That Feeling

I got Andrew Gelman post a question on that I-just-fit-a-model feeling.

How do you describe that feeling when you hit enter and get the first results on your screen? That’s after going through the theory, collecting data, specifying the model, perhaps debugging the code, etc.

To me, it’s one of the exciting moments in doing research. It’s go that excitement I get when — for no apparent reason — betting on the colour of the eggs in a carton (here they sell both brown and white eggs…) and lift the lid to find out. At the same time, there is a slightly less frivolous side to it, as I’m wagering (part) of my view how the world functions.

After reading Andrew’s reply, yes, I also often get that anti-climate mixed in, seeing numbers on the screen and trying to make sense of them. After all, it usually isn’t as straightforward as a box of brown or white eggs (or both)…