The Inseparable Bond: Science, Technology, and the Modern Society

Furthermore, we agree with much of the existing literature that reproducibility is not a boolean variable that represents an "Either/Or" condition under which an experiment is either fully repro-ducible or not reproducible at all (Isdahl & Gundersen, 2019). We believe that it should be seen as a one-dimensional variable that must be measured on a scale where it can range from multiple degrees of reproducibility. As such, we concur with Peng (2011) who suggests that reproducibil-ity can be perceived as a continuous variable on a spectrum of reproducibility, on which a specific experiment can range from being not reproducible at all, to the "Gold standard" of reproducibility where linked and executable code and data accompany the research publication that describes the experiment. As explained by Peng (2011, p. 1226), the spectrum of reproducibility is used to explain the gap that arises in the "scientific evidence-generating process between full replication of a study and no replication." The spectrum of reproducibility is illustrated in Figure 1 and this key concept is revisited later in this paper.