Confessions of a researchaholic

February 22, 2018

Replicability stamp

Filed under: Real — liyiwei @ 10:47 am
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The replicability stamp requires more than just the source code, such as datasets and scripts to replicate all results and timing information in the paper.

That may seem a lot of work, but is totally worth it.

First of all, it is a good practice to manage a research project from day one for replicability; a script that can reproduce all current results can help debugging and collaboration. I did that even for my single authored projects.

Even if we have not started the project in that way, it is still worth doing due to the amount of leverage as Andy Grove called in his seminal book “High Output Management”. A single unit of efforts we put in for replicability can potentially benefit many people who want to apply, reproduce, or compare against your works.
You would be more popular, your papers would get more citations and follow-ups, and nowadays many recruiters look at GitHub repos.
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February 18, 2018

The most useful faculty advice I have ever received

Filed under: Real — liyiwei @ 4:53 pm
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From Peter Shirley if I remember correctly:

Do not perform too well on tasks that I do not enjoy so that they would not get assigned to me in the future.
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February 14, 2018

Employee number 88

Filed under: Real — liyiwei @ 10:19 am
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A colleague who has been with the company for more than 30 years recently retired.
During our lunch at his last working day, I asked him why he wanted to retire. He answered that he preferred his individual researcher + developer role more than management and team roles which tend to happen as one becomes more senior, and he also likes to spend more time with his hobbies in art and physics.

I joked that if I were ever forced to retire I would heist the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. But maybe one day that will change, just like I could not imagine I will ever get married when I was still in school.

February 12, 2018

Replicability versus reproducibility

Filed under: Real — liyiwei @ 10:18 am
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There are some technical definitions (e.g. here), but allow me to put it more succinctly:

Reproducibility – people believe they can replicate the methods and outcomes based on the information provided in the research documents.

Replicability – they can really do so.

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