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I'm going to propose something that is unconventional today, but I believe will be standard practice at somepoint. Overtime we have shown that many mistakes ar
by wtvanhest 7y ago
I'm going to propose something that is unconventional today, but I believe will be standard practice at somepoint.
Overtime we have shown that many mistakes are made in labs and we know that many experiments are not replicable.
I think its time that we ask researchers using public funds to film their entire experiment from beginning to end. Every pipette, every prep etc.
Peer review should also have a video audit. Then a replication in another lab. The cost of ensuring results are what they say they are would be offset by less wasted research dollars on false rabbit holes.
- sgillen 7y agoI do actually agree that we should apply more funding to replicating results. I disagree that a video log is an efficient way to ensure replicatability. In many disciplines this is not useful at all (math, high energy physics). And in most others, like your biology example, I think it adds an undue burden without much gain.
- fwip 7y agoWhat evidence do you have that suggests that the cost of doing a video audit (an expert carefully watching hundreds of hours of experimentation) and a replication study for every submitted article would be cheaper than the occasional paper that leads to a second experiment that doesn't pan out?
- Nemo_bis 7y agoAre you trying to re-invent https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reproducibility_Project https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reproducibility_Project ?
- wtvanhest 7y agoNo. Reproducibility requires double the investment and may also have the same or different mistakes. A video log would help researchers find errors and confirm results. Video is simply a better solution.