Reproducibility

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Reproducibility is a key part of the scientific method and refers to the possibility of reproducing an experimental result by a third party following the same procedures as the original experimenter.

Having the experiment repeated by an independent investigator 'reduces' the impact of a single study's experimental error and increases the chances of the hypothesis being accepted by the scientific community. Of course, reproducibility, alone, is not enough when even random numbers can reproduce prior results.[1]

One of the signs of pseudoscience is a lack of reproducibility in their experiments. Scientific experiments can also lack reproducibility,[2] but this just indicates either that the original experiment was flawed or that a better understanding of the problem is needed.

[edit] See also

[edit] Footnote

  1. NJL Brown, DA MacDonald, MP Samanta, HL Friedman, and JC Coyne (2014). A critical reanalysis of the relationship between genomics and well-being. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 111(35):12705-12709.
  2. Is redoing scientific research the best way to find truth? During replication attempts, too many studies fail to pass muster
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