Openness and Reproducibility Research Practices Training

Scientific rigor and transparency are key factors in making research outcomes more impactful. However, increasing rigor often requires that researchers and labs implement new practices and learn new tools. The good news is that the Center for Open Science (COS) offers a variety of training modules to help you navigate this complexity.

We have developed a robust, hands-on, pragmatic curriculum, curated from use cases developed in collaboration with the community of open researchers we engage, continuously iterating to bring forth new use cases, examples and workflows.

The modular curriculum content will help researchers answer common questions:

What is reproducibility and what are the current issues and barriers?
What actions in daily research throughout the research lifecycle can be adapted to be more reproducible?
How will making my research reproducible help science and my career?
How can I increase transparency in my research workflow?
What is a research or data management plan and how can I implement this in my research workflow?
What are tools that can streamline the open and transparent practices in my research workflow?
How can OSF help in my application of open and rigorous research practices?
How can I make my research open, share it with other researchers in my field or beyond and receive credit for my work?
How can I integrate tools I use in OSF to have an efficient research workflow?

Discuss your training needs and goals with open science experts at the COS and find a training curriculum best suited for you.

The training modules are designed to give individuals, lab groups, and institutions the knowledge and skills they need to manage open research workflows, collaborate with team members, and increase the visibility of their projects, through lectures and hands-on activities in OSF.

It contains flexible modules that can be delivered in different lengths, designed to meet audience schedules and learning objectives. We are happy to help you select the best modules that fit the needs of you and your organization. We also provide survey assessments that can help you understand the baseline and outcomes from the training.

Module	Learning Objectives	Module Outcomes
Module 1: Hands-on data management kickstarter	Identify data management requirements Create a data management plan Create a file structure convention Create a file naming convention Create data dictionary or codebook Create a project README file Select a data repository for data	Learn collaborative data management that makes data and materials findable, reusable, and understandable for all throughout the research lifecycle.
Module 2: Reproducible methods: how to find them & write them	Find reproducible protocols and study methods for research Select reporting guidelines for research Create reproducible documentation of study methods, instrumentation, lab protocols, and analyses Document reagents, plasmids, cells, and organisms Get a protocol peer-reviewed Share a protocol Check a protocol or manuscript for transparency	Learn documentation of the pre-analysis and planning of a research study, meet journal and funder open science policies, and facilitate collaborations and dissemination of your work.
Module 3: How to organize painless research collaborations	Organize your project materials Set up a collaborative environment for research team Choose appropriate access and permission settings for your workspace Document changes to your project	Through hands-on activities, learn how to use OSF to work with collaborators more efficiently and streamline research workflow from planning to publishing.
Module 4: Research sharing kickstarter	Identify which research materials can be shared and which cannot share or must be adapted before sharing Compare and select a sharing solution that fits a project’s sharing limitations Compare and select repositories to suit a research project Use PIDs to connect the all of the people, places, and things related to a research project Curate the metadata of a research project to improve adherence to the FAIR Data Principles	Learn to document and share data, materials and code in ways that increase the findability, accessibility, and reproducibility of research, and demonstrate a researcher’s impact across the research lifecycle.

The modular training curriculum that COS employs is openly licensed (osf.io/6pjgy) and available for others to reuse. We offer our staff with expertise to deliver the training to your participants at low costs.

Pricing

We offer standard modules developed and taught by open science experts from the Center for Open Science, as well as customized options to fit your specific needs. We are happy to meet with you to discuss your open science training needs and to help you select the best option.

training pricing v2

At this time and for the foreseeable future, COS will only be offering the remote option for providing training services. We believe we can effectively provide training workshops using virtual conferencing and document sharing tools for small to medium size audiences. Please don't hesitate to contact us at training@cos.io with any questions.

FAQs

How does the remote workshop work?

The presentation and explanation portions of the workshop are handled via Zoom by one of our trainers (and helpers as needed). Most of us are located in Virginia (US Eastern Time). You can facilitate the delivery of the workshop in two ways:

All participants join separately via video conference
OR
Participants are all together in one room locally, while the trainer is present via Zoom. Local facilitators and remote helpers should work with researchers during the exercise portions of the workshop to ensure no one gets stuck, to help pass common questions or challenges over to the remote trainer so that they can be addressed for the whole group, and to help keep to the schedule by signaling the remote trainer when the room is ready for the next material. Facilitators should review the material prior to the session. Only one facilitator must be available during the training though having two or three can be beneficial.

What are the minimum AV requirements for providing the remote workshop?

Most participants will benefit from having access to their own device (laptop or desktop computers strongly recommended for hands-on activities) during workshop sessions. This enables them to participate easily in all activities. For sessions with a local presentation component, there should be sufficient AV equipment for participants to see and hear the trainer, as well as a microphone to speak to the trainer.

What are the minimum preparation conditions?

The trainer and facilitators should agree on the delivery method at least one week in advance. If the facilitators are providing the video conference platform, then the facilitators and trainers should arrange to test the platform at least two days in advance. Trainers and facilitators should plan to join the video conference at least 10 minutes before the event begins.

How do we get the word out about the workshop?

COS provides a template flyer and logos available for you to freely distribute.

How do we evaluate the success of the workshops?

COS generates standard anonymous surveys for workshop participants, delivered both before and after the event, to gauge their existing familiarity with the concepts and tools discussed, the impact of the workshop on their intention to implement various reproducibility-related practices in their research, and their general interest in additional training on these topics. We are happy to share these survey results with event organizers and/or integrate the questions into any existing training survey/feedback processes on campus.

Do you allow recording of workshops?

Yes, it is fine to record a workshop and make it available later for researchers who were unable to attend the workshops.

Hero image: Photo by ThisisEngineering RAEng on Unsplash