May 3, 2017  –  May 4, 2017  |  Cuernavaca, Morelos

Transparency + Reproducibility Workshop at INSP, Cuernavaca

BITSS and INSP have partnered to develop and deliver a workshop on research transparency that caters to the needs of the research community involved in conducting high-quality research in Mexico. The workshop is a small yet significant step to i) generate awareness among users and contributors of the health science research and ii) provide a platform to share tools and resources to assist in improving transparency in research within the community of practitioners and academics.

Background:
The Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública (INSP) is a leading academic institution and hub for researchers in Mexico conducting research on public health issues, including obesity, chronic non-communicable diseases, substance abuse, and many more. Established over 26 years ago, INSP currently works with an array of stakeholders ranging from Governments, NGOs, and funding agencies, and has a commitment of accountability and transparency to the general public.

With seven research centers, INSP recognizes the need for research transparency to enhance the rigor and quality of their research output, as this research provides the basis for public policy. This commitment includes providing resources to support researchers to use study registries to register their trials, generate better process documentation, prepare pre-analysis plans, use version control and data sharing platforms, and ensure that de-identified data and associated code are ready to be made public.

Workshop Objectives:

  • Improve understanding of the importance of research transparency in order to motivate the need for transparency and replicability in social science research. In the interest of achieving wider reach, the audience will include institutions and associated stakeholders, practicing and/or commissioning research in Mexico.
  • Facilitate transparency in research. This workshop provides an opportunity for greater collaboration in using tools and systems that can increase transparency and integrity of research, such as version control and dynamic documents.

Workshop Structure:

Day 1 will focus on improving awareness around issues pertaining to transparency in research, and how to overcome challenges by integrating new tools and solutions into researchers’ workflows.

Day 2 will focus on additional tools and resources to conduct transparent research with an objective to facilitate the adoption of these tools within the research and practitioner community.
Specific tools include:

  • Pre-registration with the AEA registry and the Open Science Framework;
  • Version control with Git and GitHub; and
  • Dynamic documents with Stata (using Markdoc).

Pre-requisites:
Participants will have significant experience with statistical programming packages such as R or Stata, though those who use other packages may benefit as well.

Language:
Workshop lectures and materials will be presented in English.