Rich Lucas has had an impressive career studying well-being: He holds an endowed professorship at Michigan State, he has won numerous awards, and his work is highly influential in psychology, economics, and other fields. So why does he dedicate a sizeable chunk of his time to running replications of other people's work? We have a conversation with Rich about doing replication research: why he does it, how others have received it, and what it's like when the replicator becomes the replicatee (is that even a word?). Plus: We answer a letter about whether we have ever considered non-academic careers. And we go off about two of the many things that afflict women in the academic job marketplace.

Discussed in this episode:

• Paul Litvak's FAQ for academic social scientists interested in tech

The Black Goat is hosted by Sanjay Srivastava, Alexa Tullett, and Simine Vazire. Find us on the web at www.theblackgoatpodcast.com, on Twitter at @blackgoatpod, or on Facebook at facebook.com/blackgoatpod/. You can email us at [email protected].

Our theme music is Peak Beak by Doctor Turtle, available on freemusicarchive.org under a Creative Commons noncommercial attribution license.

This is episode 8. It was recorded May 10, 2017.