In what ways can GitHub (or comprable cloud-based, version controlled, collaborative environments) help address the issues which the questions raise?
• What data management issues does this case raise? - For this question GitHub could’ve helped keep track of the data and what was done to the data each time it was edited.
• What are some lessons learned from this case? - For this question GitHub could’ve helped get insight from others in ways to produce better information on the research or to help solve common problems that arise while doing research.
• What are the responsibilities of individuals who co-author papers? What can or should a student (graduate or undergraduate) do when co-author is suspected of falsifying data? - For this question GitHub could’ve helped the co-author get easy access to the research anytime and see what changes were being made plus give feedback on the research without waiting for a meeting to happen.
• Why didn’t the peer review system identify the problems? - For this question GitHub could’ve helped show that LaCour deleted data because GitHub saves all the changes that were made to the document.
If you were asked to consult for a research project, how would you recommend the integration of GitHub into the workflow? Assume your collaborators have never used GitHub before. Be sure to also explain briefly how it works so they can understand.
The way that I would integrate GitHub into the writing and data keeping of the research that I was consulting on that way whenever I want an update on what is happening I can look on GitHub and see the changes that were made. The way that GitHub works is that someone starts a repository and documents can be uploaded, stored and edited on it. Different people can leave comments or changes that could be done to the repository. These changes are then pushed to the original owner of the paper and can either be accepted or rejected by them. If accepted the repository is updated with the changes and recorded as a change.