Replication, Communication, and the Population Dynamics of Scientific Discovery
Channel: Berkeley Institute for Data Science (BIDS)
Date: 2015-04-03

BIDS Data Science Lecture Series | April 3, 2015 | 1:00-2:30 p.m. | 190 Doe Library, UC Berkeley

Speaker: Paul Smaldino, Postdoctoral Scholar, Department of Anthropology, UC Davis
Sponsors: Berkeley Institute for Data Science, Data, Society and Inference Seminar

Many published research results are false, and controversy continues over the roles of replication and publication policy in improving the reliability of research. I will present a mathematical model of scientific discovery in the context of replication, publication bias, and variation in research quality. This model provides a formal framework for reasoning about the normative structure of science. It is only a start, but it speaks directly to ongoing debates about the design and conduct of science.