Florence Nightingale remains one of the most revolutionary statistical methodologists in modern history, her work has saved countless millions of lives and disseminated medical statistics and identified trends that continue to inform modern medicine to this very day. I recently got a chance to work with one of the premiere Nightingale historian and theorists, and I was really quite pleasantly surprised by how much I learned about methodology in the science of society. Nightingale is an astonishing figure for a multitude of reasons, but the most relevant I learned (that I had previously been unaware of), is that she actively sought criticisms from her academic peers and experts in other fields. She thrived off of this and informally sought the kind of critiques that most of us cringe at. I think there is a very important lesson here. Her work was effective BECAUSE of her willingness to endure criticism and to use it genuine to improve it. I think many of us are to too eager to defend agaisnt criticism, to justify and entrench ourselves in comfortable assumptions. I think in many ways, this hard headed mentality is considered a virture in our culture. It's considered virtuous to hold steadfast to a conclusion, and weak to let others sway you. I think that philosophy misses the point entirely of collaboration, and in fact represents intellectual stagnation. Do you seek criticism? If not, why not?
I agree completely. You'll never learn if noone tells you the truth. I know i fear criticism but it is essential and necessary for us to progress forward. You can't fix flaws if you don't know they're there. Now there are times that this is taken to far or is badly timed but it's for our better interest.