Audit Service Pilot
Xlab is currently piloting a new audit service available for any researchers to use, regardless of whether their studies use the Xlab participant pool. The purpose of this service is to help researchers check their work, primarily by cross-checking that the various study components (e.g., materials, data, code) match what is reported in the paper. In addition, auditors can check that results are reproducible from raw data and examine research papers for typos. To learn more about what this service can provide and how it works, please see the audit template. We recommend using this service when a paper is under review, at which point there is usually extra time for checking the paper.
This process includes four steps to ensure an in depth report.
- Interested researchers first complete a very short intake form.
- Two trained research assistants will be assigned as your auditors. They will request access to the OSF link (which could include study materials, data, preregistrations, and analysis code) as well as raw data (e.g., on Qualtrics if applicable).
- The auditors will spend about 2-3 weeks performing a series of checks to make sure all of the materials match what is reported in the paper, the results in the paper are reproducible, there are no typos in the paper, and so on.
- The auditors will produce a report for the researchers with their results. The report might contain suggestions for potential edits or notes about issues. The report is completely confidential and will never be seen by anyone beyond the research assistants and research team. The research team can then choose which suggestions (if any) they want to implement.
If you are interested in learning more about this service, please don't hesitate to reach out to us at xlab_account-haas@berkeley.edu.