Improving (Our) Science: Reproducibility, Reporting, and Openness

Abstract

The goal of the course is to become a better scientist. You will learn about newest standards for scientific openness, and how they influence the reporting and interpretation of empirical evidence. One component of the course is an intervention to assist you as a practicing scientist. The hope is that the course will help you to lay out the ideal norms and practices and then give you a bit of practice in implementing them. A second component of the course will examine the discrepancy between scientific values and normative scientific practices. What are the ordinary daily practices of scientists, laboratories, and disciplines and when do they fail to follow best practices? We will consider (and propose) solutions for bringing scientific practice in concert with scientific goals.The third component will be the evaluation of those solutions. Which interventions hold the most promise for improving scientific practice and how will we be able to judge?This is not a typical graduate course. However, it is very relevant to doing effective research. It is not quite a research methods class, not quite a professional issues class, and not quite a self-improvement class, but it is a bit of all of three. The substantive content of interest is your own graduate field and research projects. The focus of this class is on (a) the practices you use to become expert and contribute to that field, and (b) the normative practices that disrupt the development of knowledge in that field.