Failure as process: Interrogating disaster, loss, and recovery in digital preservation

Disaster, loss, and failure preoccupy the minds of many digital preservation professionals and yet, despite the prominence of digital disaster planning guidelines which seem to anticipate failure, there is limited discussion of experience with preservation system or network failures, which are often framed as inevitable in digital preservation. Despite this framing, negative perceptions of failure influence the digital preservation discourse by associating failure with poor planning, unreliability, and untrustworthiness on the part of institutions. This article will interrogate the issue of failure within the digital preservation field and consider the need for more conversations around network failure and recovery. The authors will argue that failure is part of the process of digital preservation and more honest conversations around this topic will contribute to the practice of openness and transparency within the digital preservation community. To illustrate these issues the authors will discuss the actual hardware failures experienced by the MetaArchive Cooperative, a community-based distributed digital preservation network, and how the Cooperative’s utilization of the LOCKSS software allowed it to recover from those failures. Additionally, the lessons learned and resulting changes the Cooperative made to technical infrastructure, hardware diversity, policies and procedures will be shared

Meta-assessment of bias in science

Merit, Expertise and Measuremen

Is science really facing a reproducibility crisis, and do we need it to?

Efforts to improve the reproducibility and integrity of science are typically justified by a narrative of crisis, according to which most published results are unreliable due to growing problems with research and publication practices. This article provides an overview of recent evidence suggesting that this narrative is mistaken, and argues that a narrative of epochal changes and empowerment of scientists would be more accurate, inspiring, and compelling

Bias in Science: Natural and Social

Moral, social, political, and other “nonepistemic” values can lead to bias in science, from prioritizing certain topics over others to the rationalization of questionable research practices. Such values might seem particularly common or powerful in the social sciences, given their subject matter. However, I argue first that the well-documented phenomenon of motivated reasoning provides a useful framework for understanding when values guide scientific inquiry (in pernicious or productive ways). Second, this analysis reveals a parity thesis: values influence the social and natural sciences about equally, particularly because both are so prominently affected by desires for social credit and status, including recognition and career advancement. Ultimately, bias in natural and social science is both natural and social— that is, a part of human nature and considerably motivated by a concern for social status (and its maintenance). Whether the pervasive influence of values is inimical to the sciences is a separate question

The evolution of decision rules in complex environments.

PublishedResearch Support, Non-U.S. Gov'tReviewThis is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier via http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2013.12.012Models and experiments on adaptive decision-making typically consider highly simplified environments that bear little resemblance to the complex, heterogeneous world in which animals (including humans) have evolved. These studies reveal an array of so-called cognitive biases and puzzling features of behaviour that seem irrational in the specific situation presented to the decision-maker. Here we review an emerging body of work that highlights spatiotemporal heterogeneity and autocorrelation as key properties of most real-world environments that may help us understand why these biases evolved. Ecologically rational decision rules adapted to such environments can lead to apparently maladaptive behaviour in artificial experimental settings. We encourage researchers to consider environments with greater complexity to understand better how evolution has shaped our cognitive systems.This work was funded by the European Research Council (Advanced Grant 250209 to A.I.H.) and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (grant number EP/I032622/1 to Iain D. Gilchrist)

Investigating Post-Exertional Malaise as a Core Symptom of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: A Meta-Analytic Approach

Efforts to establish a reliable and valid case definition for myalgic encephalomyelitis and chronic fatigue syndrome (ME and CFS) have been complicated by an over-reliance on clinical consensus, and inconsistent application of established case definitions by researchers across study sites. This has resulted in the absence of an empirically-based case definition for ME and CFS, as well as failed replication studies on potential diagnostic tests and biomarkers. One step toward an empirically-driven case definition is determining which symptoms best discriminate between patients with ME and CFS versus controls. Post-exertional malaise (PEM) is considered a cardinal symptom of ME and CFS and is either required or included in many previously proposed case definitions. PEM refers to the symptom exacerbation and impairment/sickness that follows physical exertion or cognitive effort. PEM is typically assessed subjectively, with a patient describing his or her experience to a physician or on a self-report measure. To date, there have been no meta-analyses of the findings from studies that investigate PEM differences between patients and controls. A meta-analysis of odds ratios (association between patient status and PEM status) and a number of potential moderators (i.e., study level characteristics) of effect size were conducted for a total of 31 studies. PEM was found to be 10.4 times more likely to be associated with an ME and CFS diagnosis than with control status. Significant moderators of effect size included patient recruitment strategy and control selection. These findings strongly suggest that PEM should be considered a cardinal symptom of ME and CFS, and the implications of the moderator analyses are discussed

A Meta-Analysis of the Role of Defeat and Entrapment in Depression, Anxiety Problems, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Suicidality

Research investigating the role of two evolutionary constructs – perceptions of defeat and entrapment – in various psychological problems and processes has burgeoned over recent years. This meta-analysis quantitatively summarised the findings from 38 studies (11,343 participants) which examined relationships between perceptions of defeat and entrapment and four psychological problems commonly encountered in NHS clinical services: depression, suicidality, anxiety problems and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). All correlations between defeat and entrapment and the four psychological problems were large by Cohen’s (1988) criterion. Correlations between defeat and entrapment and depression were larger than those for the other psychological problem groups, and significantly larger than those for anxiety problems and PTSD. The magnitude of the observed correlations introduces the possibility that defeat and entrapment, and perhaps other evolutionary constructs, may be integral components or driving forces behind all psychological problems. A robust approach to sensitivity analysis provided confidence that the population effect size estimates are robust and were not severely inflated by unpublished studies not included in the meta-analysis. As there was no significant between-study heterogeneity, moderator analyses were undertaken on an exploratory basis. Findings are generally consistent with theoretical predictions from the Involuntary Defeat Strategy, the theoretical model underpinning the literature. Overall, perceptions of defeat and entrapment appear to be strong risk factors for the four psychological problems examined, perhaps representing transdiagnostic processes that are common across various psychological problems. The potential role of defeat and entrapment in mental health assessment, formulation, intervention and evaluation, is considered in detail and limitations of this meta-analysis and of the literature on which it is based are discussed, highlighting areas of research where future work is needed

Struktura incentivů v psychologickém výzkumu a integrita dat v randomizovaných studiích psychologických intervencí

Katedra psychologieFaculty of EducationPedagogická fakult