» Workshop Schedule

BITSS Research Transparency and Reproducibility Workshop

As part of the MZES Open Social Science Conference 2019, the MZES and BITSS will hold a BITSS Research Transparency and Reproducibility Workshop in Mannheim, Germany on 27 January 2019.

Note that the workshop will take place at the MZES, A5, 6, Building A, Room 230/231 (about 8 minutes by foot from the main conference venue). You can find directions to the venue here.

The full-day workshop will provide participants with an overview of some of the most important and effective tools and best practices for transparent and reproducible social science research. The curriculum has been developed and will be delivered by academic leaders in the open science movement, with a focus on hands-on skills building. Topics covered in the workshop include: Pre-registration and pre-analysis plans, dynamic documents for research publication, reproducible workflows including data-coding strategies and version control as well as data management and de-identification for open data. Participants are encouraged to bring their own ideas for applications based on their own interests to seek support and feedback from instructors and other attendees.

Based at the University of California, Berkeley, the Berkeley Initiative for Transparency in the Social Sciences (BITSS) works to strengthen the integrity of social science research and evidence used for policy-making. The initiative aims to enhance the practices of economists, psychologists, political scientists, and other social scientists in ways that promote research transparency, reproducibility, and openness.

Who will be the instructors?

Roxanne Connelly (University of York), Shalini Kurapati (TU Delft), Eike Mark Rinke (University of Leeds), and Alexander Wuttke (University of Mannheim).

Schedule

Who is eligible to participate?

The workshop is designed for researchers across the social sciences spectrum, with particular emphasis on communication, political science, and sociology. We expect participants to be: (i) current Masters and PhD students, (ii) postdocs, (iii) junior faculty, (iv) research staff, (v) librarians and data stewards, or (vi) journal editors, research funders, and research managers in the social sciences curious about the implications of transparency and reproducibility for their work.

The workshop is targeted to participants who primarily use quantitative or mixed methods. Applicants should have proficiency in at least one statistical analysis software package. Proficiency with Stata or R is desirable, but not required.

How much does it cost to participate?

There is no tuition or attendance fee and participation is free for guests and participants of the MZES Open Social Science Conference 2019. Snacks will be provided during the day.

How can I register as a participant?

You can register as a guest of the MZES Open Social Science Conference 2019 here. On the registration form, make sure to indicate registration for the workshop through the corresponding dropdown menu. The application includes questions regarding your motivation to participate in the MZES Open Social Science Conference. Admission to the workshop will be made on a first-come, first-served basis. There will be a waiting list and registered participants will be asked to confirm their participation in early December, after which participant spots will be made available again for registrants on the waiting list.

What should I bring?

Participants should bring their own laptop to the workshop. No specific software other than a current word processing program will be necessary to follow the workshop. Electrical sockets will be available for participants.