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What should PhD students do when they are told to add authors who did not contribute to the paper (e.g., head of school, international funders)?
There's a department at my university where the head of department is routinely put as author on papers he didn't contribute to, and where researchers from overseas who had no input (but who provide funding to the department) are put on papers.
As a pragmatic matter, how should a PhD student respond when they are told to put three names on a paper, when those people didn't contribute?  Assume that refusing to put the co-authors on is not an option, because:

There will be bad consequences if they do not, and
This practice is routinely done at a high level, and there is nobody at the university to complain to about it.

This is not a duplicate of this question, because its answer assumes that it is practical for the student to refuse.

Possible duplicate of My advisor wants me to include a name of someone who has no contribution to the paper

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I am not too sure this is a duplicate. As the OP said in the comment, the question is about what political or pragmatic options are available to her, not whether the PhD student should add authors who did not contribute. Knowing it's wrong is one thing. How to counter it is another question.

Speak with your dean of research, or whoever is at the top of the research food chain. Get allies from other departments who don't follow this approach. Build a case that emphasizes ethics. Failing all this, leave your program for something legitimate; or just do it and forget about it.

The other answers are good already, especially the point that "If you can't change it, do it and move on."
I wanted to add that it should be OK to ask a question. You may politely ask a question like
"I wanted to make sure that person A and B shall be added as authors to the paper P. As far as I remember, both people did not contribute to the research or the writing of said paper. However, there may be reasons to add A and B that I do not know and I would be glad to learn them."
It is not impossible that there are fields in which giving funding or providing facilities are accepted reasons to be a coauthor. This may sound strange, but at least if this is agreed upon in the community and the contribution of the different authors can somehow be  estimated (e.g. by the order of authors, but I have also seen footnotes explaining different contributions such as "designed research", "performed research") this would be OK.

When I see a contribution saying "designed research", I always assumed that there should be more behind it than just providing funding.

Just giving examples. Actually I don't know if there is some field in which providing funding is a valid reason to be a coauthor.

As an extension of the suggested question above, try to quote something from the guidance of the journal. Many will give a description of what is required to merit authorship e.g. here

Writing a proposal and successfully getting funding for it involves designing research.

@gerrit, that's true but funding generally does not mean writing a grant and getting funding. Often if someone goes through the effort of securing a grant they won't just give the funding to someone oversees to do the research. I've seen cases where someone in industry wants a problem solved but they don't want to do it themselves (or can't) and they provide funding to university research group for it. In our research group, we have several students who are working on projects funded by a German university mainly because the German university was looking to collaborate with a US university.

If I was insanely rich and build some institutes in fields like astrophysics, medicine, mathematics, chemistry, at various universities for 20 billion $ each and those are all my institutes, although I have no knowledge of any science at all, I'd count as author as well if securing grants is officially agreed upon as contributing to science - which it officially isn't (anymore) according to the "honorary authorship" Wiki article. Otherwise I could claim Nobel prizes etc. due to my honorary authorships of all made breakthroughs in my institutes. To me, only the possibility of this is stupid.

@Lucas Getting funded from a 3rd party involves evaluating research. The PI get the authorship for the panel having judged that the PI's research design is sound to be carried out; the journal then judges that the execution resulted in publication-worthy outcomes.

This is a bit field-specific, but in some areas of study most of the credit goes to the first author of the paper. I would say that if it is not possible to refuse, make sure that you are the first author.

Have you thought about engaging these people in some minimal amount of work? For example, arrange to have teleconferences with these "authors" and try to get at least one substantial piece of advice from each of them. If you can do that, the dilemma becomes one of degree rather than substance. Crediting someone as an author when it is unclear whether they contributed sufficiently to the paper is much more of a gray area than when the issue is whether or not they contributed at all.
It can be as easy as giving them a call, saying something like, "Hey, my supervisor asked me to include you as an author. Could you take a look at my curve here and let me know if you think it fits or not? Also, are there any additional papers you think we should mention in our literature review? Thanks!"

I agree with most of the other respondents in that you are stuck. Mitigating this is that authorship beyond the first author is often deprecated (unless you're in a field with alphabetic ordering of authors).  In any case, you'll soon graduate (inshallah) and be out of those snake pit.
There is, however, one option: some journals do not allow courtesy co-authors. All authors must have contributed meaningfully to the research in question. If you published in one of those venues, you could ask the journal editor to send you a note to that effect, which you could share with your courtesy co-authors.
This way, it's not you forcing the issue, it's the journal.

This is a dicey situation.
What is your relationship with your advisor like? Have a conversation and try to resist a bit or let him/her know you don't like the idea. Sometimes people try to see what they can get away with but will give up when they are called out on it. Or, ideally this is all a misunderstanding.
Is there an ombudsman or a professor/administrator that you trust somewhere in the university (not necessarily your department)? Try to talk to them and see if they have any advice for you.
If all else fails and you aren't willing to switch advisors or universities, then just do it and move on with your life. It is horrible that your advisor put you in this situation and I'd be worried about what else your advisor is willing to do in the future. This certainly isn't an easy predicament to be in.

I really don't like this practice and fought it at one point (was on my way out the door so it was easy to take a hard stance). All that said, for a junior person, I think you are better off just chalking it up as a minor moral failing of the system that you have to live with.


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How to use MeSH Qualifiers in a PubMed search string?
I want to know how I combine a MeSH term with a qualifier. How do I create a search string on PubMed with it. The exact human readable question would be: All publications with MeshTerm "Locomotion" specified by qualifier "Physiology" and all publications with "Locomtion" not specified by any qualifier.
I am interested in the MeSH term Locomotion. As a search string I would write locomotion[mh]. The MeSH Browser tell me that one of it the qualifiers is physiology.
I can not find the word Qualifier somewhere in the PubMed help or in the available search fields.
I thought it is a synonym for MeSH Subheadings. But it doesn't look like.
Please see this two search queries which in my understanding should return the same number of results.

Even Wikipedia is on my side and say that Qualifier and Subheading should be the same.

MeSH terms are divided into descriptors (or main headings) and qualifiers (or subheadings). Each descriptor can have zero or more qualifiers. A qualifier cannot exist without being attached to a descriptor.
The difference in the number of search results you have observed is because in your second search "locomotion/physiology" [mh] you are searching for entries which have the locomotion descriptor and physiology as a qualifier of the locomotion descriptor. In your first search "locomotion"[mh] AND "physiology"[sh] you are searching for entries with the locomotion descriptor and physiology as a qualifier to any of the MeSH terms attached to the entry.
For example PM28410594 is matched by your first search, but not your second.

Very tricky! ;) This means "locomotion/physiology"[mh] OR "locomotion"[mh] would make much more sense? Not not really! I want locomotion/physiology[mh] OR "locomotion/ZEROQUALIFIER" (without any qualifier). Is this possible? I could exclude (with NOT) explicite all other qualifiers.

"locomotion/physiology"[mh] OR "locomotion"[mh] is equivalent to "locomotion"[mh]. It will find entries with the locomotion descriptor, with or without qualifier. To achieve what you want, you could negate all the other qualifiers: "locomotion"[mh] NOT ("locomotion/genetics"[mh] OR "locomotion/drug effects"[mh] OR "locomotion/immunology"[mh] OR "locomotion/radiation effects"[mh]). This is admittedly quite cumbersome.

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Different behaviour with wildcards on PubMed using quotation marks or not
In my understanding of wildcards I would assume that this search string (in title & abstract fields) would give a result of 0.
telerobot*[tiab] NOT *robot*[tiab]

But it doesn't. The result is 49. For me this means that there are 49 publications which won't be found when just searching for *robot*[tiab].
Does this make sense for someone?

Ah PubMed made to much automatism of it. This isn't the exact search string PubMed will proceed. Try it and see the Search Details on the right to find out what PubMed made out of it.
The solution is to put the words in quotation marks. Only in that case PubMed take them as they are without doing something out of your control.
"telerobot*"[tiab] NOT "*robot*"[tiab]

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How do I politely ask a convenor to not publish my name on the conference website?
I will be presenting a paper at a major conference in the Spring: this will be my academic debut!
The issue is that I have a permament teaching job (middle school) that does not permit time off to pursue academic pursuits: how ironic.  This conference entails an inter-continental trip and hence, three "sick days" off. Cough, cough.
My name is already up on the conference website for anyone to Google, i.e. my employer.
How do I politely ask the convenor of my session to hide my name or alter it in some form? Withrawal is not an option.

So you asked your boss, they told you no, and you plan to go anyway against their will by taking sick days?

As far as I can see, you are asking the conference organizer to lie for you.  I don't think it's fair to ask him/her for that.

How did you plan to get out of the fact that people will want to know who is presenting and you will want to take ownership of your presentation?

Take an unpaid leave instead of lying about sick days. It is not really you job's business what you do when you off job as long you're officially on leave.

"I have a permament teaching job (middle school) that does not permit time off to pursue academic pursuits: how ironic" Not really ironic. You're currently a middle school teacher - there's no research or academic pursuits here (like say, at a university)... so it's not unusual for them to not provide time off for such activities. Once you've achieved your PHD and work at a college/university, that sort of activity will be much more accepted as part of your job - not in addition to it.

So the kids can do it but the teachers can't? Bummer!

@OlegV.Volkov If unpaid leave is an option, it is clearly the right option. However, it may be difficult for a classroom teacher to get leave for a day on which they are scheduled to teach.

@PatriciaShanahan, well, what a surprise, to have a duty to work on job you've signed for! :) That's how we all work, it's not something specific to academia. I'd say it is not academia question - it's more for workplace.SE.

@OlegV.Volkov: It's not a surprise at all, but in a job like a teacher's, it is also no surprise that the teacher cannot choose when to give their classes and when to skip them. Hence, taking a few days of so-called "unpaid leave" is a severe breach of contract rather than simply being "officially on leave".

@OlegV.Volkov Teachers have an expectation to be there and teach during session, period. Special leeway is given for specific and related things (such as a district-wide 9th Grade Math Teachers Workshop, or something), but isn't given for random things teachers want to do on personal time. Think about it, every time the teacher is gone, class is often reduced to watching videos or goofing off with a Sub. Essentially then, your student is being robbed education because the teacher wants to invest more time in a hobby not related to their professional work (teaching middle school in this case).

Teaching, or any other job that has to be done at very specific times and places, may not be the best choice to combine with PhD or similar studies. It would be better to try to find a job that has more flexibility.

@SnakeDoc Thanks to Alanis Morissette, there's an entire generation of people who don't know what the word "ironic" means. Literally none of them, if you catch my drift.

@OlegV.Volkov. If I was not permitted an extra day to fly out for my PhD graduation, asking for three  days for a conference would not likely be granted. Now, getting a maternity leave is a whole different story...

@SnakeDoc Blood, sweat, and tears were invested in the completion of my PhD: docotoral research is not a "hobby". I teach interdisciplinary arts at the middle school level and my academic research is likewise interdisciplinary; hence, the latter is not unrelated. My expertise is applied to my curriculum every day - albeit it watered down to accomodate young young minds. It is so frustrating that teachers are reduced to consumers of research vs. producers.

@Insane: Exactly. This is why at least in North America, teaching is not as respected as other 'professional 'careers.

@Patricia Shanahan:  you are absolutely right: it may be time to emabark on a massive career change.  I put in twelve hours days to ensure that my classroom programming is top-notch. By 8:30 pm, my brain is too fried for an all-night orgy with Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, and Wagner...

@DistractedPhD it sounds like you should not teach middle school next term; instead try for a university or college. No matter how you slice it, your research activities are unlikely to be supported by a K-12 system. You'll have to do them on your time, or not do them at all. You may be able to slip by here with a sick day, but can you keep that up? And to what end? (and I do think you're underselling yourself if you have a PhD and are at a middle school. it sounds like your passion is your extra activities, pursue them!)

@DistractedPhD Hell by the time I was in middle school I was systematically scheduling when I would be 'sick' based off the number of allocated days!

FWIW. Taking sick leave, and not being sick is very often a legal overstepping. If you are covered by insurance, you will get money for being sick, while you're not. You should really use a form of vacation/leave suited for the situation. Recreational (if applicable, sometimes it's not, because you are not allowed to work, when you are supposed to rest in some jurisdictions.), unpaid, on-demand, depends on the actual law. Are you sure you are not permitted to go or just there is no special leave quota for such kind of activity?

Please take extended discussion to [chat].

I am not going to lecture you on the ethicality of taking sick leave to go to a conference. Not that it sounds like a great idea to me, but let's focus on your actual question.

How do I politely ask the convenor of my session to hide my name or alter it in some form? Withrawal is not an option.

What is the problem with just sending them an email, and saying that you "for personal reasons" don't want to show up as a presenter? It will seem slightly weird, but I can't really imagine them saying no to this, and "personal reasons" is generally accepted code for "I have my reasons, but I would rather not tell".
That being said, you should be aware that the Internet does not forget. If the web page is currently online with your name, there are definitely tools that will allow inquiring (and dedicated!) minds to later on find out that you actually were listed as a speaker at some point, even if they remove your name at some point.

not able to secure a leave to cover the three day conference and the conference is too important to withdraw from.  Beleive me, I would gladly welcome an unpaid leave.

GENUINE THANK YOU TO ALL FOR YOUR HONEST OPINIONS and REPRIMANDS : ) Just to clarify though, my intention was never to alter my name but to just hide it on the website or to reduce my first name to an initial. Lastly, I find my job far from "boring": I've dedicated almost a decade to teaching. With my PhD in hand now, it's a battle between the classroom and the ivory tower!


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What is an "Advanced Studies Diploma" equivalent to?
To be admitted to my PhD in Mechanical Engineering, I had to have a 1-year coursework, with 8 subjects and a research-proposal defense. Here in Portugal, an “Advanced Studies Diploma” in Portuguese "Diploma de Estudos Avançados" is awarded, but I would like to know what it’s really worth because I am thinking of moving to another country, and I am not sure whether I will finish my PhD.

What is that equivalent in countries such as England, Germany or the USA?
Can I ask for a degree recognition in an university of one of those countries? Here in Portugal it is not considered a degree, just a 60 ECTS diploma.
What does this diploma give me in terms of jobs? Do I have an easier access to some jobs? If yes, which kind of jobs? I am a Materials Engineer MSc., with an Advanced Studies Diploma in Mechanical Engineering

Based on the descriptions, I wonder if in the USA, at least, the best equivalent would be a Specialist.  AFAIK it's only used in education fields so it's not the most well-known title, but it is an actual degree that is equivalent in credit hours to the PhD/EdD but without the dissertation.

As a PhD student from the Universidade de Lisboa (https://fenix.tecnico.ulisboa.pt/cursos/deic/curriculo), who is also a student of mobility (Erasmus Mundus), I hope I can add some of my observations which might be helpful.
Advanced Studies Diploma is everything of PhD, except the PhD defence (since it also includes the research proposal defence, that we call "CAT"). In my university (IST-ULisboa), CAT usually comes by the end of the 2nd year. To pass that, you would already have a solid research plan with possibly a few publications and research done.
So, this is part of the PhD (in IST, "Advanced Study Diploma" is used interchangeably with PhD), than a prerequisite to be accepted to a PhD.
I would assume, you already have completed your masters and half-way through your PhD since you have completed all the course works and defended the research proposal, hence making you a "PhD candidate".
However, unless you already have some arrangement with another university or a professor in another country (as in Erasmus Mundus and other exchange/mobility programs), I would strongly advice you against contemplating the idea of migrating/halting half-way through. It is not going to be easy to move your credits to the new university.
With your advanced courses, you may have gained some expertise in academia and research. However, it will be still something half-done than a complete degree. But this part is just my personal opinion. You may list it as an on-going PhD in any case, I suppose.

Bouncing off @PradeebanKathiravelu 's answer, in the English-speaking world, the completion of all PhD requirements except for the dissertation is often called "All But Dissertation" (ABD) and is quite common.
If you find yourself applying to jobs in the USA, UK, or another English-speaking country, you could document your education like this:

Advanced Studies Diploma in Mechanical Engineering (Equivalent to PhD ABD), University of Lisbon.

Alternatively, if you are dealing with someone that you suspect has no knowledge of or does not care to learn much about foreign qualifications, or someone who "needs" to see the equivalent Anglophone credential out front, you could write it as:

PhD ABD Equivalency (Advanced Studies Diploma in Mechanical Engineering), University of Lisbon.

or

PhD ABD (Equivalency, Advanced Studies Diploma in Mechanical Engineering), University of Lisbon.

@NajibIdrissi that's true, but there are some contexts, especially industry ones, where the field-specific knowledge that one would gain during PhD studies is more important than whether one completed the dissertation.

At ETH Zurich a CAS (certificate of advanced studies) is 6 months. DAS (Diploma of advanced studies) is 1 year. Those are "Continue education" plans, meaning, one may be able to do it besides a job (kinda difficult but theoretically possible).
DAS requires 30 points (ECTS).
A MSc (Master of science) requires 130 points, around 2 years full time.
A PhD is another thing and takes several years. It's a job itself.
I would say it worth to finish your DAS, that may be enough for applying to a PhD in another country.
In any case, you have to ask the university in your "target" country.

PhD and DEA are the same thing, DEA could have or not read the PhD Thesis, but certainly are in the same acadamic level and same degree.

I'm having a difficult time understanding what you have written.  Could you please explain more carefully and in more detail?

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Are there any professors with PhDs in Humanities from Asian Universities working outside of Asia?
tl;dr: "Are there any professors in Humanities working in North America or Europe who have recieved their PhDs from a University in Asia (Japan in particular)?" (I'm specifically interested in Asian Studies, but any Humanities would be of interest. Also, any permanent or semi-permanent teaching position would be of interest)
I'm currently a second year masters student from the U.S. in an Asian-studies related field at a University in Japan, and am considering whether I should continue on for a PhD there. Graduate students  and professors from the U.S. have more or less told me that getting a degree from Japan would be more or less "career suicide" (my words not theirs) because degrees from even well known universities in Japan are not considered on the level of well known schools in North America or Europe.
Obviously there's a lot to consider when thinking about going for a PhD, but I am specifically looking to contact people in the humanities, particularly Asian Studies, working in North America or Europe who got their PhD from a University in Asia. I'm specifically interested in Japan, but degrees from S. Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, China or even India or other parts of South or Southeast Asia would be welcome. Thank You.

The most common asian university i see people getting their phds from and working in the US is University of Tokyo... but perhaps that is my field.

While not an exact duplicate, many of the answers to this question address your question: http://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/45584/are-indian-assistant-professors-eligible-for-tenure-track-positions-in-the-us/45588#45588

Mind to spell out what is your question exactly?

@Greg Thanks. I added a tl;dr section to answer your question.

@RoboKaren Thanks for that. This question also was somewhat similar, but not quite the same: http://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/13732/masters-and-phd-at-different-japanese-universities

@Neo Thank you for your comment. Would you be able to name anyone specifically?

I found one and updated my answer.

Update
I found at least one. Hikari Hori currently teaches at Department of East Asian languages and Culture of Columbia University. She received her Ph. D. in gender studies and Japanese visual cultural studies from Gakushuin University, Tokyo, in 2004
End of Update

I am no expert in Asian studies. Please take my opinion as a grain of salt. However, being a native Chinese speaker and having read some academic papers about politics and economics in Asian Studies recently, I feel that I want to say something about your question.

getting a degree from Japan would be more or less "career suicide"

This may have some truth in it if you study one of the STEM fields because many good schools in STEM fields are not in Asia. So, you have fewer choices if you pursue PhD in Asia.
But, you study in an Asian-studies related field and you go to North America or Europe to study it? This does not make sense to me. Let's say your topic is related to social economics in Japan. You don't want to study Japanese and live in Japan to observe its social economics by yourself? You go to US and read papers about Japanese social economics without seeing the recent developments in Japan and then write your own papers?
On the behalf of all Asians, I certainly welcome you to stay in Asia, speak Asian languages and then study Asia. We would all appreciate it! Thank you.

Originally, I wrote a long comment to scaaahu's answer, that I posted as an answer rather than a comment, but was deleted by @jakebeal because it is "poor form to use an answer for an extended comment." Basically I will just post a shortened version of my comment below instead.

I know exactly what you mean. It seems obvious that if you want to study Asia, you should go to Asia, not only to study, but to see first hand the culture, language, and "social economics" in the country of your interest. However, because you don't have to be in Asia to study Asia and because you will ultimately need present your work to an English-speaking audience, people argue that universities in the US or Europe are better choices academically. Thank you for the invitation to stay, though :)

(scaaahu posted this in response to my original answer:) +1 For your feedback to my answer. I took a quick look at Standford university Eastern Study faculty directory. Many of them hold PhD from American universities. Some of them do not list where they received their degree from. I did not look at other universities. As I said in my answer, I am no expert so I cannot provide counter- arguements against what you have heard from others in your field. But, those are pretty much in the past. Judging from the present developments in Asia, I am not sure what's going to happen in the future.

(scaaahu also asked this:) Also, a lot of PhD programs send their students abroad to do fieldwork or research under a professor at a University in Asia for a year or more during the PhD process is indeed what I saw (I happen to know one of them personally). I am curious that those PhD don't do fieldwork research after they finish their PhD? They just live outside Asia and continue to do research about Asia? Sorry to ask this kind of layman question. –

Yes, many people also return to Asia for post-doctoral research or employment, or for conferences, seminars, etc. but it depends on each individual and their research. Unless there is some specific field work you need to do (i.e. interviewing people, or gathering resources) there is no real need to stay in Asia beyond that. Of course if you are not in the country you are studying, you may not have as many opportunities to get background information on your subject, but in general, once you have your "data" (historical documents, etc.) you can (theoretically) do the research anywhere.

@TomNewhall I need to correct a typo I made: it should have been Stanford (I typed Standford). I want to say the same thing about your comments: I know what you mean. As far as I know, we don't have too many scholars in humanities on this site. Hopefully, your post can attract some of them here to answer your question.

Thank you very much for finding that. I will try to contact Professor Hori. I am still hoping to get maybe a few more answers, so I don't want to mark the question as "answered" yet, but I will do so after a few days.

@TomNewhall That's fine. Don't worry about accepting the answer. I did this for my own interest and of course serving everybody else who would  have the same wonder about it. It took me hours of efforts to find it, though.

Graduate students and professors from the U.S. have more or less told me that getting a degree from Japan would be more or less "career suicide" (my words not theirs) because degrees from even well known universities in Japan are not considered on the level of well known schools in North America or Europe.

Having done my post-graduate study in humanities at a National University in Japan, I can understand where they are coming from.
The approach is quite different. In an American/Western university, a Ph.D. program is very structured, with you taking classes in your first year, and exams, before your final dissertation and defence.
In Japanese universities, from my experience, you are pretty much left to your own devices. You may have to attend seminars, but these are student-run exercises, and you are essentially being a senpai (tutor) to the master-level students. To graduate, you need to publish at least one article in an academic journal (requirements differ according to your faculty), and the defence's I have seen were no where as rigorous as what is required in the West.
If you want to have your degree recognised, you need to go to one of the big-name universities, such as Tokyo University, Waseda, etc. They are more rigorous, and have a reputation to maintain, compared to other universities.
More than half of the faculty at the Japanese University I went to had done their post-graduate studies in America, before coming back to get tenured positions. In fact, the only Professors who had done their Ph.D. in Japan had gone to Tokyo Uni/Waseda.
So read what you will into that, but if you want to become an expert in Asia, you may want to get your Ph.D. from a Western Uni, and do exchange/post-doc/later study in Japan.

"The approach is quite different. In an American/Western university, a Ph.D. program is very structured, with you taking classes in your first year, and exams, before your final dissertation and defence." This is actually a specifically American perspective. European PhDs usually have no taught aspect to them, and they are generally well recognised in the US.

@Whitebear Thanks for your answer. When you said you did post-graduate study in Japan, what level was that at? I'm assuming you yourself didn't do a PhD there?

@Whitebear Also, with regard to

If you want to have your degree recognised, you need to go to ... Tokyo University, Waseda, etc.

I have definitely heard that before, and I should say that I am planning to go to one of the "big-name universities" (assuming they let me in, which I think I have an Ok chance of) but what I am really trying to find is evidence that Japanese humaniteis degrees are recognized outside Japan-- specifically, someone who has gotten a job outside Japan with a degree from Japan. It seems odd if there were nobody but I haven't found evidence to the contrary yet...

@MJeffryes Really? I stand corrected. I made that statement as when I was researching Ph.D. programs in Europe, such as at Oxford, there were definitely classes as part of the program.

@TomNewhall I did my Master's in Japan. Regarding Tokyo Uni - the program I was looking at, they only accepted 1 student in the last two years, although 20+ people applied. This surprised me. I can't say I know anyone who has done a Ph.D. in Japan and gotten a job in a Western country (they tend to get jobs in Japan - though whether that is for lack of trying, I don't know).

@Whitebear There is a new system in the UK where some PhDs are part of a doctoral training centre/programme, and these PhDs include a first year with taught courses at masters level, but these are a minority at the moment.

Unfortunately, there seem to be a lot of biases, which come from the way different cultures approach research.  My understanding is that Westerners approach (Asian) history from a more ideological perspective, and are less concerned with examining lots of data.  On the other hand, the way Japanese research Japanese history is very data driven, and they are less prone to make sweeping ideological statements because, well, it is complicated.  Consequently, Westerners seem to think they are better historians than Japanese.  I can imagine that there are similar issues in other aspects of Asian studies as well.  I think the issue is that the type of research done in Japan is not appreciated well enough in the West, and this is what will cause a difficulty in getting a job in the West later.  Asia is obviously the best place to study Asia.
Note: I am not in the humanities, but this is what I have gleaned from discussions with a friend who is a Japanese historian, and did get his PhD in Japan (and works in Asia but not Japan).

+1 For pointing out a probable cause: the type of research done in Japan is not appreciated well enough in the West. BTW, there seems to be some typo in and the are less prone to make sweeping .... Would you clarify?

@scaaahu Sorry, the "the are less prone" should have be "they [Japanese researchers] are less prone." Fixed.

Well, I certainly know where you are coming from, and have seen plenty of research presentations that seem to make 'sweeping ideological statements' without being backed up by a lot of evidence. But nevertheless, the best scholars and research in my field from the US, at least understand the value of reading primary sources and have the skills themselves to be able to read and understand them. Whether they use it with the same level of expertise and to the same ends is the main question in my mind when evaluating the differences between research in the west and Asia.

@kimball I'm pretty much a noob here so I don't know if there is a way to contact someone "off list" but if you would be willing to tell me the name or give me the contact details of your Historian friend, I would really appreciate it. Thanks!

@TomNewhall I'm not saying Westerners studying Japanese history don't examine primary sources (though historical documents can be quite hard to read and impossible to obtain outside of Japan, so they typically examine much less I imagine), but I'm saying that the type of research done is different.  The Western approach values theory much more, whereas the Japanese favors empiricism.  Both are important of course, but people have a tendency to think that their own way of doing things is superior.

Most Westerners who need primary sources, visit the country, and research it / scan it / copy it. It is not that of a big problem as you may think. I know people who spend a year in Japan just for scan documents 24/7.


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Finding good statistics for computer science matriculation (drop-out) rate
To satisfy my professional curiosity, I'm trying to find a reliable statistic as to the number of students that declare their major as computer science and graduate with a degree in 6 years.
I was wondering if any organization compiled data on a per-major basis.  I'd like the info partly to satisfy my own curiosity, and possibly use to motivate students (i.e. you made it through a tough class).

"number of students that declare their major as computer science and graduate with a degree in 6 years" - are you asking for the number of students that graduate with a degree in computer science? or students that graduate with any degree? That is, do you want to know how many CS students drop out entirely or how many leave CS?

I'm asking how many leave CS.  For example, if a student switches from CS to Management he would have "dropped out" of CS even though he successfully completed his Management major.

The National Center for Education Statistics in the United States surveys cohorts of first-time, beginning students at the end of their first year in post-secondary education, and then three and six years after first starting.
Per their official report, 59% of beginning bachelor's degree students in computer and information science in 2003-04 had either left post-secondary education without a degree (31%), or switched to a non-STEM field (28%) by 2009.
However, this number doesn't identify those who switch from computer science to a different STEM field as drop-outs. It also doesn't differentiate between

students who persisted in computer science and earned a bachelor's degree by 2009,
students who persisted in computer science but were still enrolled in 2009, or
students who persisted in computer science but earned an associate's degree or certificate by 2009.

Fortunately, the NCES also allows you to create custom tables from this dataset using the PowerStats tool on their website. (You have to create an account to use the tool.) This is a valuable tool if you're interested in exploring these statistics further.
Using PowerStats, I found out that among those who enrolled in a bachelor's degree program with a computer/information science major in 2003-04:

51.3% had earned a bachelor's degree by 2009
Of these students that earned a bachelor's degree by 2009, 67.6% said that their major when last enrolled was computer/information science.

So, 34.7% of beginning bachelor's degree students in computer and information science in 2003-04 earned a bachelor's degree in computer and information science by 2009 and 65.3% did not.
Here's part of the data table I generated for this answer:


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What should I do if I cannot reproduce experimental published results
I found a useful advice if I cannot reproduce computational published results in (What should you do if you cannot reproduce published results?). However I would like to ask the same situation with experimental results.
I am from chemistry, and it often involves synthesis of compounds. I know every lab in the world cannot be identical even if all equipment are the same, because many external factors such as climate, humidity, lab temperature, etc. may possibly interfere with the experiment.
If I have followed all the steps described in the literature, from the source and purity of chemicals to every single step described, but still I cannot reproduce the results (evidence from some characterization techniques), what can I do? Should I contact the author to give me all 'hidden' steps like the size of beaker, etc.? Or the journal reviewers think that the authors have already disclosed enough information for others to reproduce it, so the remaining job to investigate how to reproduce the results is on me? However sometimes the description is really vague, like 'drying in a vacuum oven at 50oC for 10 minutes', but what is the degree of vacuum?
(Sometimes the size of beaker may play a role, as evaporation way affects its crystal size, also the position of drying compounds in oven, etc.)

I think the advice from the linked question applies even here. Try to replicate the experimental conditions as much as possible, try to get any "hidden" steps if there are any, and if the results are still a long way apart, then you have two options: a) try to publish your findings in a rebuttal/correspondence, or b) send a letter to the editor explaining that you have concerns that the explained experiment and the reported results do not match.

Also keep in mind that published results, even widely cited ones, are sometimes just wrong. Just ask Thomas Herndon who found multiple flaws in an economics paper that was taken to be canon. So, try your best to replicate the experiment but if you are not getting the expected results, do not be overly surprised.

@posdef's comment is already very good.
I would definitely suggest contacting the authors and trying to get exact agreement also on the details that they didn't describe in the original paper. The original authors should be quite interested in an independent replication, so they should have an incentive to collaborate. Depending on how much they contribute, they could also hope for co-authorship on your paper.
Conversely, if they are not cooperative, that is another piece of information that should be included tactfully (!) in the paper you are putting together.
If you are lucky in your analyses, you may be able to identify the exact circumstance or unreported detail that makes the difference between reproducibility and non-reproducibility, and there you have the nucleus of an original paper all by itself.
On the other hand, if you cannot reproduce the results even with help from the original authors, this should be worth at least a correspondence. Reproductions are important, and there are far too few of them!
I part ways with @posdef's comment in that I would definitely not send a letter to the editor voicing concerns about reports and reproductions not matching. This already points towards a suspicion of scientific wrongdoing on the part of the original authors. And unless you have a lot more to go by, a simple inability to reproduce a finding should not be taken as the result of foul play. There are so many potential reasons for non-reproducibility, from the ones you mention to simple random error (aka, uncontrolled conditions), that there is really no need to even imply dishonesty. Such an implication can mess up either the original authors' or your own reputation in the field for decades, so it should not be made lightly.

Just to make it perfectly clear, my option (b) that is writing to the editor, is merely an alternative. I never claimed that it's the best one, or the right one :)

There is nothing wrong or rude about contacting the author and asking for some help in this matter.
You should identify not only who you are, but what your institutional affiliation is (and as I guess you are a student or postdoc who you are working with/for).
You should explain what you are up to (simple replication, or are you trying to use this work as a step in a larger process), an outline of what you have tried, what choices you made on any steps that were not completely specified, and how your outcome has been unsatisfactory (it is possible that the author needed multiple tries to get this to work and has seen the same failure mode before).

Easiest solution is to invite them over and let them do the experiment. You will find what they are doing different and then you can decide together how to proceed with publishing the results.

Easiest solution is to invite them over and let them do the experiment. This hardly sounds like the easiest thing to do.

depends where they live.  But trying to get these details right by email or phone can be very difficult in experiments involving real world artefacts/substances/hardware (as opposed to just computer code for example).  It may be some noise or uncompensated variable in your environment or set up, or vice-versa, or both.  So if having them over doesn't solve the problem, hopefully they will invite you back for a reciprocal visit to recheck with their apparatus and environment.

"Just computer code" can be surprisingly hard to reproduce. Some colleagues once tried to reproduce a published paper, with the full support of the original authors over many iterations, with a lot of back and forth, but they never managed an exact reproduction. There were just too many undocumented issues with data cleansing and so forth. Search for the abstract by Syntetos, Boylan, Mohammadipour & Goodwin here: http://forecasters.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/ISF2013_-ProgramBook_06202013.pdf

@StephanKolassa and don't get me started with compiler and library versions...


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Disclosing Asperger's Syndrome in cover letter for scholarship
If I want to apply for a PhD scholarship that requires a cover letter, should I disclose that I have Asperger's Syndrome? If so, how detailed should I describe my condition? It's not something that I enjoy talking about, sort of like InquilineKea. Since I was only diagnosed recently, I'm thinking of writing a few sentences that mainly highlight the positive aspects, and how it could really benefit the research group. (I have worked as a teaching assistant, and have never gone through situations like this so it should be OK.)
I have already told my professor about the AS, but was hoping to get further advice from folks in this forum.
Edit: This is what my careers advisor thinks. I want to show that I can add value to the research group -- these attributes are directly and indirectly related to AS.

I certainly think if it is something that you can manage well you don't need to disclose it at the beginning of the application process. If it's something that affects your working then you should disclose it. Either option I would present it in a positive manner. Ultimately you want to sell yourself for what you can do for them and how you can add value. Whether you disclose it in your letter or at a later stage of the process is up to you. Just keep it positive.

With any disability, "don't disclose without a specific reason" is a good blanket policy. Do you have any reason for disclosing? You certainly don't owe anyone the information.

I wonder too, what is motivating you to disclose this information.  How do you think it would be beneficial for them to know?

@ewormuth - Careers advisors on cover letters: "Make your [job] application unique...", etc.

Hmmm.  Is that the only thing that makes you unique?  I guess you could organize your cover letter around a story of how Asperger's hasn't held you back, how you've achieved many things despite it, including successful teaching.  To me, it might depend on the kind of scholarship you're going after, whether disclosing or even focusing on it would be appropriate.

Yes, I was thinking about structuring the cover letter like that. Just didn't want to make a huge deal about the AS.

The question you linked to, by InquilineKea, has some very relevant answers that apply to here as well. I'm tempted to flag as duplicate. (Ignoring that I'm a mod and my flags are auto-binding... that's why I didn't do it.)

I'm sure there are lots of other interesting things about you. They may even be connected to your Asperger's but not require sharing a diagnosis.

Don't make this part of your application; definitely bring it up later, if you get the job, then bring it up with specific info about coping mechanisms  and how others can be supportive.

I would think not.  While it would, by default, be considered illegal (in the US, at least) to discriminate based on an asperger's diagnosis, putting it in your application makes it valid information for them to make an assessment of your worthiness.  There are extremes to which this cannot be taken, but they are legally allowed to discuss all (legally) provided information, and they will have extra leeway in defending against discrimination suits on data the applicant volunteered.  If you tell them your age in your application, then it is not illegal for them to talk about your age during the hiring process; if you do not provide it, it is illegal.  You are rather explicitly saying "here's a fact about me, so please take it into consideration in determining whether or not to hire/admit me".  The law does not require them to magically bleach their memories of what you have clearly and explicitly given them and pretend the elephant in the room isn't there.
Some applications may have a separate form in which you can disclose "diversity" information such as race and ethnicity.  These are supposed to be kept anonymous and unavailable to the actual hiring committee.  They are just meant as data collection methods to establish they are compliant with laws regulating discrimination and diversity.  If this form asks you about mental health matters, you could certainly feel free to respond to it if you are comfortable with doing so.
I personally wouldn't volunteer any protected information if there wasn't something else in the application that made it sort of obvious, and could be very negative if left unaddressed.  A prolonged period of unemployment may warrant some sort of comment, for example.

I agree that disclosing it here is a bad idea, but I disagree with almost everything else. The part about disclosure making it "public" and allowing for discrimination is almost certainly untrue.

@Bill Well, it's not like it becomes a field day for them to do whatever they want about it.  But the fact of the matter is that you've given them that information, and they are allowed to use whatever information is provided in the application in their process.

Says who? Your gender will be apparent from your application, usually, but they're not allowed to discriminate on that basis. Etc.

@Bill How will it be apparent?  Their name, I suppose?  They're not legally allowed to ask about it, so there won't be any specific gender identification on the application itself.  If you go out of your way to say "As a female, I..." then, yes, this becomes information you have provided them and they are allowed to bring this information up during the process.  And that will complicate your ability to prove they were illegally discriminating against you.  I do not know exactly where the law would draw the line in the sand here.  Surely there are extremes where it is provably discrimination.

I have had conversations with several people with many years of experience on hiring committees.  A point that often came up was that if I, say, put down my date of birth on the application, then they were allowed to discuss my age as a result (but they don't have to).  It's an elephant in the room at that point, and I volunteered that information.  If I don't give it, they're not allowed to.  I would have extra troubles proving they engaged in illegal age discrimination when I tacitly approved age as a topic of consideration.  The law gives them extra leeway when the applicant does this.

I'm not a lawyer, but my understanding is that the law (at least in the U.S.) in fact does require employers to "pretend the elephant in the room isn't there", in the sense that discrimination is just as illegal regardless of who disclosed the information or why.  Maybe I'm wrong about this, but the only way to be sure is to consult an expert.  (Note that many people with extensive search committee experience have only a vague understanding of the actual laws in question, and they sometimes develop their own idiosyncratic interpretations that are not shared by the actual legal system.)

But I agree with your overall conclusion that it's safest not to disclose protected information like this without a compelling reason.  Regardless of whether it changes the legal status, it encourages committee members to view the information as relevant (and that's not a direction you want to push them).

@AnonymousMathematician Agreed.  If an actual legal expert were to show up that'd help.  I have talked with a lawyer about this, but it was several years ago and I can no longer be certain that I can clearly recall what he said versus what anyone else said, and even if I could I couldn't be certain that information from several years ago is still accurate.  It's entirely possible that even if the companies really do have the freedom to talk about it, and know it, their HR department will either remove that information or otherwise make sure it never has a chance to be a problem.  Just in case.

Go not to the Lawyers, for they shall say both "it depends" and "how much will you pay me to argue it your way?"... If you want a free legal opinion, try the Law area of Stack Exchange. Here, I think the answer is "we're not sure and legal matters tend to be ruled Off Topic."


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How to get an advisor for my amateur research?
I'm about to embark on a research project in complex systems on my own spare time. It seems like the idea I have is a good one. However, it would be better, for obvious reasons, to have an experienced person guide me. What are the chances that a university professor would agree to guide me while I try and churn this out? (Obviously, I want it to be as professional as possible).
If I don't get anyone on board, what are my chances of publishing, or at least getting a pat on the back from admissions committees when I apply for graduate school? Do they appreciate this kind of thing?

And what is your current educational status?

Often university professors serve as research mentors for high-school students interested in doing research.  I don't know whether they will do it for someone who is out of school.  But there is no harm in asking.  Maybe contact the appropriate department and ask if they have someone willing to do it.

You've mentioned that you intend to apply to grad school.  It would be helpful to know where you are in the academic process: high school, started university, finished university?
Regarding asking for help, I see two distinct phases:

If you have not yet started the project (and you are not currently a student somewhere), then I think most professors and professional researchers would be very wary to spend any time helping you.  Complex systems, is, in particular, a field that attracts a lot of crackpots, and even the most well-intentioned projects of interested amateurs usually fizzle.  I think the best bet would be to find someone you already know to provide early consultation, rather than cold-calling a professional at this stage.
If you are enrolled in a university of some kind, then the story is different: the faculty has something of an obligation to talk to eager students. (-:

If you have already made significant progress and have specific technical questions, I think almost anyone would be wiling to help.

One other piece of advice: don't worry too much about talking about your idea.  Many 'amateurs' get obsessed with the secrecy of their amazing idea -- this is the road to crackpotdom.  I think it would be quite reasonable to state your idea on a site such as mathoverflow and ask whether it is a credible research proposal.
If you can cite recent publications in refereed journals that indicate active interest in the area of your proposed work, then this is a good sign that you have both done your homework and identified an interesting subject of investigation.
That said, even if the thing you are investigating turns out to be interesting only to you, it could still be worth continuing.  It might lead somewhere more interesting later, and you would certainly develop useful skills in the process.

If I don't get anyone on board, what are my chances of publishing, or at least getting a pat on the back from admissions committees when I apply for graduate school? Do they appreciate this kind of thing?

A successful independent project, especially one resulting in a publication, would be great material for your grad school app.   If your project does have interesting results, it should not be too hard to publish, regardless of your credentials.
Even if it turns out that your work is not publishable in a refereed journal, it might find a home in your school's "journal of undergraduate research" (or something similar), which would also be a nice resume bullet during the grad school application procedure.
Finally, it's probably best to simply avoid the word "amateur".

@kleingordon I agree in principle, but I disagree that cold-calling is categorically hopeless or disrespectful of a professor. Public outreach is part of many acadimic missions,especially at a public university even more so at a land grant university. But starting by contacting an extension program is probably a good place to start.

If you have no research experience, it will be hard to convince any professional scientist to invest in you. Perhaps there is a team of enthusiasts in your community (or even online) who are happy to embark on projects?
Today's networking opportunities increase your leverage massively in finding like-minded people on the net, via blogs, joint software development etc. At some point, you may try and visit workshops of relevant topics, even just for visiting and meeting people and there you may find some suitable contacts.

I am an undergraduate student, and my experience with attempting research has been frustrating at best. Science is a political ballpark like any other profession. Tact and suave are your best friends when it comes to wooing a potential mentor in academia. Hard work is necessary as well, but hard work alone will only get you so far in the modern socioeconomic landscape. If a professor senses that they can get away with ignoring you then they probably will. This is especially true of large institutions with thousands of students.
All you can really do is just talk to people and hope for the best. Make sure you talk to a number of people, and don't put all of your hopes in just one researcher or professor.

"If a professor senses that they can get away with ignoring you then they probably will" - that's an unfriendly way to put it. People have constraints and a massive load of duties. They must balance how they invest their time, no differently as students at a party or on Facebook, except that the stakes are higher.


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Switch fields from Physics to Electrical Engineering in US: MSc vs BSc?
My brother wants to switch to Electrical Engineering and possibly do a Master's degree (with thesis). He also has a BSc and MSc degree in physics but not much formal training in EE (except some basic electronics, solid-state physics and advanced electromagnetism courses).
Since the most important factor in grad school applications is research, he has tried to contact professors and labs so many times for even non-paid internships, with no results. The other option is to apply to BSc degree or just about any MSc degrees in order to take the prerequisite courses.
How should he proceed? What are some advantages or disadvantages of getting a BSc in EE (using some credits from the previous degree) vs doing a Master's program in EE with thesis that accept him and take the prerequisites courses?

He wants to do research. How about if he continues to PhD in EE and then wants to work in industry?

actually @lmi, many people call themselves "Engineer" in the US without a BS.  it varies by state, but some states require a Professional Engineer license for someone to hang their shingle out with "Engineer" on it and, in that case, the BS is not even enough.  i would downvote your comment for its inaccuracy if we could downvote comments.


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Ways of encouraging companies to participate in survey for my doctoral reseach
I am a doctoral candidate in Business Administration, researching the use of ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) programs in companies. When I have explained my research to system administrators, the usual response is that it is an interesting subject. Despite the use of social media such as LinkedIn, a user group forum and direct mailing system administrators, very few companies have consented to participate in the research.
The research will be implemented via user questionnaires. In my opinion, very little time is actually required to complete the questionnaire (obviously I'm biased) and point out in the covering letter about the research that completing the questionnaire requires only about ten minutes. Of those companies who bothered to reply, almost all have stated that participating would require too much time.
Does anyone have any suggestions how I might encourage companies to participate? I know that basically I am asking them for something and not giving anything back in return.

From what you've described, you haven't done much, if anything, to provide a compelling argument for companies to participate in your research. Even though it doesn't, from your point of view, take much time or effort, it does take time and effort, both of which cost money.
If you're talking to a company that has 300 employees. You say it takes 10 minutes. Now multiply that by the number of participants and you have 3000 minutes or 50 person-hours. Then multiply that by the labor cost, say $80/hr (you have to consider the entire cost of the employee's time; salary, benefits AND the missed opportunity cost of NOT doing what something that would make the company money) that's $4000 for your 10 minute survey.
You need to think about what you can offer in return for their $4000 and sell it. Access to your findings? What would you offer them if you were asking for that much money to fund your research?

Whilst your calculations are a bit off in my case (I'd be only too pleased to have 300 respondents but they won't come from the same company, and the labour costs are somewhat less where I live), I agree with your sentiments. The problem is that I don't really have anything to offer.


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"You are paid to answer my questions!" - how to handle silly questions?
How do I handle silly questions? By silly, I mean questions that are unrelated to the material of the course.
First, I am a TA. Recently, a student asked me a very silly question at the end of a lab session. I say silly because:

it was not related to the lecture,
it was asked at the end of a lecture - and the classroom was already full with the students of the next class, and
I have previously talked about this issue.

The student insisted that I answer his question many times. So, I told him: "It is already late, but let me know about your question" .. when he asked it, I told him: "You can't be serious, this is not a question!"
He got upset, and he told me: "You are paid to answer my questions!"
I got angry, but how should I handle similar situations?
"I have previously talked about this issue." -- Yes, I talked about this issue even though it is not part of the course and the lecture. I talked about it to add more applications to the course material.

If you can answer the question then what @waiwai933 said, if not then: "I'm sorry, I can't answer that question because it is not my field of expertise. Any question related with our course? No? See you next day :)"

Also: No question is silly to the person who's asking it. It is part of your responsibility as a TA to help folks who are having trouble with a concept, whether you've gone over it before or not. If they really aren't getting it after repeated tries and you can't think of another way to help them, refer them to the professor's office hours and let them try at that level... but the TA's job is specifically to offload most of that work from the professor.

"No, I am paid to answer questions about the course material, during lab sessions and during my posted office hours.  If you have a question about the course material, please bring it to my office hours.  Now if you'll please excuse me, another class needs to use the room, and I have another appointment."

Also you could include some information about the country of the college/student/you. It would help us assess it more thoroughly.

@JeffGohlke .. no students don't pay me. University pays me. Students debt is not my issue.

RE: Students don't pay me. University pays me. Hmmm... and where does the university get its money from?

@J.R. Primarily alumni, actually. Although my particular salary (like all academic personnel) is paid by the state.

@JeffE - Whether the students pay me directly or not, I feel like I am accountable to them at some level. That doesn't hurt me one bit.

@J.R. Maybe not accountable to them, but responsible for them, certainly.  An instructor's job is to communicate knowledge.  If the claim is that "Because I am not paid with the students' money, I have no responsibility towards them," that should be easy to demonstrate the absurdity of with a different example.  Suppose you are a contractor for a software company.  It essentially boils down to "I'm paid by a third party."  But being paid by a third party doesn't change the fact that it (the students' knowledge or the software, respectively) are your product, that you own.

@Ajed : it sounds like the student is treating you with disrepect, which is unacceptable.  You shouldn't have to tolerate such abuse.  Don't let your students walk all over you, or they will.  Just tell him you can't answer the question right now, ask him to come to your office, and try to be not to be rude so you don't get in trouble.

@J.R. Of course, me too.  But it's an ethical obligation, not a financial one.  I'm not accountable to my students because they pay me; I'm accountable to the students because they trust me.

Why would you have done 3) previously talk about it when 1)  is not related to the lecture is true??

@Spork .. because I like giving my students extra information. Real applications to what they study. things to make their course more interesting. things to help them in the job market!

@Ajed - Is the question inappropriate beyond being silly?  What about the question makes you angry?

I think you should start by apologizing to the student. You are not paid to answer every question, but you should have been able to handle the situation more professionally. You should have not let it get to you on a personal level.

@kikito, I agree with you. In fact, I will apologize and answer his question.

"Well, yes I am, but not very much."

Why to get angry?!

I down-voted this question because you did not tell us what the question was or why it was silly. Just because it's been covered already - doesn't make it silly. It means that you've failed to educate this person and he needs more help understanding something.

Remember, there are no stupid questions, just stupid students.  jk

The TA already talked about what the student ask. So actually he already answered it. Clearly the student didnt pay attention or came late to the class. Won't you all get sick of being asked something you've already explained before??

I got angry, but. . how should I handle similar situations?

Got angry? No good!
You're not necessarily paid to answer his question but you are paid to help advance knowledge and learning.
Unfortunately, the tone of your answer doesn't let us know exactly how "silly" the question was (was it silly because it was personal question that had no bearing on the course? Was it silly because it was not relevant to the course material but possibly relevant to the overall subject? Was it silly because you had already covered the material in class? Was it silly because he was asking at the end of the lab session?) so unfortunately the exact way in which to respond might vary, but you might try:

If it's a matter of time and you can't answer it because you have to clear the room, tell him, "Give me a few minutes to pack up my things to get out of the classroom." Clear the room, entertain question.
If it's a matter of you having another appointment, then get him to submit the question over email or in writing or before next class.
If it's silly because it's not related to the lecture, I usually do my best to entertain these kinds of questions because it sometimes means the student is interested in other topics around the material. If my class is on object-oriented design and programming in Java, but the student asks me about "how can you use design in procedural programming languages like C?" I'd probably give some ideas on how it could apply to that situation.
If it's a personal question that you don't want to answer, you can say, "I don't feel comfortable answering that", "It's none of your business", "I can't talk about this", or similar.
If it's a stupid question because it's sooooo obvious or because you covered it before, then, sorry, it's not a silly question but is something the student needs explanations for. Get him to visit you over office hours for extra help.
If it's a matter of the student talking on and wasting time with questions, then you can ask the student politely to keep questions for after the class. If the student is trolling you with questions and is otherwise being a nuisance this option usually works as well.

Yes, it is rude for him to declare "You are paid to answer my questions!" but it's also rude to say that "Your question is silly". You are the teacher, the role model, the example, so you should be more patient with them than they are with you. Besides, if you tell them  you'll answer it later, you can simply say, "Just wait - I haven't answered your question yet."

Very wise, professional advice. Good distinctions among the possible interpretations of the words. Excellent.

I like this answer a lot, but you left out one obvious possibility. What do you do if the student is trying to troll you by asking an obviously silly question and knows that it is silly? Should the TA take option 5 nevertheless?

Nice attempt at trying to answer an unanswerable question due to having no detail.

@rumtscho If students troll, often you can laugh it off and counter it with a witty statement. If that's not the case (I for example am not a very funnyman kind of guy) then I just say, "We can talk about that one after class. Let's move on for now." (Option 6) Or, if you have the time for it, you could actually ask the other students what they think of that question and make it a discussion exercise. That depends on the question though.

@Irwin I like your answer. I would go for case 3). the only problem is that the time was over, and I asked the students to do something completely different during the lab. Imagine working extra hours to prepare a lab, you are tired, you are busy, you need to leave the lab, and go to another class, you tell the student that it is not time to ask questions many times, then after accepting to answer your question he gives you a silly question [no it is not proc. P vs. OOP - it is more like why windows use 'dir' but linux use 'ls' to list files while talkin about OOP]. What will ur answer be? :)

Actually no need to answer my last question, but I appreciate your answer the most. I think I should have been more patient with the student. Nothing more, nothing less.

I'm tired, I'm busy, I need to leave the lab, and go to another class. What would my answer be? It would most certainly not be, "This is not a question!" I might say, "I can't answer you right now, but let me get back to you on that." Or, if I don't have the expertise to answer, I could say, "Sorry, I don't know the answer to that." Or even, "Some things just are what they are, and no one really knows the reason." But if a student begins with "Why..." then it most certainly is a question.

"I have already told you twice that I need to leave.  If you have questions about the course material, please bring them to office hours. Goodbye."

I guess the generalisation is that no matter what you should keep  your cool and act professionally. You are a professor and they are students: the situation is asymetric, there are things they could tell you that are rude but under no circumstances you should reply in the same manner.

This is a good answer because it encourages thinking in advance about how to deal with various situations. All the comments complaining about lack of details are missing the point -- the specific situation described is already over, and the OP is explicitly asking about how to handle similar situations in the future. The description was deliberately general so as to describe the category of situation which the OP would consider "similar". This answer will encourage the OP and others to think about many more details of the situation, and how different subcategories need different responses.

I wish I could upvote this twice.

"you can't be serious, this is not a question!"

Don't say this. Regardless of the question, this makes it sound like you think the student is either (1) intentionally wasting time or (2) very stupid. You can't make progress from there.
Next, if it's a quick question that's related to the topic of the course, but not the lecture necessarily, then the best thing to do is to take a moment to answer it anyway, since (1) the student might think the two things are related and it'll clarify things if you just explain it now, and (2) it'll be much less hassle that way.
If it requires an in-depth explanation, and you don't have the time for it because you have something else to attend to, tell the student that and also find the student a solution, whether that is telling him/her (1) to email you, (2) to ask you at the next lab, or (3) to ask the lecturer during office hours.

Great answer - to add to this, don't be afraid to refuse to answer a question if it's outside of your jurisdiction. For example, if it's a question from a topic not in my course, or even another course, I'd be happy to answer it in a lab or tutorial if there is time and no one else needs help. But I won't answer it in my own time. If its a question like "will this equation be in the exam?", yes it's a silly question, but no you don't tell the student that. tl;dr: don't be afraid to refuse to answer a question, but be diplomatic about it.

@Moriarty I feel cheated that you put the tl;dr at the end :)

To add to waiwai's excellent response, a good model to follow for TA's and faculty alike is professionalism.  All too often, academics behave in an arrogant and demeaning manner.
How would you feel if your doctor told you "you can't be serious, this is not a question!"?  What about your lawyer?

well, if I ask a lawyer how to make a pizza, then I can expect much harsher answer .. :)

@AJed, you seem oblivious to the fact that the student might not know the question is not related. If you ask a programmer a question about excel or word, chances are he's not going to know the answers - because you might expect a programmer to know this, though it's not related whatsoever to his actual field.

A lawyer will give you respectful, professional advice that will include how to find a pizza-making expert.

@DylanMeeus As a programmer, I would hope other programmers would have enough experience with Excel or Word (or some other spreadsheet/word processing programs) to answer the sort of questions people who think programmers are well-informed on those applications would ask, and if not, know enough to research the question and obtain an answer in a short period of time (assuming the solution isn't the sort that seems simple but is actually really complex). It's not a matter of field of expertise; those are programs that are now ubiquitous and should've been used in the programmer's education.

@JAB: I agree that they should be able to look it up, but the people who ask use software like Word much more often, and should also be able to. And Word in Excel in a programmer's education? We only had HPUX and Emacs...

@RemcoGerlich Programmers generally have an education beyond just learning how to write code, though those whose school days were prior to the 90s may not have had as much early experience with such programs as those from younger generation. However, I've found that, very often, the issues people have with Excel/Word/etc. are not issues that require detailed knowledge of and early experience with the program in question to resolve. For the most part, it seems to come down to a matter of willingness to investigate and resolve the issue; for example, if you were only now exposed to emacs, ...

would you ask someone who seemed like they might know the control/escape sequences for various commands, or would you look them up and research them on your own, and most importantly, would you be willing to experiment and investigate within the program itself? From my (admittedly small compared to some) experience, reliable programmers tend to fall into the latter category, and that in itself often leads to knowing more about programs others may use more often. Of course, I still learn new things about programs I use on a daily basis now and then, but progs tend to know more than they think.

@JAB You're getting way too caught up in the specifics of being someone in IT.  The analogy Dylan made was only meant to try and explain the concept to the OP.

@JAB just like Jeff said, I only said so to draw an analogy - albeit I do think every programmer has some experience with excel even if just from highschool, so maybe the analogy wasn't 100% clear to you.
Indeed, in computerscience and software engineering in particular, people like to do their own research and figure things out on their own - using books or the internet. But that's really a technicality to the question :p

@AJed - you mentioned in the comments on the question that you had touched on the topic previously.  This really does make it related since it is something you previously mentioned in relation to the course, even if it isn't strictly part of the course.

@vadim123 ... and charge you for it.

I don't care how smart you are or how much of a rockstar you are in your field.  You can be the most brilliant physicist on the planet, but you shouldn't be teaching PHYS 1101 if you can't convey basic information in a professional way to an uneducated audience.  I emphasize "uneducated", because that's what your audience is.  They don't know anything.  It's your job to turn someone who knows nothing into someone who knows something.  That's what being a professor is about (and, by extension, what's expected of you as a TA in a teaching position).
It may not be easy all the time to do this.  Teaching is a skill just like anything else.  Having knowledge doesn't mean having the ability to convey it effectively.

My question is briefly, how to handle silly questions?  By silly, I mean questions that are unrelated to the material of the course.

I find it very hard to believe that a student came up to you randomly at the end of a lecture and asked you about something that is utterly unrelated to the course work.  If you teach math, I'm fairly confident a student didn't approach you asking about the digestion mechanisms of an African elephant.  Let's say you're a TA for MATH 1101 and going over basic calculus, and they ask you a question about geometry.  To you, who supposedly understands all of this stuff, their question may appear completely unrelated and off-topic.  But they don't know any better.  If the question genuinely is outside the scope of the course, explain to them why that's the case.  "Well, you see, quadratic formulas are actually only very loosely related to differential calculus, so your question is a bit outside of the scope of this course.  You'll learn more about that in MATH 1103."

He got upset, and he told me: "You are paid to answer my questions!" ... I got angry [...]

It's not unreasonable to get angry when people verbally attack you or your profession, but as a teacher in any capacity, like it or not, a big part of your job is essentially human relations.  You aren't there to sit at a podium and rant about whatever your little heart desires.  You're there to convey information to people.  Human beings.  Each of whom has their own ways of learning, their own things they think are important, their own philosophies, their own lives.  It's your job to actually connect with them and get something you're saying into their skulls.  It's a skill of human interaction.  So while you're free to experience whatever emotion you want, you must always still act in a professional manner toward your students.  It's part of your responsibilities.  It doesn't matter if you think your student is a rotten turd; you degrade yourself, your department, and your entire institution by treating him that way.  Again, if you don't think you can handle dealing with people on a day-to-day basis, and thus with the inevitable conflict, go back into research or leave academia entirely.
Here's an example of how to handle conflict in a professional manner: "I'm sorry that you're frustrated.  I have another lecture to give right now, but why don't you come to my office hours or send me an e-mail so that we can discuss this further?  If I can't resolve your issue, you may have to go see Professor So-and-so, as he has more knowledge and experience than I do."
Part of the issue is that you've come here asking for advice and have given absolutely no detail about your problem except that a student asked you a question after a lecture which you thought was stupid.  So all anyone can do is conjecture and try to make assumptions based on their own experience.  If the goal of your question is genuinely to handle these kinds of situations effectively and to become a better teacher (and not just to rant about a student you dislike, as seems to be the case), how could you possibly expect to get a decent answer with the information you've provided?  How would you answer such a question?
Actually, I think we already have the answer to that; you'd just tell them:

"You can't be serious, this is not a question!"

I downvoted this for your first paragraph, which is way out of line. Being a TA, the original poster is presumably quite young, inexperienced and at the very start of their potential academic career. So he/she was rude to a student - it's not the end of the world, and he/she has a lot of time to improve. "You should probably be nicer to your pupils" is appropriate advice, "you should probably leave academia" is idiotic.

@DanPetersen Fair enough.  I take your point.  And if you only read what the OP wrote in his question, I could see how you would reach that conclusion.  I think if you track what he's said throughout the course of the discussion, however, it becomes a bit more clear why I said that.  I'm basing the claim on many of his comments and responses to other people, not simply on the test of his question.  Maybe he really was just having a bad day, but everything he's said in this Q&A/comments has made a lasting negative impression of his people skills (which is the premise for not teaching).

I suppose I should rephrase it to say "not teach", since research is a fundamental purpose of universities as well.  Though as political as academia is, you would still require some people skill.

I would offer a caution about the "customer service" way of thinking: you have to be clear who the customers are (and it is not just the students nor their parents). I wrote a few words about that in a separate answer.

@dmckee Again, fair enough.  I realize that the word "customer" in academia has some odd/unpleasant connotations.  I'll change it to "human relations", because that's really what I mean.  Just the fact that you need to deal with people in a cordial, courteous, professional manner at all times.

@JeffGohlke Oh, by all means. But we have obligation that go beyond a naive construction of serving the students. We have a dual roll aiding and serving them on one hand, and gatekeeping access to education credential on another. And, as you say, always in a professional manner.

@dmckee Oh, I agree with that completely.  The whole idea that higher education is a "human right" or that you ought not have to work or have some intelligence to get a degree is nonsense and certainly not what I mean.  I understand how it could come across that way, using the word "customer", which was something the OP said in the comments below his question: "student pays, we have to treat him like he's smart; student pays, he has to get an A."  That's not the claim.  By all means, if someone doesn't meet the standards of the class or the institution, flunk them, fail them, get them out[...]

@dmckee It's just that there's no sense in teaching the material if you hold some great disdain for your students or are unwilling to help them combat their ignorance.  If you're simply going to tell them they're idiots when they come to you with questions, what's the point?  Knowledge for knowledge's sake is fine and has its place (e.g., why doing research is recommended), but if you really want to be part of the educational process, there has to be someone to educate.  There's no sense in teaching a class to people who already have the answers to all of their questions.

@dmckee And, yes.  There's a way to tell someone they're an idiot and flunk them from a course or expel them from a university in a professional, courteous way.  Haha.  Just because someone is a customer in a store doesn't mean you don't have security escort them out or arrest them when they go streaking through the aisles naked.  The dollar isn't almighty (or an "end-in-itself", as Kant would say).  My apologies if it came across as me saying everyone and their dog should be handed a diploma if they pay for it.  Certainly not my intention.

You may have read too much into my comments. I've been faced with the "I'm a customer line" once or twice, and I feel I did an adequate job diffusing the situation, but I want my fellows to be forewarned and forearmed when it comes to answering that kind of assertion. I rather enjoy teaching intro classes (though I enjoy teaching advanced classes more), but there are limits to the nonsense I'll put up with.

First, I'll assume that the student did actually ask a very silly question.
One thing that needs to be always taken into consideration in situations such as this is: Is the student aware of the silliness of the question?
While it may be obvious to you that the question is indeed silly, it may not be obvious to the student. You haven't posted any in-depth information about the whole background of the case, but it could very well be that the student is misunderstanding something extremely fundamental. You claim that the question is not related to the lecture, but at the same time, you say that you have in fact previously talked about the issue. In student's mind, that could somehow relate the issue to the lecture.
One more thing that could be very problematic is if student has a flawed thought process. This can cause the student to relate things that are not actually related and to find cause and effect relationships where there are none.
For example, due to administrative problems at my university, we were required to take an advanced course in one field before taking an introductory course. I already had some experience in that field, so a number of my fellow students asked me questions when they had problems with that exam. Some of them were actually very silly! Often, the silliest were for me the hardest to explain since that required figuratively digging through their brain in order to find the cause of the reasoning that got them to ask me the question in the first place. It often turned out that there was a mistake in reasoning somewhere or that they misunderstood something at a very basic level. One more thing that I noticed is that some people would try to avoid fully understanding the issue. Often, after explaining A for example, I'd have conversation going something like "Is A clear?" "Yes!" "Really?" "Yes, really." "100% clear?" "Yes, crystal clear!" and then it turns out that it wasn't clear.
Just explaining the initial problem and stopping there in cases such as the one I mentioned in the previous paragraph is just treating the symptoms of a disease and not the cause itself.
Another thing I'd like to mention is that (at least in my environment) those who ask questions do actually care about the subject they're learning and in general have a valid problem. It's usually those who don't ask questions that have no idea what's going on.
Next, I'll write a bit about "You're paid" problem itself.
It's commonly repeated that there are no bad questions, only bad answers. In my opinion, whoever produced that piece of wisdom didn't see enough questions.
You need to make a policy explaining what you should do in cases of inappropriate questions. Are you or are you not payed (or for some other reason expected) to answer such questions? What should you do in case you get a student who's too stupid to pass the course you're TA-ing for? What about students who can't form an answerable question in their mind? What about students who ask malicious questions? I was quite surprised to hear from one student at my school that he asks a certain TA senseless questions just because he like to see her struggle to answer them.
Only thing I can advise here is to think hard about what you are and are not expected to do. Talk to your colleagues about that and talk to your superiors about that. Make the limits clear to yourself and  to your students. This way, when you come to a similar situation again and you explore all other options, you can honestly and with clear consciousness respond to "You are paid to answer my questions!" with "No, I'm not!"
Finally, I'd like to recommend to you to keep the tension low if at all possible. In this particular case, you mentioned that the student insisted that you answer the question many times. That probably means that the question is important to him. Is it normal that students should ask you more than once to answer a question? Is that expected in your culture? I never had to ask a professor or a TA question more than once in during my whole education so far. You provided an answer that upset the student. Were you aware that the student would be upset by such answer?  If you were, think about why you gave that answer. Was that student confrontational before? Does he ask too many questions? Were you having a bad day? Did you give such an answer just because the student asked at an inappropriate time?

A student, recently, asked me at the end of a lab session, a very silly question. I say silly because:
  1) it is not related to the lecture,
  2) it is asked at the end of a lecture - and the class room was already full with the students of the next class, and
  3) I have previously talked about this issue.

I don't see how any of these make the question "silly."

1) It is not related to the lecture

It might be a silly question if it was not related to the course material (I once had a student ask me about my favorite flavor of Jell-O, for example), but not all questions need to be related to the lecture. Part of teaching is synthesizing concepts. I hope you don't compartmentalize your lessons so much that you wouldn't answer a question about Lecture 3 during or after Lecture 6.

2) it is asked at the end of a lecture - and the class room was already full with the students of the next class

I don't see how this makes a question "silly." At worst, the timing is bad. Why not just step into the hallway and answer the question? Or, if you don't have time for that, ask the student to visit during an office hour? Or start your next lecture by answering that question?

3) I have previously talked about this issue.

This is one is most alarming in my mind. So, you talk about an issue, and you expect every student will understand it completely, the first time through, and never ask for it to be explained a second or third time?
I agree that students can be stubborn and selfish and have a sense of entitlement. But professors can also be arrogant and condescending and not have a very good grasp of pedagogy and andragogy.
Which is the case here? I believe that some standardized tests have an answer that goes something like, "Not enough information given." A student telling an instructor, "You are paid to answer my question!" seems like a naïve view of academia, particularly if the question isn't relevant. However, your definition of a "silly" question leaves plenty of room for the student to be making a valid point. If the question is related to the course, then you should answer that question – even if the room is full, and you have talked about it before.

I think it's just your definition of silly, and the TA's definition of silly are different. They need to vacate the room asap, so psychologically, maybe he was panicked and need to rush, no time to explain what have been explained before. Do you like to talk again about what you've talked? Sometimes students dont ask about further explanation, but something that has already been answered. S/he should've listen carefully, or ask a friend or study it again before asking again.

@kate - I love rehashing what's already been discussed; it's often a sign that the students are engaged, interested, and striving to understand the material even better. While there is nothing wrong with asking a friend, or studying harder, I wouldn't want my students thinking that they should only approach me as a last resort after those other avenues have been explored first.

This strikes me as a poorly titled question since the key issue is not the student's behaviour but yours.
Have you ever wondered why "there are no silly questions" is such a widespread position? It's not because there are no silly questions, we know perfectly well that there are, just as we know that there are students who will ask questions they could answer themselves if they'd simply bothered to listen and some students who are thicker than too short planks.
So why say "there are no silly questions"? Because there's a much bigger problem with students who should ask questions not asking those questions and thus not getting the information they need than there is with students asking silly questions. By adopting and respecting the position that "there are no silly questions" you help create an environment in which students feel free to ask their questions and thus create a more positive and helpful learning environment for all.
Your student shouldn't have said that to you; but you behaved badly first and you're the one who is supposed to be a professional not them.

Let's be blunt: If "You can't be serious, this is not a question!" seems to you like a reasonable way to address a student, your communication skills need some work. Fortunately there are ways to improve. Read. Reflect. Ask others who've seen you communicate for feedback. Practice phrasing things in non confrontational ways. (Reflect on this: Why is "You can't be serious!" likely to escalate conflict rather than defuse it?)

“You are paid to answer my questions!”

Actually, you are paid to do something rather more subtle than that. You see, contrary to common belief, the students are not your customers. Or at least they are not your only customers.
You are paid to help students to learn and to evaluate that learning and certify it as acceptable only if it meets certain standards (which are set by the customs of your discipline and the expectations of people who will be looking at the credentials that the school does issue and are enforced by the accreditation agencies).
So answering their questions is a part of your job, but so is knowing which question are meaningful or helpful.
None of which really illuminates what you should do when confronted by this student, but it does provide a better framework for understanding your job than the one suggested by the student.

So answering their questions is a part of your job, but so is knowing which question are meaningful or helpful.  I agree with this, but am not sure that I agree with the implicit corollary:  a teacher who, having identified a question as not meaningful or helpful, then does not answer it, has not done his or her job.  I think that the appropriate next step at such a stage is to identify why the question was asked, and, if possible, to turn it into a meaningful or helpful question.

Technically the student is wrong regarding the payment part. You are not paid to answer any question at any time. And I'd be more interested in how to handle impolite students/clients, if this is the case, than in the silliness of their questions.
However, I doubt that your account is accurate. At one place you claim that you have already dealt with the issue during the lecture and at another you claim it was not related. Besides that, you find it acceptable to post the reaction of the student, but do not find acceptable to disclose what question he asked, which would have been essential to know how to react towards it.
So:
If the question has a truly obvious answer, or if the student is truly lost, follow a Socratic approach, asking questions to make him realize how easy would have been to him to know the answer. This part is probably somehow related to your job, which is to educate people.

Why bother suggesting that the OP is being less than honest? We can still answer the question as asked even if the account is not totally accurate.

never become angry in the class.
I teach in 13 classes and this is my experiences :

the meaning of being angry is your mind does not work at the moment and you can not handle the situation. so better that our mind tell us what to do than our emotions.
by being angry we just show students our week point. and that decrees their respect to their teacher.
one example :

Once in one of my classes I said something and the student told me "...that is silly work" . For the moment all of students become quite to see what is my response . they watch me and my face to find any distortion or loosing my control. they all know he said very bad things but they just wait to see my reaction.
WHAT I DID ?
For the moment less than 2 second I become quite and I said "...OK what is the next part of algorithm ..."
other students reaction after my word :

they all laugh him. because with any word I told him "Your idea is not so important which I should care about "
I see the other student trust me more. I see that.

If a question in itself makes no sense, try to think about the motivation behind the question.  Answer the question behind the question.
Just because someone is bad at phrasing a good question doesn't mean that he's not worthy of an answer.
There are however cases when you don't want to invest the time to help a particular individual at a particular time.
In that case I would simply say: "I need a moment of rest to be at my mental peak at my next lecture. If the question is important to you, come back at office hours."
In general, if you don't want to answer a question at a particular time don't say: "It is already late, but let me know about your question."

Nope Christian, I was going to answer a question if it was related to what I teaching in class during that day.

@AJed : Why? What's the goal you are try to accomplish? If you goal is to help the student learn something my first paragraph addresses it.
If your goal is to answer question about a lecture for the sake of answering question about a lecture, then get better goals.

I like your answer, and thanks. The problem, though, is that you are judging that I did not want to answer a question.

@AJed: I'm not. I don't care whether or not you want to answer the question. To the extend that I judge, I just particular reasons for not answering it.