Reproducible research -- in which data generation, analysis and documentation is sufficient so that others may replicate results and the research process -- is a key component of implementing rigor and transparency in research. Investigators have a responsibility to implement reproducible research practices, yet there are many challenges to doing so in a collaborative research environment within an academic medical center. We will present an overview of reproducible research through motivating examples, but our focus will be on demonstrating recent advances in tools for the implementation of reproducible research best practices in your research. These tools are specifically developed to make reproducible research accessible for the translational scientist and their research team.
Describe reasons for conducting reproducible research.
Identify strategies and software for improving the reproducibility of one's own research projects.
Leah Welty is Associate Professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine and Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Dr. Welty directs two large biostatistics resources at Northwestern: (1) the Biostatistics Collaboration Center (BCC), which serves as the central biostatistics resource for all non-cancer biomedical research at Northwestern, and (2) the Research, Design, and Analysis Methods Program (RAMP), which consists of biostatistics and epidemiology programs that are part of the Northwestern Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute. She is the president of the Association of Clinical and Translational Statisticians and the past-chair of the Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Research Design (BERD) Key Function Committee of the Clinical and Translational Sciences Consortium. Her research interests include longitudinal and multilevel models, psychiatric epidemiology, and the development of reproducible research tools for clinical and translational science. She is the lead biostatistician for the Northwestern Juvenile Project, a large-scale longitudinal study of psychiatric disorders and risky behaviors in delinquent youth.