Tools for Robust Research

Instruction team:

Rebecca Saxe (she/hers), Instructor, Brain and Cognitive Sciences

Ashley Thomas (she/hers), co-Instructor, Center for Research in Equitable and Open Scholarship

Course Description:

We aspire to do science to make true discoveries, build cumulative knowledge through skeptical inquiry, and translate this knowledge into social goods like medicines, devices, or policies. Yet in reality, scientists have often failed to live up to these aspirations, because of bad habits and bad institutions. In the current moment, tremendous energy is being devoted across the cognitive and neuro-sciences to renewing our scientific practices. New tools are being developed, to improve credibility, facilitate collaboration, accelerate scientific discovery, and expedite translation of results. As institutions such as the NIH and EU research council are developing new policies requiring data management, accessibility and broader impacts, early career researchers must learn to fulfill these requirements.

Learning Outcomes:


Students in this course will:

  1. Identify obstacles to conducting robust scientific research
  2. Practice using current cutting-edge tools designed to overcome these obstacles by improving scientific practices and incentives, and
  3. Critically evaluate these tools’ potential and limitations.

Example tools we will investigate include shared pre-registration, experimental design, data management plans, meta-data standards, repositories, FAIR code, open source data processing pipelines, alternatives to scientific paper formats, alternative publishing agreements, citation audits, reformulated incentives for hiring and promotion, and more.

When And Where

If you are an MIT student, you can refer to the internal information for in-person meetings. This course is open and can be taken at any time anywhere.

MIT Participants

This course is intended for PhD and M-Eng students. Although based in Brain and Cognitive Science (course 9, and 6-9), students from other departments are welcome. Auditors at any career stage are welcome, but expected to complete readings and assignments (including oral presentations, excluding final project).