Reproducing social science research: give up your code

While there is now an unprecedented amount of large-scale social science data suitable for sociological research, in reality it is impossible to ‘reproduce’ the results of most of the analyses that are published because information on how the work is undertaken is seldom made available. The statistical analysis of large-scale social science data is far from transparent and a culture of 'trust me’ rather than a culture of 'show me’ currently exists. Those are arguments being made by Professor Vernon Gayle from the University of Edinburgh who, in a recent presentation, makes an appeal to his fellow researchers to routinely provide enough information so that others can check that results are accurate, and that correct inferences and conclusions are reported in published work.