In scientific research, credibility is of utmost importance. Data documentation and storage, and the \u201crigor, transparency, and attention we invest in designing, conducting, and reporting experiments\u201d are part of ensuring sound credibility. Science can only progress if there is corroboration among colleagues, and reproducing research results can be difficult when the original study is lacking in areas such as unsound scientific methods, misinterpretation of results, or other issues that might have been purposely ignored to achieve the desired results.<\/p>\n
According to Nature<\/em>, \u201cthere is growing alarm about results that cannot be reproduced.\u201d With more scrutiny, more complex studies, advanced statistics, and the constant pressure on researchers to publish, nearly everyone involved is concerned about scientific transparency and the challenges with irreproducible research.<\/p>\n In 2016, Nature<\/em> published the results of an online questionnaire<\/a> from 1,576 respondents on the reproducibility crisis. Only 52% agreed that a crisis does exist, although 70% had attempted to reproduce a study but were unsuccessful. About one-third of respondents believed that this failure meant that the study was not valid, and 73% trusted the validity of at least one-half of the papers published in their fields. Respondent attitudes appeared to be somewhat disconnected with respect to scientific transparency, reproducibility in research, and their importance.<\/p>\n From 60% to more than 80% of respondents had failed to duplicate others\u2019 results, the highest being in the field of chemistry. About 24% of successful replications were accepted by publishers versus about 13% of unsuccessful attempts. Given these results, incentives to duplicate another\u2019s experiment are most likely not very high. Close to 90% of respondents chose \u201cmore robust experimental design, better statistics, and better mentorship\u201d as the most important elements in research transparency<\/a> and reproducibility.<\/p>\nWhat Scientists Are Saying<\/h2>\n