Reminder of today's seminar
As part of our Behaviour and Evolution Research Group (BERG) seminars, Wednesday (19th October, 5.30pm ) we have Professor Vernon Gayle, University of Edinburgh giving a short presentation on:
Reproducible Research is 'Show Me' not 'Trust Me'
Psychology Common Room, 3A94, Cottrell building, with usual drinks and nibbles.
I think this topic is really important to consider in terms of our research process and workflow.
Hope to see some of you there.
Best, Hannah
Abstract
Despite the explosion in the number of research publications it is impossible to 'reproduce' the results of most analyses that are published. This is because information on how the work is undertaken in seldom made available. Most researchers will have a happy, or possibly even a terrifying, early educational memory of being told to "show their working out". Somewhere between primary school and graduate school this requirement has evaporated. Currently published research is far from transparent and a culture of 'trust me' rather than a culture of 'show me' exists.
In this presentation I make an appeal for researchers to routinely provide enough information so that others can check that results are accurate, and that correct inferences and conclusions are reported in published work. This transparency will also allow others to test the robustness of the original piece of research, for example by employing new or additional data and alternative methods. I highlight the obstacles that are commonly encountered and provide some practicable steps for rendering research 'reproducible'.
I argue that conventional research publications should, at best, be regarded as a palimpsest of the 'real work' undertaken within the data analytical process. Drawing on insights from computer science and other disciplines that have been engaged in e-Research I illustrate how contemporary digital resources could provide a useful and effective aid to making social science research more easily reproducible. I propose a set of guidelines which researchers should follow in order to enhance the reproducibility of their research. I conclude by suggesting a set of benchmarks against which the reproducibility can be assessed.
Hannah M. Buchanan-Smith
Professor, Behaviour and Evolution Research Group (BERG)
Psychology, Faculty of Natural Sciences
University of Stirling
Stirling, FK9 4LA
Scotland
Tel: 01786 467674
Fax: 01786 467641
E-mail: h.m.buchanan-smith(a)stir.ac.uk<mailto:h.m.buchanan-smith@stir.ac.uk>
Home page: https://rms.stir.ac.uk/converis-stirling/person/11925http://marmosetcare.com/http://www.247animalwelfare.eu/index.html
Just launched: http://refiningdogcare.com/http://www.refiningdogcare.com/images/RDC%20Flyer.pdf
Dear all,
I hope everyone had a good mid-semester week! BERG is back again this week, and we have a speaker coming over from St Andrews. Sarah Davis will be giving us a talk on the topic of "Behavioural flexibility and the foundations of cumulative culture". Sarah is currently in the final stages of her PhD under the supervision of Andrew Whiten, and she has been studying chimpanzees as a means to understand the evolution of human cumulative culture.
We'll take Sarah out for some dinner after the meeting (probably in town in Stirling, close to the station, as she will be travelling by train). Please let me know if you would be interested in joining us! The most likely options are Rana's, Pizza Express, or Smiling Jacks.
The BERG meeting will begin at 5.30pm as per usual in the Psychology Common Room (3A94).
Hope to see you there!
Christine.
This may be of interest to some….
Subject: Matsuzawa's MOOC.
*MOOC: Massive Open Online Courses
A free online course by Matsuzawa will be offered for five weeks,
from October 27th to December 1st, via edX, which is one of MOOC providers.
You can access its registration page from the link:
https://www.edx.org/course/origins-human-mind-kyotoux-007x
Anyone from all over the world can register for the course as a student,
and learners can exchange their opinions and post questions on its Discussion Forum in English.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear my ex-students and close friends: I picked up 101 names.
Please forward this announcement to your colleagues and students via e-mail, FACEBOOK, etc.
I tried to do my best describing my parallel effort of studying chimpanzees in the wild and the laboratory.
Thank you.
and
Have a nice day.
Tetsuro Matsuzawa, Kyoto
Please visit my site, http://matsuzawa.kyoto/
Dear BERGers - cc Psychology staff and PhD students in case of interest
As part of our Behaviour and Evolution Research Group (BERG) seminars, next Wednesday (19th October, 5.30pm ) we have Professor Vernon Gayle, University of Edinburgh giving a short presentation on:
Reproducible Research is 'Show Me' not 'Trust Me'
Psychology Common Room, 3A94, Cottrell building, with usual drinks and nibbles.
I think this topic is really important to consider in terms of our research process and workflow.
Hope to see some of you there.
Best, Hannah
Abstract
Despite the explosion in the number of research publications it is impossible to 'reproduce' the results of most analyses that are published. This is because information on how the work is undertaken in seldom made available. Most researchers will have a happy, or possibly even a terrifying, early educational memory of being told to "show their working out". Somewhere between primary school and graduate school this requirement has evaporated. Currently published research is far from transparent and a culture of 'trust me' rather than a culture of 'show me' exists.
In this presentation I make an appeal for researchers to routinely provide enough information so that others can check that results are accurate, and that correct inferences and conclusions are reported in published work. This transparency will also allow others to test the robustness of the original piece of research, for example by employing new or additional data and alternative methods. I highlight the obstacles that are commonly encountered and provide some practicable steps for rendering research 'reproducible'.
I argue that conventional research publications should, at best, be regarded as a palimpsest of the 'real work' undertaken within the data analytical process. Drawing on insights from computer science and other disciplines that have been engaged in e-Research I illustrate how contemporary digital resources could provide a useful and effective aid to making social science research more easily reproducible. I propose a set of guidelines which researchers should follow in order to enhance the reproducibility of their research. I conclude by suggesting a set of benchmarks against which the reproducibility can be assessed.
Hannah M. Buchanan-Smith
Professor, Behaviour and Evolution Research Group (BERG)
Psychology, Faculty of Natural Sciences
University of Stirling
Stirling, FK9 4LA
Scotland
Tel: 01786 467674
Fax: 01786 467641
E-mail: h.m.buchanan-smith(a)stir.ac.uk<mailto:h.m.buchanan-smith@stir.ac.uk>
Home page: https://rms.stir.ac.uk/converis-stirling/person/11925http://marmosetcare.com/http://www.247animalwelfare.eu/index.html
Just launched: http://refiningdogcare.com/http://www.refiningdogcare.com/images/RDC%20Flyer.pdf
Dear BERGers,
Tonight, I'll be talking about 'The long term impact of infant rearing background on the affective state of common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus).'
We'll be in the Psychology Common Room (3A94) from 5:30 pm, with drinks and nibbles.
I've attached the schedule for this semester. Thank you to everyone who has signed up to do a talk so far! It would be great if you could also forward on a title for me to add. There are a few spaces left, if anyone would like to practice a presentation or lead a group discussion.
http://doodle.com/poll/s6qagssqe6zfimgr?
I hope to see you all later!
All the best,
Hayley
BERG folk might be interested in Frans de Waal on Life Scientific:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07wt6bj
"Charles Darwin first alerted us to our ape ancestry. Genome analysis tells us we share 99% of our DNA with our closest relatives in the animal kingdom, the chimpanzee and the bonobo. And yet we seem surprised to learn that apes are kind and clever, traits we tend to like to think of as being uniquely human. Behavioural biologist and best-selling author, Frans de Waal has spent many years in offices overlooking chimp colonies, observing their behaviour on a daily basis. He pioneered studies of kindness and peace-making in primates, when other scientists were focussing on violence, greed and aggression. Empathy, he argues, has a long evolutionary history; and he is determined to undermine our arrogant assumptions of human superiority. Frans talks to Jim Al-Khalili about growing up on the Dutch polders, chimpanzee politics, and the extraordinary sex lives of the bonobos."