Project TIER/UKRN Workshops

Content overview

The focus of the workshop is practical: the objective is to help instructors develop plans for teaching reproducible research practices that will be feasible and effective in their particular contexts, and prepare them to implement the methods presented at the workshop in their classes and research supervision.

Course program includes:

  • Workflows for reproducible research
  • Teaching Strategies
  • File-sharing Platforms
  • Pedagogical Benefits

Training type

This course is a variant on the train-the-trainer model.  The training provided in the workshop prepares participants to introduce reproducible methods of quantitative research to students in taught classes and/or supervised research.  The course will begin with an exposition of practices that are essential to reproducible research, and then turn to a discussion of pedagogical strategies for incorporating them in quantitative methods instruction

Learning objectives

  • Understand core principles of computational reproducibility:
  • Work with data by writing and executing scripts, not interactively
  • Establish a well-defined directory structure
  • Make explicit choices about the working directory
  • Use relative directory paths to identify file locations
  • Understand practical implementation of these principles to create a comprehensive, fully documented reproduction package
  • Understand the purposes/benefits of computational reproducibility
  • Scientific benefits for professional researchers
  • Pedagogical benefits for undergraduate and graduate students
  • Develop strategies for incorporating reproducibility into quantitative methods instruction
  • For a wide range of projects–from simple data exercises to complete theses or dissertations
  • At all levels of the curriculum–from introductory through graduate-level
  • Be prepared to create new curriculum that emphasizes reproducibility

Completion criteria

Attendees will be expected to complete a short piece of work reflecting in general on what they learned in the workshop, and commenting specifically on the feasibility of creating a revised version of the assignment or lesson plan they chose to use as a point of reference that incorporates principles and practices presented at the workshop.

Audience

  • Academics who teach courses in some aspect of data analysis, statistics, or quantitative research methods and/or supervise students conducting research involving analysis of statistical data.
  • Other staff who support instructors and/or provide support to students doing statistical analyses.
  • Staff with responsibilities for oversight of departmental or program curriculum

Level (Introduction, intermediate, advanced)

The approaches to teaching reproducible research methods presented in the workshops can be implemented in courses at any level, from introductory to advanced, as well as in supervision of student research projects, including theses and dissertations.  Regardless of the level of the course, it is essential that students conduct all computational work by writing and executing scripts (as opposed to executing commands one at a time from the command line or a menu).  It is not necessary, however, that students entering the course have previous experience writing scripts; strategies for teaching those skills to novices will be one of the topics discussed at the workshop.

The strategies presented are software-agnostic; they can be implemented with any scriptable software package (e.g., R, SPSS, Stata, Matlab, SPSS, SAS, etc.), and examples using different types of software will be presented.

Important note: Despite this neutrality with respect to which particular software is used, the use of some programmable statistical package is essential. The methods presented at the workshop are not applicable in settings in which students work with their data interactively in Excel or other spreadsheets, or in which students rely on the drop-down menus available in some programs.

Prerequisite skills, expertise and experience

Attendees should have some experience teaching courses involving applied data analysis and/or supervising data-based student research projects, as well as plans to teach such a course again in the near future.

To help participants think concretely about how to integrate lessons from the workshop into the particular classes they teach and research projects they supervise, we ask them to choose, in advance of the workshop, some assignment or content from a course they have taught in the past that they can use as a point of reference–such as the instructions for a research project, computational homework problems, a lab exercise, or a lesson plan on some topic.

As the event progresses, we will ask participants to reflect on ways in which they might be able to incorporate the research methods and pedagogical strategies presented at the workshop in their chosen course materials. And in addition to reflecting, we will encourage participants to revise their materials accordingly, so that they will have a new version, with an enhanced focus on reproducibility, to use when they teach their classes in the future.

Overall likely time commitment

2 half-days for the training (please see session times for each option for detailed information)

Event date and time

There is one in person workshop and two virtual workshops with dates as follows:

  • 25 & 26 September – Virtual Project TIER/UKRN Workshop: Teaching Transparent Methods of Empirical Research
  • 15 & 16 October – In person Project TIER/UKRN Workshop: Teaching Transparent Methods of Empirical Research
  • 11 & 12 December – Virtual Project TIER/UKRN Workshop: Teaching Transparent Methods of Empirical Research

Registration deadline

Wednesday 17 September 2025

Training partner

Project TIER

Location

Option 1 – virtual
Thursday 25 (14:00-16:30) and Friday 26 September (14:00-16:30)
Virtual; ORP members only

Option 2 – in person 
Wednesday 15 and Thursday 16 October
In person, KCL (Waterloo Campus); ORP members only
Day 1:  Program starts at 13:00, ends 16:30
Dinner for participants and instructors, Restaurant TBD
Day 2:  Program starts at 9:30, ends at 12:30

Option 3 – virtual 
Thursday 11 (14:00-16:30) and Friday 12 (14:00-16:30) December
Virtual; ORP members only

Cost

Free

Number of attendees

Minimum 3, Maximum 24

EDI Practices

We are committed to making these workshops welcoming and accessible to all participants. If you require any accommodations due to a disability, or for any other reason, please indicate that in the space provided on the registration form. For the in-person option, the registration form will also give you an opportunity to list any special dietary needs or restrictions.

Project TIER is strongly committed to this Statement on Diversity and Inclusion, which is posted on the Project TIER website:

Project TIER is committed to diversity among the professionals with whom we collaborate and the students our programs ultimately serve. We seek to include members of underrepresented groups, women, low-income and first-generation college students, and individuals who face discrimination. We strongly encourage the participation of members of these groups, and those whose teaching and advising will reach students belonging to these groups. We strive to create a respectful atmosphere in which everyone has the opportunity to contribute to our programs and guide our priorities in ways that reflect their individual experiences and perspectives.

 Evaluation

A UKRN evaluation will be delivered 1- and 6-months post-course.

Application

For information about how to apply, please contact your institution’s Open Research Coordinator and Administrator (linked via this page).

For specific course content queries: Richard Ball rball@haverford.edu

For general information regarding the UKRN ORP training, please contact: elle.chilton-knight@bristol.ac.uk