Articulate how different types of changes made during an attempt to replicate a GIS study can test different forms of verification and validity.
Researchers and practitioners apply the concepts and tools of GIScience to answer questions about geographic phenomena and to inform policy and management decisions across a wide range of social and environmental domains. Verification and validation of applied GIS research is essential to the development and application of credible geographic knowledge. Attempting to verify and validate the claims researchers and practitioners make when they analyze phenomena using the concepts and tools of GIScience is essential to the development of geographic knowledge. Verification is the act of testing whether the concepts and methods used to make a research claim were implemented in a way that is appropriate for the question being investigated. Validation is the act of assessing whether the concepts, measurements, or conclusions of a study are logically sound and factually well-founded. Researchers can pursue the verification and validation of past studies by attempting to reproduce or replicate these earlier findings. During a reproduction, an independent researcher attempts to recreate the results of an initial study using the data and procedures of that study. During a replication, an independent researcher empirically tests the validity of the claims made in a study by selectively altering different aspects of the initial work when repeating the study. This entry outlines these processes and how they are used to verify and validate applied GIS research.