PhD candidate: How trustworthy are simulation studies? A meta-research perspective

10 Feb 2024
Job Information

Organisation/Company

Tilburg University

Research Field

Cultural studies

Researcher Profile

First Stage Researcher (R1)

Country

Netherlands

Application Deadline

17 Mar 2024 - 22:59 (UTC)

Type of Contract

Temporary

Job Status

Not Applicable

Hours Per Week

40.0

Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme?

Not funded by an EU programme

Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure?

No

Offer Description

We are looking for a PhD candidate who is motivated to improve (psychological) science as part of our Meta-Research Center (https://metaresearch.nl/ ) by studying simulation studies from a meta-research perspective.

Your position
The employment is primarily dedicated towards carrying out the proposed research described below, with the aim to write a dissertation, likely consisting of academic articles following principles of open science (i.e., open data, materials and computer code) that are publishable in peer-reviewed journals. The position also involves contributions to teaching giving the candidate the opportunity to build a teaching portfolio during the PhD project. The position and the environment in which the candidate will be embedded provide an optimal starting point for an academic career in academia in general and methodology and statistics in particular. The candidate will follow a customized track of graduate courses as part of the Interuniversity Graduate School of Psychometrics and Sociometrics (IOPS) program which will further develop the candidate’s research skills, background knowledge, and network.

Project description
Title: How trustworthy are simulation studies? A meta-research perspective.

Monte-Carlo simulation studies are ubiquitous in the scientific literature. These simulation studies are, for example, used for evaluating the properties of statistical methods or for determining the required sample size by means of a power analysis in complex research designs. The design, conducting, reproducibility, and reporting of the results of simulations studies have hardly been studied from a meta-research perspective. Studying this is especially relevant because researchers who conduct the simulation studies have a clear conflict of interest. Researchers generally want to showcase that their newly developed method performs well and/or outperforms existing state-of-the-art methods. Hence, this project is part of the recent movement to assess and improve the quality of published research, in the context of a strong team of researchers doing research on this broad topic in the Meta-Research Center (https://metaresearch.nl/ ).

There is ample room for the candidate to come up with their own research questions that are related to the general topic of the position. Potential questions that can be addressed within this project are:

Are simulation studies in the social sciences reproducible? Can the results of a simulation study be reproduced if computer code is shared or are there still barriers for reproduction?

Are simulation studies at risk for being biased? That is, are the results (and conditions) of simulation studies more favorable to the new methods that are introduced in the same paper as the simulation studies?

Do simulation studies that are set up by different independent researchers yield different results? We are planning to conduct a so-called “Many Analyst” project where we ask researchers to design and program a simulation study on a predefined topic.

How can a simulation study be preregistered? What recommendations can be made with respect to designing, conducting, and reporting the results of simulation studies?

Requirements
Specific Requirements

The ideal candidate should have sound knowledge of statistics, have programming skills in R (or a comparable statistical program), and affinity with research methods and techniques, and programming. Furthermore, the candidate should have a nearly or recently completed (Research) Master’s degree with excellent academic results in methodology, statistics, sociometrics, psychometrics, quantitative psychology, biostatistics, econometrics, or a related field. Academic curiosity, an interest to work in an interdisciplinary environment, being receptive to open science practices, and good communication skills are important characteristics for this position. 

Additional Information
Benefits

This is a position for 1.0 FTE (40 hours per week) of the full-time working week. 

The salary amounts to a minimum of €2.541 and a maximum of €3.247 gross per month for full time employment contract, based on UFO profile PhD student and salary scale number PhD’s of the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities . Tilburg University uses a neutral salary system for scaling that is based on relevant education and work experience. 

You are entitled to a vacation allowance of 8% and a year-end bonus of 8.3% of your gross annual income. If you work 40 hours per week, you will receive 41 paid days of leave per year.

Tilburg University offers excellent employment conditions. We think flexibility, professional and personal development, and good employee benefits are important. We make clear agreements about career paths and offer all kinds of facilities and schemes to maintain an optimal balance between work and private life. You can also follow numerous training courses, for example, in the areas of leadership skills, personal effectiveness, and career development.  

Tilburg University values an open and inclusive culture. We embrace diversity and encourage the mutual integration of groups of employees and students. We focus on creating equal opportunities for all our employees and students, so that everyone feels at home in our university community.

Tilburg University has a lively campus in beautiful green surroundings that is easily accessible by public transport. We are committed to a sustainable society and challenge you to make an active contribution.

Please visit working at Tilburg University  for more information on our terms of employment. 

Selection process

We invite you to apply for this position by March 17 2024; this can only be done online. Your application should include your CV and a cover letter. Please address the cover letter to Dr. Lieke Voncken, dr. Robbie C.M. van Aert, and Prof. dr. Marcel A.L.M. van Assen and also detail your motivation for this specific position and topic in the cover letter.

Interviews will be held on April 2 and 5. We aim to make a decision before mid-April 2024. 

The selected candidate will ideally start working for Tilburg University on September 1, 2024.

Additional comments

For more information regarding this position and the project you can contact dr. Lieke Voncken ([email protected] ) or dr. Robbie C.M. van Aert ([email protected] ). The telephone number of the secretary is +31134663687.

Website for additional job details

https://www.academictransfer.com/337629/

Work Location(s)

Number of offers available

1

Company/Institute

Tilburg School of Social and Behavioral Sciences

Country

Netherlands

City

Tilburg

Postal Code

5037 AB

Street

Warandelaan 2

Geofield

Where to apply

Website

https://www.academictransfer.com/en/337629/phd-candidate-how-trustworthy-are-si…

Contact

City

Tilburg

Website

http://www.uvt.nl/

Street

Warandelaan 2

Postal Code

5037 AB

STATUS: EXPIRED