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Abstract:
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There is an increased interest in open science and reproducibility within many research communities and a clear understanding of how software is being used can inform both of these practices. Consequently, the purpose of this paper is to explore the evolution (or lack thereof) of statistical software usage over time in published research. As the usage of software is likely confounded with the methods used; the interaction between software usage and quantitative research methods will also be explored. Research synthesis methods (Cooper, 2017) will be used to explore these trends over time. Published research between 1995 and 2017 from a variety of applied research journals will be searched to identify which statistical software and quantitative methods were used. The paper aims to achieve the following two goals. First, this paper aims to explore how frequently open-source software tools are used and to explore evidence of a reproducible analysis framework. Secondly, and more generally, this paper will also explore current usage and trends of software and research methods usage in published applied research.
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