Why do good science?

In the previous post we learned that qualitative studies can be reported in ways to ensure research design, measurement, data analysis and data itself are made transparent. Economics researchers Aguinis and Solarino conducted a literature search and developed 12 criteria for research transparency, covering research design, measurement, data analysis and data disclosure. They emphasize that transparency exists on a continuum.
Read moreFor better or worse, our mind plays tricks on us: we are prone to cognitive biases and logical fallacies. These biases don’t impact how do the laundry or prepare supper, although I may convince myself that I always intended to make a galette despite having the cookbook open at the soufflé page. Unfortunately, these same biases and fallacies can wreck
Read moreRecently, I reviewed a number of research proposals in which some applied qualitative or mixed (i.e. quantitative and qualitative) methods to answer health questions. I had my “reviewer hat” on as I assessed the proposals for research quality. After 3-4 proposals, it occurred to me that while assessing quantitative research proposals for research quality and reproducible practices was straightforward, doing
Read moreComputer code is used to analyse data in research studies across many fields including epidemiology, biomedical science, computational biology and physics. Many findings now depend on such analyses. What role do journals play in ensuring transparency and reproducibility of computer code used to generate research findings? How might this fit in with our efforts, as scientists, to reduce errors in
Read moreT-tests and analysis of variance (ANOVA) are common statistical tests in physiology and biomedical science. While the SAMPL guidelines for reporting statistical analyses and methods in published literature state authors should “describe statistical methods with enough detail to enable a knowledgeable reader with access to the original data to verify the reported results”, such recommendations are rarely implemented. Simply stating
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