Variability in the analysis of a single neuroimaging dataset by many teams
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
6-4-2020
Abstract
Data analysis workflows in many scientific domains have become increasingly complex and flexible. Here we assess the effect of this flexibility on the results of functional magnetic resonance imaging by asking 70 independent teams to analyse the same dataset, testing the same 9 ex-ante hypotheses1. The flexibility of analytical approaches is exemplified by the fact that no two teams chose identical workflows to analyse the data. This flexibility resulted in sizeable variation in the results of hypothesis tests, even for teams whose statistical maps were highly correlated at intermediate stages of the analysis pipeline. Variation in reported results was related to several aspects of analysis methodology. Notably, a meta-analytical approach that aggregated information across teams yielded a significant consensus in activated regions. Furthermore, prediction markets of researchers in the field revealed an overestimation of the likelihood of significant findings, even by researchers with direct knowledge of the dataset2–5. Our findings show that analytical flexibility can have substantial effects on scientific conclusions, and identify factors that may be related to variability in the analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging. The results emphasize the importance of validating and sharing complex analysis workflows, and demonstrate the need for performing and reporting multiple analyses of the same data. Potential approaches that could be used to mitigate issues related to analytical variability are discussed.
Identifier
85085279867 (Scopus)
Publication Title
Nature
External Full Text Location
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2314-9
e-ISSN
14764687
ISSN
00280836
PubMed ID
32483374
First Page
84
Last Page
88
Issue
7810
Volume
582
Grant
P41EB019936
Fund Ref
Knut och Alice Wallenbergs Stiftelse
Recommended Citation
Botvinik-Nezer, Rotem; Holzmeister, Felix; Camerer, Colin F.; Dreber, Anna; Huber, Juergen; Johannesson, Magnus; Kirchler, Michael; Iwanir, Roni; Mumford, Jeanette A.; Adcock, R. Alison; Avesani, Paolo; Baczkowski, Blazej M.; Bajracharya, Aahana; Bakst, Leah; Ball, Sheryl; Barilari, Marco; Bault, Nadège; and Beaton, Derek, "Variability in the analysis of a single neuroimaging dataset by many teams" (2020). Faculty Publications. 5234.
https://digitalcommons.njit.edu/fac_pubs/5234
