In 2023, the CVI MAvERICS program continued to collaborate with the Stanford Program on Research Rigor and Reproducibility (SPORR) to support six metascience research projects and accompanying training workshops on methods to enhance reproducibility. The number of participating students grew from 26 students in 2022 to 35 students in 2023. Each of the six metascience research projects was supervised by a CVI or SPORR early career scientist. Each project includes, where applicable, links to the public Open Science Foundation (OSF) description of the project, the database used for the project, and/or other files or links related to the project.
CVI asked all students who participated in the summer research program to describe their level of understanding of reproducible scientific methods both before and after the program. Students’ self-reported understanding of reproducible science concepts increased after their summer research training.
Distribution of CVI summer student self-reported levels of agreement with statements regarding their understanding of reproducible science. Distributions are shown for responses collected before the program started (PRE) and after the program was completed (POST). PRE N = 40, Post N = 31.
I think the MAvERICS program helped me understand the format of scientific papers and research, which was helpful when writing my poster.
From the beginning, our group leader set a goal (which in our case was to publish our work), and it was clear that the work we were doing wasn't just a side project but rather valuable science. As a result, we approached our tasks with care and diligence. Delegating different tasks to each member of the group and reviewing authorship guidelines also helped to keep us accountable.
I enjoyed that MAvERICS allowed students to gain exposure to a very different style of research that what we are doing in our main labs. Also, because we are analyzing patterns in science, I think it sparks an interesting discussion on what makes quality research.
I loved having a small cohort to work with outside of my main project and that we got to work on a project that I became passionate about.
I liked that we worked in groups which helped strengthen the relationships with our cohort.
<aside> 💡 The projects provided great exposure to different research themes and training for students in how to conduct a study.
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<aside> 💡 Showing the students how to screen articles was very rewarding, as was meeting with the students regularly to track project progress.
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<aside> 💡 The flexibility of MAvERICS program works really well. There’s a lot of freedom throughout the whole project; also in how to organize the students’ efforts.
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<aside> 💡 The students were extremely smart and committed. It was great to work with students from different backgrounds and different fields.
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