I think you’re mostly asking the wrong people. I give a lot of feedback on my friends work and projects, but we all work in pretty similar areas so I know how to provide meaningful and detailed criticism and what does and doesn’t make sense. If you’re asking people who aren’t in that field there’s a good chance any detailed feedback they give you will be not very useful anyway. You also might be asking the wrong people in terms of their willingness to invest time and energy into giving someone detailed feedback because it really does take a not insignificant amount of both.
I can’t be super certain these are useful tips since I don’t know the exact nature of the project you’re talking about, but
Keep the thing you’re asking for feedback on as specific and brief as possible. If your idea is too broad (ie. Something like I’m going to research X using Y to do Z) there isn’t really a whole lot someone can say. There needs to be concrete, detailed steps in the proposal. Brevity seems pretty straightforward, although worth underlining. I see alot of undergrad and MA students who are adamant that you have to know every detail of the background of their project and their thought process to know something is a good or bad idea or understand why it doesn’t work. And sure, sometimes there are some details that are necessary, but overall it’s best to pare it down the bare necessities.
Find people who are knowledgeable and invested in the idea. How depends pretty strongly on what it is that your doing exactly.
Think about if you may be the problem. There are two types of project I tend to not touch unless I’m getting paid to do it: either they’re fundamentally problematic and I think saying that will kill the relationship, or I think that the person will spend hours fighting the feedback and trying to explain to me why I’m wrong and their project is great actually. Something in the way you communicate with people might be giving the impression that you’ll end up doing either of these things.
-Find peers doing similar things and swap feedback. This is much, much easier to do in academic work, not sure it would pan out elsewhere, but I’ve gotten some of the best feedback from peers rather than professors.
-Depending on what this is and how much you’re investing in it, seeking our professional, paid help may be a good option.
You’re probably right, I’m asking the wrong people. I don’t know if there are many of the right people to ask within EA or outside of EA. The project cause area is mental health / personal development as it relates to well-being measured through life satisfaction. I feel like my potential sources of targeted feedback are highly constrained because:
Most non-EA professional coaches, therapists or psychologists are not equipped to consider my proposals given that life satisfaction is a relatively disconnected concept from their work. (As strange as that may sound). I also find that more experienced professionals seem to apply route knowledge and apparently seem reluctant to deviate from considering anything outside of what they practice.
Relatively few EAs seem to have an interest in mental health as a cause area beyond general knowledge of its existence, let alone specific knowledge.
I suspect my ideas are somewhat wild compared to normal thinking, and I think it would take other people who have their own wild thoughts to comfortably critique mine.
Have you put together an actual proposal document? Having a well laid out and argued proposal would help professionals who are willing to take the time understand and critique your work, even if it’s kind of unconventional.
I also find that more experienced professionals seem to apply route knowledge and apparently seem reluctant to deviate from considering anything outside of what they practice.
To be fair, this is in a lot of cases not down to incuriosity or being too stupid or stubborn (although there are certainly a fair amount of that as well), but because they practice what they do because they believe it’s the best choice based on their years of training and experience. This is where a well put together, persuasive proposal could come in handy, it gives people the time and ability to peruse and think about it in a way that verbal conversation or jumbled messages don’t.
If you aren’t getting support from practitioners it may be a sign that this is better suited for research at this point. Establish the science behind what you’re trying to do before seeking implementation. Researcher are, in my experience, generally much more open to out of the box thinking because their risk is lower and potential rewards higher. They’re also more used to looking at proposals and giving feedback, so maybe reaching out to academics or doing something like an MA could be a better option for you at this stage if you’re sufficiently committed to this project to do it.
I suspect my ideas are somewhat wild compared to normal thinking, and I think it would take other people who have their own wild thoughts to comfortably critique mine.
Just as an aside, I tend to be wary of this kind of thinking and try to self critique more when I find myself going that that line. The reason I say so is that while there are certainly very valuable wild thoughts that are wild enough that “normal thinkers” can’t meaningfully engage with them, they’re very few and far between and the illegality more frequently tends be the result of the arguments and thinking not being well supported, ideas not being connected well to each other, or significant flaws in the idea or how its presented.
I think you’re mostly asking the wrong people. I give a lot of feedback on my friends work and projects, but we all work in pretty similar areas so I know how to provide meaningful and detailed criticism and what does and doesn’t make sense. If you’re asking people who aren’t in that field there’s a good chance any detailed feedback they give you will be not very useful anyway. You also might be asking the wrong people in terms of their willingness to invest time and energy into giving someone detailed feedback because it really does take a not insignificant amount of both.
I can’t be super certain these are useful tips since I don’t know the exact nature of the project you’re talking about, but
Keep the thing you’re asking for feedback on as specific and brief as possible. If your idea is too broad (ie. Something like I’m going to research X using Y to do Z) there isn’t really a whole lot someone can say. There needs to be concrete, detailed steps in the proposal. Brevity seems pretty straightforward, although worth underlining. I see alot of undergrad and MA students who are adamant that you have to know every detail of the background of their project and their thought process to know something is a good or bad idea or understand why it doesn’t work. And sure, sometimes there are some details that are necessary, but overall it’s best to pare it down the bare necessities.
Find people who are knowledgeable and invested in the idea. How depends pretty strongly on what it is that your doing exactly.
Think about if you may be the problem. There are two types of project I tend to not touch unless I’m getting paid to do it: either they’re fundamentally problematic and I think saying that will kill the relationship, or I think that the person will spend hours fighting the feedback and trying to explain to me why I’m wrong and their project is great actually. Something in the way you communicate with people might be giving the impression that you’ll end up doing either of these things. -Find peers doing similar things and swap feedback. This is much, much easier to do in academic work, not sure it would pan out elsewhere, but I’ve gotten some of the best feedback from peers rather than professors. -Depending on what this is and how much you’re investing in it, seeking our professional, paid help may be a good option.
You’re probably right, I’m asking the wrong people. I don’t know if there are many of the right people to ask within EA or outside of EA. The project cause area is mental health / personal development as it relates to well-being measured through life satisfaction. I feel like my potential sources of targeted feedback are highly constrained because:
Most non-EA professional coaches, therapists or psychologists are not equipped to consider my proposals given that life satisfaction is a relatively disconnected concept from their work. (As strange as that may sound). I also find that more experienced professionals seem to apply route knowledge and apparently seem reluctant to deviate from considering anything outside of what they practice.
Relatively few EAs seem to have an interest in mental health as a cause area beyond general knowledge of its existence, let alone specific knowledge.
I suspect my ideas are somewhat wild compared to normal thinking, and I think it would take other people who have their own wild thoughts to comfortably critique mine.
Have you put together an actual proposal document? Having a well laid out and argued proposal would help professionals who are willing to take the time understand and critique your work, even if it’s kind of unconventional.
To be fair, this is in a lot of cases not down to incuriosity or being too stupid or stubborn (although there are certainly a fair amount of that as well), but because they practice what they do because they believe it’s the best choice based on their years of training and experience. This is where a well put together, persuasive proposal could come in handy, it gives people the time and ability to peruse and think about it in a way that verbal conversation or jumbled messages don’t.
If you aren’t getting support from practitioners it may be a sign that this is better suited for research at this point. Establish the science behind what you’re trying to do before seeking implementation. Researcher are, in my experience, generally much more open to out of the box thinking because their risk is lower and potential rewards higher. They’re also more used to looking at proposals and giving feedback, so maybe reaching out to academics or doing something like an MA could be a better option for you at this stage if you’re sufficiently committed to this project to do it.
Just as an aside, I tend to be wary of this kind of thinking and try to self critique more when I find myself going that that line. The reason I say so is that while there are certainly very valuable wild thoughts that are wild enough that “normal thinkers” can’t meaningfully engage with them, they’re very few and far between and the illegality more frequently tends be the result of the arguments and thinking not being well supported, ideas not being connected well to each other, or significant flaws in the idea or how its presented.