There is much talk about open science lately. One aspect of this movement towards more transparent and reproducible science is the open sharing of data and computer code. As highlighted in a recent article in Nature, Github is increasingly being used by scientists to do just that! Github in science Git is a powerful distributed version control tool that can
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In a previous post, I highlighted a symposium that was held to improve the reproducibility of biomedical research. The published report includes a description of the causes and factors associated with poor reproducibility; these are summarized below. Key causes and factors linked to poor reproducibility False discovery rate and small sample sizes. The false discovery rate is the expected proportion
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Earlier this year, I was asked to review a manuscript for the Journal of Neurophysiology. I was struck by the use of the standard error of the mean (SEM) to summarize data variability, the selective reporting of exact (e.g., p=0.067) and non-exact (p<0.05) p-values and the interpretation of non-significant results (e.g., p=0.067) as statistically significant. Because the Journal of Neurophysiology
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Scientific inquiry is the process by which new information is generated through experimental, theoretical or observational methods in order to understand the world. As inquiry progresses, some claims eventually achieve enough acceptance by the scientific community and become regarded as “fact”. The more established a fact is, the less likely it is subjected to further verification. However, poor reproducibility of
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In April 2015, a symposium was held on how to improve the reproducibility of biomedical research. It was attended by scientists from research institutions, funding bodies and scientific journals. A report summarizing the symposium was published in November of last year. A very readable document, the report discusses various factors that contribute to poor reproducibility, as well as various recommendations
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In light of recent depressing posts on the reproducibility crisis and the natural selection of bad science, I thought it worthwhile to revisit why we actually try to do good science, despite the pressures to compromise, and what qualities good scientists possess. Some time ago, the cell biologist Martin Schwartz wrote an interesting and honest essay on why, for sincere
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Scientifically Sound 