THE CAMBRIDGE STATISTICS DISCUSSION GROUP

Thursday 1st March 2018 7:15 for 7:45

The Music Room, Downing College, Regent Street, Cambridge CB2 1DQ

Solving the Reproducibility Crisis 

Nicole Janz
Department of Sociology

Abstract: Reproducibility is held as the gold standard for scientific research. The legitimacy of any published work depends on the question: can we access the data, replicate the analysis and come to the same results? In many cases, the answer is no. In Political Science, Economics, Psychology and many other fields, scandals involving fabricated data have stirred a debate that calls for fundamental changes in the way research is done. This talk will discuss how universities, journals, funders and researchers can nurture a reproducibility culture to ensure that the gold standard of reliable, credible and valid research is upheld.
               
Speaker: Dr Nicole Janz is an Assistant Professor at the School of Politics and International Relations at the University of Nottingham. Her research interests include human rights, foreign direct investment, corruption and slavery. Dr Janz is involved in a number of initiatives to promote research transparency. She is an ambassador at the Center for Open Science (CFO) and a catalyst at the Berkeley Initiative for Transparency in the Social Sciences (BITSS). Before working at Nottingham, Dr Janz taught statistics for social scientists at the Social Sciences Research Methods Centre, University of Cambridge. She completed my PhD in Politics and International Studies at the Department of Politics and International Studies at Cambridge. Dr Janz blogs about reproducibility at http://politicalsciencereplication.wordpress.com and tweets @polscireplicate.

Directions: A map of the college is at https://www.downing-conferences-cambridge.co.uk/information/college-map/. To get to the Music Room walk straight through the front gate on Regent Street a short way until you see a large open space to your left (the Quadrangle). Walk to the far side of this quadrangle. Turn left. A set of staircases should now be on your right.  Go up the ‘E’ staircase. Once inside continue to follow the signs.
The nearest car park is at the Grand Arcade. Arrivals after 7-45pm may gain admittance by contacting the secretary on 07761769436. You can also obtain directions to the Music Room by enquiring at the Porters’ Lodge (on left by Regent Street entrance).

Provisional Next Meetings: 
March TBC – Sylvia Richardson (Biostatistics).
26th April  – Robert Kozarski (AstraZeneca) on ‘Pre-clinical and clinical drug development from a Pharmaceutical Statistician perspective’.
October – Sarah Walters (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine).
20th November – Fabio Rigat (GSK) & Nicky Best (Imperial).
4th February 2019 – Sian Evans (Public Health England).

Supper: Some members eat regularly in the University Centre before each meeting at 5-45pm. Feel free to join them.
Subscriptions:  of 1 pound are now due for attending the 2017-2018 session.
Secretary: Peter Watson, MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, 15 Chaucer Road, Cambridge CB2 7EF;
telephone 01223 355294 Extension 801; E-mail [log in to unmask]

Slides and .mp3 files of old talks: http://www.mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk/people/peter.watson/csdg.html

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