A Hands Training Module in Rigor and Reproducibility: Promoting Credible Science

Abstract

Researchers' recurrent struggles to compare and reproduce published research results prompted the primary federal funding agencies (e.g., NIH, NSF), scientific journals, press and ethic integrity forums, among others, to discuss scientific experiments' rigor and reproducibility as key factors in credibility of research, and, therefore, as essential elements in teaching and training future scientists. NIH was one of the first agencies to develop a set of guidelines to assure scientific integrity through rigor and reproducibility. The guidelines focus on the rigor required in four areas: reviewing the strengths and weakness of prior research and in developing the scientific premise; developing a research design based on the scientific method to achieve “robust and unbiased” results; delineating and explaining relevant variables such as, for example, sex, age, etc. that could make a difference in the outcomes; and, authenticating and validating chemical and biological reagents.In view of the NIH guidelines, we determined to promote scientific integrity, accountability, and responsibility in imaging science by teaching young scientists (i.e., high schoolers, undergrads, and others) the importance of rigor and reproducibility, a training module in regor and eproducibilty was developed and held at The University of Kansas in the summer of 2018. The raining module was designed to enable current and future scientists to master metabolomics, structural biology and imaging technologies as well as to authenticate validate, and replicate data generated. The training module focused on didactic training in Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) and the applied aspects of RCR, specifically the “hard” and “operational” aspects of metabolomics, structural biology and imaging technologies used in design and experimental execution, data acquisition, curation (i.e., bioinformatics), quantitation and interpretation. The overall goals of course: 1) contribute to developing a diverse pool of welltrained scientists; 2) increase skills required for rigor and reproducibility; and 3) promote diversity, inclusion, and responsible conduct.Course participants were at different points in their research careers, from undergraduate students to early career faculty. All were from an underrepresented group, based on their gender, race/ethnicity, or research institution. Student evaluation of the course was completed through a survey tool, with a response rate of 90 percent. Overwhelmingly, this course met participants' expectations and they left with a better understanding of rigorous research practices, how to apply several advanced technologies to their research projects, and how to effectively collaborate with other research groups.Support or Funding Information Research partially supported by grants to ER‐M from NIH (GM‐115042; GM‐078441; MH‐106245) and NSF (HRD‐1137725). This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.