Davis-Stober and co-authors offer perspective on improving replication and reproducibility in the scientific process. 

A recent special feature of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) includes an article by Clintin Davis-Stober, Frederick A. Middlebush Professor of Psychology in the College of Arts and Science. 

The PNAS special feature, “Dialogues About the Practice of Science,” offers eight perspectives arguing for and against various ways to practice science. Davis-Stober’s perspective, “How can we make sound replication decisions?” focuses on replication practices across the sciences and how we can improve replication and reproducibility. 

“We examine different values and attitudes that scientists can consider when deciding whether to replicate a finding and how, “explains Davis-Stober. “Our perspectives paper offers a conceptual framework for assessing the usefulness of various replication practices, which can include study design and preregistration.”

Among the article’s key contributions is a discussion of the cognitive attitudes scientists can bring to their work. Davis-Stober and his co-authors show how various decisions that scientists make can be aligned, or not aligned, with their attitudes and values and why that is important.