Reproducibility may be the key idea students need to balance trust in evidence with healthy skepticism

By Sarah R. Supp, Associate Professor of Data Analytics, Denison University
Anne M. Nurse, Professor and Department Chair of Sociology and Anthropology, The College of Wooster
Joseph Holler, Associate Professor of Geography, Middlebury
Nicholas J. Horton, Beitzel Professor in Technology and Society (Statistics and Data Science), Amherst College
Peter Kedron, Associate Professor, University of California, Santa Barbara
Richard Ball, Professor of Economics; Coordinator of Mathematical Economics, Haverford College

Many people have been there.

The dinner party is going well until someone decides to introduce a controversial topic. In today’s world, that could be anything from vaccines to government budget cuts to immigration policy. Conversation starts to get heated. Finally, someone announces with great authority that a scientific study supports their position. This causes the discussion to come to an abrupt halt because the dinner guests disagree on their belief in scientific evidence. Some may believe science always speaks the truth, some may think science can never be trusted, and others…

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