look for proxys of quality - for instance, the intro. If the introduction/literature review is out of date, this says "this paper has already been rejected, probably multiple times, and the author hasn't put in any real work to fix things, so there we go - reject". Or, worse, it says "this author isn't citing the newest work because they don't know what they are doing," or "this author isn't citing recent work because someone else beat them to the punch and they are trying to sneak one past us - nice try, sucker, rejected!"
A similar method is to look at the statistics and see if it looks like anything is obviously wrong. If an author can't do fundamental statistics properly, that's an easy one - they obviously have no idea what they are doing and you can safely ignore the rest. Is it fair reading? Oh no, of course not - the error could have been minor and wouldn't change the results. But it could be that, like so many people, the author actually doesn't understand stats and is just aping what everyone else does, creating a kind of costume-science that looks real but means nothing.
The danger here is that if you are doing something that is out of the ordinary or easily misunderstood - like an unusual regression method - you don't have to be actually wrong, it just has to look weird and not be immediately obvious why. You may need to use a different, more popular and easy to understand method, or you may just need to present your results differently so that it isn't so easy to assume you just did something wrong. Sure, you know all the work you did to carefully make certain you did things right, but everyone else - especially a tired, cranky, bored reviewer - doesn't know any of that and naturally assumes you might be in error. This will be magnified if they already have other reasons to think you don't really know your stuff, because once they start to get the idea that it's crap, confirmation bias will drive them to find anything vaguely resembling an error.
In short - the problem might not be that your work actually is crap; it might actually be really great work. But if it looks like crap, or smells even a little like crap, there's a far greater chance that it isn't going to get a fair review at all, and that's just how it is. Try to get a realistic, outside perspective of how the paper "smells" to someone who is not familiar with it - and this can be hard to get, thus my suggestion to trade with someone - could be extremely eye-opening and helpful.

Thank you for your long and detailed response. I appreciate your advice. I'm collaborating with a few more senior scholars on a project and one thing I noticed that they are better than me is their ability to frame the topic. I remember one of them edited my introduction. She only added a paragraph in the beginning, but that paragraph was so beautifully written that it made me want to continue to read the rest of the paper. In contrast, my framing is more plain and doesn't highlight the importance of the topic. I guess that affects reviewers' impressions of my paper a lot.

@rr5832 In my own limited experience, the framing is regularly the difference in an acceptance and a rejection of otherwise good work. It's one of those things that going into science, I never expected or thought about at all - but unless you develop the craft of getting people interested and drawing them in, your work will probably not get the attention it deserves. Successful senior scholars get it and might do it pretty much automatically now, but it takes time and effort to develop the skill - and it's a really valuable skill.

Good answer (+1) -- I'd also be curious to hear someone's take on other factors at play here (the pink elephant in the room, as it were, which I suspect is why the question is on hold currently): is it possible that OP had an advisor who is well-known in the field, and now OP is "on their own" and is suffering from a "who are you" problem?


text:
Should I tell the instructor that I will miss the next class?
I have an interview scheduled at the same time as a class, and I'm wondering if I should tell the professor in advance that I won't be attending class that day. The class is important to me, but the interview is more important.
My performance in this subject is really bad, and I'm afraid that asking for an excuse will give the professor a worse impression of me.
Also, the class contains only 11 students.

If you are not expected to attend, you can tell him and ask what would be covered, so you can read it on your own.

Is your presence in the class obligatory, or is a voluntary own-responsibility kind of thing?

Before is always preferable.

@theforestecologist - Overedited, in my opinion.

It depends on the context: the class size and style.
If it’s a graduate seminar of 8 students, then you should certainly tell the instructor.  If it is a calculus lecture of 300 students, then this will not be expected at all, and might be seen as a waste of time.  Unless of course there is a test in the class, or a record of attendance taken.
It’s hard to draw an exact line, but a good rule of thumb is perhaps: will your absence either affect how the instructor teaches, or go on record somehow?  If the former is the case (as in a small class with a lot of interaction), then advance warning will be appreciated by the instructor.  (If this is borderline, then it would be courteous but not necessary to let them know.) If the latter, then for the sake of your place on the record, you should give the explanation.
And of course, if the instructor has said anything specific about attendance expectations, then that trumps this general guideline!

Yes, tell the professor about your planned absence.  Explain the situation, and ask for notes, homework, etc.

The additional info is helpful.  How's this:

Subject: Planned absence
Dear Prof. So-and-So,
I am sorry, but a personal matter prevents me from attending class next Tuesday afternoon.
I feel just terrible about this, since I have not been doing as well as I would like in [name of class] this semester.  Still, it is an unavoidable conflict, and I thought it only fair to let you know that I won't be able to attend class that day.

Ask a classmate for notes.
I didn't realize you didn't feel you were in good standing in this class -- your comment helped me understand your internal conflict over something which would normally be straightforward.

It really depends on the country of study. In some countries you're free to miss as many lectures as you wish, without notifying the professor, as long at the end you pass the exam.

It depends also on the size of the class. In a 300 person class, it would be strange to inform the professor (though you might tell your TA). In a 50 person class in the US, I appreciate the notice but most students don't bother to give it. In a 10 person class, it might be the norm to let the instructor know if you will be away. ALSO: asking the instructor for notes can easily come off as acting entitled and uninterested in taking responsibility for one's own learning.

The point is that my performance in this subject is really bad, asking for excuse, I think, will give him (more) bad impression about me. What to do?

The point is that my performance in this subject is really bad — Then you should reschedule the interview. You really need to attend class, not because of what the instructor will think of you, but because you're struggling with the material!

@AlFagera, indicate that you are sorry to miss the class, and do your best to attend the following classes. We are all human, and it's fine to have time conflicts that prevent you from attending classes. As long as it doesn't happen too often, the instructor won't think bad of you.

@JeffE, I don't think I can easily change the interview; despite the importance of the class for me. Furthermore, we are (for those wondering about the class size) 11 students only, I'm in graduate school in KSA. Thanks for all.

@svavil: "it's fine to have time conflicts that prevent you from attending classes" - this depends a lot on the context. Various universities I am familiar with require students to consider university the first priority. Basically, having a job interview is not a valid reason to miss a class, and while most teaching staff will probably be lenient if it doesn't happen too often for classes with obligatory attendance, "it's fine" is certainly not the correct description in this context.

@O.R.Mapper I agree. My point of view was possibly an impression from my professors and peers considering job search an equally important endeavor, but this is strongly culture-dependent.

@O.R.Mapper In my background (as a student and the lead instructor of a college department) the point of colleges is to prepare students for what lies ahead after the college world.  If a student had a job interview, conflicting with the class would be unfortunate.  However, landing the job successfully would be far more worthwhile than coming to a class and helping to further prepare for getting that job.  It seems we may have been exposed to some different backgrounds/attitudes.

This advice is very incomplete, and there are numerous cases when it should not be followed.

@TOOGAM: Sure, various factors can play into this. While in my place, universities too convey professional skills for future occupations, I also see a certain opposition by universities to be perceived as "factories for workers", rather than also being institutions to provide education as a value of its own. Furthermore, the final six months of studies during which students often only write a thesis and have no classes at all should be plenty of time for scheduling job interviews. Also, scheduling itself is seen as an important skill for the students' future lives, and that includes ...

... the skill to schedule an occasional one-time event such as a job interview in a way such that there is no collision with a (usually quite sparse!) university timetable. Lastly, it certainly is simpler to draw a line by accepting no external appointments instead of starting to distinguish job interviews from practice workdays, open house days at one's future employer, assessment days, etc., and thereby converting the expectation of prioritizing university in general into a joke due to the number of exceptions.  For deeper reflections on this, a separate question might be warranted, though.

In addition to the other reasons this advice is at best situation dependent, it's not always appropriate to ask the professor for notes and the homework.  That's turning your absence into the professor's problem by making more work.  In many cases you should make alternate plans to find out what happened in the class (say, by getting notes from another student); in that case, if you're informing the professor, you should also point out that you're taking those steps to demonstrate that you're proactively trying to make up for the missed without asking for extra help from the professor.

@O.R.Mapper Tangentially this has an annoying side effect: talkers, sleepers, generally anyone rude (to lecturer) and annoying (to those that want to be there) in attendance for no reason other than perhaps a misguided feeling of being required.. Honestly several times I've witnessed it so bad that I want to leave myself, out of embarrassment/guilt by association.

@OllieFord: Where "this" refers to required attendance, I presume (I was only indirectly talking about that here; my comments focused on why or why not to consider a job interview a valid reason to not attend a class, whether or not attendance is required)? Indeed, whether or not attendance is required for the OP does not get clear from the question; I have already asked about it in a comment.

@O.R.Mapper Apologies, I fell victim to an unexpanded comment thread. I referred to your first comment and lecture attendance as a "first priority". In my neck of the woods, exams are a priority, and anything else take it or leave it. As my angry comment above (sorry, long day) alludes to, I'd rather more left it.

Drop the "sorry" and the "I feel terrible" stuff. You're not doing anything wrong that harms the professor, so there's no need to apologize. It's enough to say, "I would never blithely miss class..." or something of that sort.

@transitionsynthesis - I agree, in general -- but I wanted to draft something OP would be comfortable with ("My performance in this subject is really bad, and I'm afraid that asking for an excuse will give the professor a worse impression of me").

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text:
Evidence for/against practical exams and their "added stress"
Numerous science course labs (especially anatomy labs) incorporate "practical exams" into their lab assessment. These exams involve having students visit multiple stations containing various visual components (e.g., models or specimens) for short time periods.

Students have to identify or answer questions pertaining to the object at each station in only a few minutes (or less).

Are these types of exams actually good? Specifically, I'm wondering about the added stress component that is associated with these types of exams.

These exams almost always bring about more student stress/anxiety due to a myriad of factors -- is this stress unnecessary or necessary to the practical's utility?

From my own schooling, I feel as though the stress associated with practical exams is positive as it trains you for real world scenarios in which you need to think on your feet. I have heard others, however, state just the opposite: that the stress of answering a question in <1min is not at all realistic and causes undue stress.

I wonder if this is just one of those "well we had to go through it, so so should you" type of things without any actual support?
The department I teach for has "heard the cries of the students", and has continuously tried to make the exams "less stressful." This includes:

Replacing a beeping watch "deemed too stressful" with a calm spoken phrase such as "change" or "move" during station shifts.
Providing clues at stations to focus students that are freaking out and struggling to focus
Providing numerous example test questions and "walk-throughs" prior to exams to prepare the students for what they will see.
Etc.

My Question: is the added stress associated with practical exams both inherent to this exam type and, more importantly, is that added stress pedagogically supported? Alternatively, should we continue to make testing less stressful for students?

I want hard evidence: please answer only with cited materials discussing this topic.

Opinions and anecdotes are welcome, but please save them for the comments or chat only, thanks.

Are these exams specific to any country? I don't recall seeing anything of that kind, but I'm not into biology.

@svavil mpt that I'm aware of. It's pretty standard for anatomy, physiology, and various other types of hands-on biology labs.