Meta-Research Methods – A Webinar Series - Courses

Meta-research is an extremely broad field. This webinar series gives a brief overview of common meta-research methodologies and showcases different types of meta-research studies. The talks will help participants to evaluate meta-research studies critically and provide valuable guidance for those who want to use meta-research to improve their own research.

In each talk, the presenter will share a meta-research study that they performed, highlight important considerations for designing this type of study, discuss challenges one might encounter, and specify which design flaws or errors to avoid.

Past talks

Presented by Dr. Tracey Weissgerber, BIH QUEST Center
Study:
Weissgerber TL, Winham SJ, Heinzen EP, Milin-Lazovic JS, Garcia-Valencia O, Bukumiric Z, Savic MD, Garovic VD, Natasa M. Milic. Reveal, Don’t Conceal - Transforming Data Visualization to Improve Transparency. Circulation. 2019;140:1506–1518. https://doi.org/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.118.037777.
Weissgerber TL, Milic NM, Winham SJ, Garovic VD. Beyond Bar and Line Graphs: Time for a New Data Presentation Paradigm. PLoS Biol 13(4): e1002128. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1002128
Video
Presented by Prof. Dr. Malte Elson, University of Bern (Switzerland) and Dr. Ian Hussey, Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Study: Elson M. Examining Psychological Science Through Systematic Meta-Method Analysis: A Call for Research. Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science. 2019;2(4):350-363. https://doi.org/10.1177/2515245919863296.
Online Resources:
Elson, M. (2016). FlexibleMeasures.com: Competitive Reaction Time Task. doi:10.17605/OSF.IO/4G7FV
Elson, M. (2017). FlexibleMeasures.com: Go/No-Go Task. doi:10.17605/OSF.IO/GSX52
Video
Presented by Dr. Cassie Short, Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg
Study: Paul K, Short CA, Beauducel A, Carsten HP, Härpfer K, Hennig J, Hewig J, Hildebrandt A, Kührt C, Mueller EM, Munk A, Osinsky R, Porth E, Riesel A, Rodrigues J, Scheffel C, Stahl J, Strobel,A, Wacker J. The Methodology and Dataset of the CoScience EEG-Personality Project – A Large-Scale, Multi-Laboratory Project Grounded in Cooperative Forking Paths Analysis. Personality Science. 2022; 3, 1-26. https://doi.org/10.5964/ps.7177
Video
Presented by Dr. Kelly Cobey, University of Ottawa Heart Institute
Study: Cobey KD, Haustein S, Brehaut J, Dirnagl U, Franzen DL, Hemkens LG, Presseau J, Riedel N, Strech D, Alperin JP, Costas R, Sena ES, van Leeuwen T, Ardern CL, Bacellar IOL, Camack N, Britto Correa M, Buccione R, Cenci MS, Fergusson DA, Gould van Praag C, Hoffman MM, Moraes Bielemann R, Moschini U, Paschetta M, Pasquale V, Rac VE, Roskams-Edris D, Schatzl HM, Stratton JA, Moher D. Community consensus on core open science practices to monitor in biomedicine. PLoS Biol. 2023 Jan 24;21(1):e3001949. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3001949
Video
Presented by: Tom Hardwicke, University of Melbourne Paper:
Study: Hardwicke Tom E., Mathur Maya B., MacDonald Kyle, Nilsonne Gustav, Banks George C., Kidwell Mallory C., Hofelich Mohr Alicia, Clayton Elizabeth, Yoon Erica J., Henry Tessler Michael, Lenne Richie L., Altman Sara, Long Bria and Frank Michael C. 2018. Data availability, reusability, and analytic reproducibility: evaluating the impact of a mandatory open data policy at the journal. CognitionR. Soc. open sci.5180448180448, https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.180448
Video
Speakers: Tracey Weissgerber and Friederike Kohrs, QUEST Center for Responsible Research, Berlin Institute of Health at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Papers: Dr. Weissgerber and Dr. Kohrs will share lessons learned from leading or being on the organizing team for many author (not research) papers, including:
Recommendations for empowering early career researchers to improve research culture and practice
Eleven strategies for making reproducible research and open science training the norm at research institutions
Ten simple rules for implementing open and reproducible research practices after attending a training course
Promoting reusable and open methods and protocols (PRO-MaP): Draft recommendations to improve methodological clarity in life sciences publications
Video

Please note: All webinar talks will be recorded (CC-BY-licensed) and made available to the public via YouTube.

Videos from past seminars are available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Metaresearch_methods

Date and time: will be announced in time

Language: English

Location: online

Registration: Registration is currently closed

Meta-Research Methods – A Webinar Series

Past talks

Organizational support

Tracey Weissgerber, PhD

Meta-Research Methods – A Webinar Series

May 22nd, 2023: Meta-research methods: Systematic review and literature surveys

June 5th, 2023: Meta-research methods: Contemporary approaches to meta-analysis on animal studies

June 12th, 2023: Research improvement interventions (How did the FAIR principles come about?)

June 19th, 2023: Meta-research methods: Understanding research literatures through systematic reviews of methodological standardisation

June 26th, 2023: Meta-research methods: Systematic review and meta-analysis

July 3rd, 2023: Meta-research methods: Multiverse analysis

July 10th, 2023: Working as a Meta Scientist - pitfalls and merits from an ECR perspective

July 17th, 2023: How to select a project and develop a communication strategy

July 24th, 2023: Meta-research methods: Delphi studies

July 31st, 2023: Meta-research methods: Automated screening

August 7th, 2023: Evaluating journal policy: Interrupted time-series design and reproducibility checks

August 14th, 2023: Meta-research methods: Intervention studies (randomized controlled trial of interventions to improve reporting)

August 21st, 2023: Meta-research methods: Replication studies

September 11th, 2023: Meta-research methods - Delphi with co-creation

September 25th, 2023: Trends in meta-research - an editor's perspective

October 9th, 2023: Strategies for assessing funder policies

October 23rd, 2023: Navigating post-publication error correction: strategies and lessons learned

November 20th, 2023: How to conduct a large-scale replication study: Lessons learned from the "Reproducibility Project: Cancer Biology"

January 15th, 2024: Creating dashboards to communicate institutional performance on responsible research practices

January 29th, 2024: Making a better use of non-English-language literature in meta-research studies

February 12th, 2024: Addressing Moral Questions Using Meta-Research Methods: The Case of Phase 2 Bypass in Drug Development

February 26th, 2024: How to analyze institutional promotion and tenure policies

March 11th, 2024: How to use directed acyclic graphs to explore causal relationships

March 25th, 2024: The many author (not research) paper: Survival strategies for organizers and co-authors

April 8th, 2024: Collecting data on non-indexed, predatory academic journals: Challenges of researching professional malfeasance

May 6th, 2024: How to study something that has disappeared: Tracing research data repository shutdown

June 24th, 2024: How to use scoping reviews for meta-research

July 8th, 2024: Using qualitative methods to understand and enhance rigor in preclinical lab research

August 12th, 2024: TOP 2025: Developing and implementing guidelines to improve practice

October 14th, 2024: Misspellings or "miscellings"? Verification of human cell line identities in research publications

Tracey Weissgerber, PhD