Understanding experiments and research practices for reproducibility: an exploratory study
Scientific experiments and research practices vary across disciplines. The research practices followed by scientists in each domain play an essential role in the understandability and reproducibility of results. The “Reproducibility Crisis”, where researchers find difficulty in reproducing published...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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PeerJ Inc.
2021-04-01
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| Series: | PeerJ |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://peerj.com/articles/11140.pdf |
| _version_ | 1797418422015885312 |
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| author | Sheeba Samuel Birgitta König-Ries |
| author_facet | Sheeba Samuel Birgitta König-Ries |
| author_sort | Sheeba Samuel |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Scientific experiments and research practices vary across disciplines. The research practices followed by scientists in each domain play an essential role in the understandability and reproducibility of results. The “Reproducibility Crisis”, where researchers find difficulty in reproducing published results, is currently faced by several disciplines. To understand the underlying problem in the context of the reproducibility crisis, it is important to first know the different research practices followed in their domain and the factors that hinder reproducibility. We performed an exploratory study by conducting a survey addressed to researchers representing a range of disciplines to understand scientific experiments and research practices for reproducibility. The survey findings identify a reproducibility crisis and a strong need for sharing data, code, methods, steps, and negative and positive results. Insufficient metadata, lack of publicly available data, and incomplete information in study methods are considered to be the main reasons for poor reproducibility. The survey results also address a wide number of research questions on the reproducibility of scientific results. Based on the results of our explorative study and supported by the existing published literature, we offer general recommendations that could help the scientific community to understand, reproduce, and reuse experimental data and results in the research data lifecycle. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T06:32:26Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d6f549c5fced41b6a4d6299c85fbdf87 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2167-8359 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T06:32:26Z |
| publishDate | 2021-04-01 |
| publisher | PeerJ Inc. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PeerJ |
| spelling | doaj.art-d6f549c5fced41b6a4d6299c85fbdf872023-12-03T11:03:26ZengPeerJ Inc.PeerJ2167-83592021-04-019e1114010.7717/peerj.11140Understanding experiments and research practices for reproducibility: an exploratory studySheeba SamuelBirgitta König-RiesScientific experiments and research practices vary across disciplines. The research practices followed by scientists in each domain play an essential role in the understandability and reproducibility of results. The “Reproducibility Crisis”, where researchers find difficulty in reproducing published results, is currently faced by several disciplines. To understand the underlying problem in the context of the reproducibility crisis, it is important to first know the different research practices followed in their domain and the factors that hinder reproducibility. We performed an exploratory study by conducting a survey addressed to researchers representing a range of disciplines to understand scientific experiments and research practices for reproducibility. The survey findings identify a reproducibility crisis and a strong need for sharing data, code, methods, steps, and negative and positive results. Insufficient metadata, lack of publicly available data, and incomplete information in study methods are considered to be the main reasons for poor reproducibility. The survey results also address a wide number of research questions on the reproducibility of scientific results. Based on the results of our explorative study and supported by the existing published literature, we offer general recommendations that could help the scientific community to understand, reproduce, and reuse experimental data and results in the research data lifecycle.https://peerj.com/articles/11140.pdfReproducibilityReproducible research recommendationsExperimentsReuseUnderstandabilityResearch data lifecycle |
| spellingShingle | Sheeba Samuel Birgitta König-Ries Understanding experiments and research practices for reproducibility: an exploratory study PeerJ Reproducibility Reproducible research recommendations Experiments Reuse Understandability Research data lifecycle |
| title | Understanding experiments and research practices for reproducibility: an exploratory study |
| title_full | Understanding experiments and research practices for reproducibility: an exploratory study |
| title_fullStr | Understanding experiments and research practices for reproducibility: an exploratory study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Understanding experiments and research practices for reproducibility: an exploratory study |
| title_short | Understanding experiments and research practices for reproducibility: an exploratory study |
| title_sort | understanding experiments and research practices for reproducibility an exploratory study |
| topic | Reproducibility Reproducible research recommendations Experiments Reuse Understandability Research data lifecycle |
| url | https://peerj.com/articles/11140.pdf |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT sheebasamuel understandingexperimentsandresearchpracticesforreproducibilityanexploratorystudy AT birgittakonigries understandingexperimentsandresearchpracticesforreproducibilityanexploratorystudy |