You could require both reproduction & novel work for the PhD. Or you could require reproduction for the MS, as a stepping-stone to novel work. Today the MS & P

You could require both reproduction & novel work for the PhD. Or you could require reproduction for the MS, as a stepping-stone to novel work. Today the MS & PhD are both supposed to prepare you to do novel research & science. Since reproducibility is a core part of research & science, it would make sense for you to reproduce another study as part of your learning process.