Laboratory Measurement's Contribution to the Replication and Application Crisis in Clinical Research

Science is not just based on interesting findings.  One of the key elements in research reports is an informative description of the methods that were used to develop the experiment, to collect the data, and to analyze them.  Since this process rests on replication, reporting of methods is essential as it allows others to stage a similar experiment, to design an identical study, and to evaluate whether the findings can be replicated.  If they cannot be reproduced, the outcomes from the previous experiment or trial will gradually or immediately lose credibility.   A recent editorial on this topic appeared in the December 2019 issue of Clinical Chemistry.