Module 10: Peer Review

If it does not render for your reviewer, it does not render.

Chris Chizinski

Slide Accessibility Note

  • Images: no images; diagrams are HTML text with labels.
  • Speaker Notes: These slides follow the book chapter Peer Review And Revision, which has every step, the Issue template, and the rubric.

Today

Clone
Render
Write
File Issue

No new R today. The review is the work.

  • You review your reviewee. Someone else is reviewing you, right now
  • The list is on Canvas
  • Everything is in the book: Peer Review And Revision

Why Review?

  • A fresh clone has only what was pushed. It is the honest test of “reproducible”
  • Reading someone else’s analysis closely is how you see the gaps in your own
  • Your reviewer never grades you. You are graded on the review you give (60) and how you respond (40)

Weak Comments

Weak What is missing
This looks wrong. Where? What? The author cannot find or check it
Figure 2 is confusing. Confusing how? No way forward
Rewrite the cleaning section. No reason, no specific change
Great job! Nothing to keep or change

A Comment The Author Can Act On

  • Where: Data and Methods, chunk clean-depth
  • What I saw: filter(depth_m > 0) drops rows; the count goes from 1,204 to 1,150 with no sentence about it
  • Why it matters: were the 54 rows errors, or real zero-depth samples? If real, dropping them raises the mean
  • Suggestion or question: say how many were dropped and why. If zero depth is possible here, keep them

A place they can find, an observation they can check, a reason, a way forward. About the work, not the person.

Step 1: Can You See It?

Open your reviewee’s repository on github.com.

  • 404? You never accepted the invitation: github.com/notifications
  • Nothing there? They re-send it: Settings > Collaborators

Step 2: Clone Fresh (10 min)

New folder outside your project and course folders, e.g. Desktop/review.

GitHub Desktop

  1. File > Clone Repository
  2. GitHub.com tab, pick theirs
  3. Local path: the new folder
  4. Clone, then open it in Positron

Positron

  1. github.com: Code, copy HTTPS
  2. New Folder from Git
  3. Paste, choose the new folder

You Can Push To Their Repo. Don’t.

  • Rendering rewrites report.html in your copy
  • Desktop and Positron will offer to commit it
  • Do not commit. Do not push. The Issue is the whole review
  • Delete the folder when the Issue is filed

Step 3: Render, No Edits (20 min)

  1. Open the folder. Restart R
  2. Open report.qmd, Render. Do not edit any file
  3. Fill in Reproducibility check in the template
You see Do this
there is no package called install.packages(), render again, note it
Any other error Copy the exact message. Read their report.html
No data, README says why Get the file from the author, put in data/raw/

The Template

Copy it from the book (copy button, top right of the block).

  • Reproducibility check: cloned, rendered, data, paths, README
  • Checklist spot-check: present / missing / unclear
  • Three comments: cleaning, a figure, the interpretation
  • One thing that works well, one science question, top priority

Write it in a text file first. GitHub does not save a half-written Issue.

Break (10 min)

Checklist Spot-Check (15 min)

Against the final report checklist, mark each line present / missing / unclear.

It is a draft. “Missing” is expected. Honest beats kind: they need to know before Dec 16, not after.

Three Comments (45 min)

  • One on a cleaning decision
  • One on a figure
  • One on the interpretation: does the text claim more than the data show?

Each: Where / What I saw / Why it matters / Suggestion or question. I am coming round to read drafts.

File It (15 min)

  1. Their repo: Issues > New issue
  2. Title: Peer review: <your name>
  3. Paste; Preview; Create
  4. Copy the Issue address > Canvas Peer Review: Giving

Your Own Review

Check Issues on your repository.

  • Read it. Do not answer yet: that is Dec 7
  • One comment = change it, or decline with a reason
  • Commits say refs #1; the last says closes #1

What Is Next

  • Wed Dec 2, 11:59 PM: review Issue filed, URL on Canvas
  • Mon Dec 7 (last class): revision workshop, respond and fix
  • Sun Dec 13: every comment answered; Issue closed by a commit
  • Wed Dec 16, 11:59 PM: final push + v1.0 tag

Before You Leave