Trustworthy Computational Science Speaker Series: Cheryl Thompson

Abstract: Across the disciplines, journals are adopting policies requiring authors to share data, code, and other materials, sometimes subject to verification to ensure the transparency and reproducibility of results prior to publication. Since 2015, the UNC Odum Institute has been responsible for the verification of quantitative analyses for two political science journals, including a curation review and re-execution of computational steps to ensure transparency and accuracy of results. The verification audit is seen as essential to ensuring the transparency of published results, in support of future replications. However, the process is both labor intensive and increases the time to publication, raising questions about the costs and feasibility of these and similar policies. In this talk, I will discuss the curation and verification workflows, types of verification errors, and challenges faced in implementing these audits.

Bio: Cheryl A. Thompson is a research data archivist at the H.W Odum Institute for Research in Social Sciences, University of North Carolina. As an archivist, she works on the journal data verification service and all aspects of the data repository. She is particularly interested in promoting the trustworthiness of science through better data sharing, transparency of practice, and responsive data education. Thompson received her PhD from the School of Information Sciences, University of Illinois.

This series, open to the public, is hosted by the Center for Informatics Research in Science and Scholarship (CIRSS). For the Spring 2024 schedule and access to previous talks, visit the Trustworthy Computational Science website. If you are interested in this speaker series, please subscribe to our speaker series calendar: Google Calendar or Outlook Calendar. 

Questions? Contact Janet Eke