Which tests not witch hunts : a diagnostic approach for conducting replication research

This paper provides researchers with an objective list of checks to consider when planning a replication study with the objective of validating findings for informing policy. These replication studies should begin with a pure replication of the published results and then reanalyse the original data to address the original research question. The author presents tips for replication exercises in four categories: validity of assumptions, data transformations, estimation methods, and heterogeneous impacts. For each category he offers an introduction, a tips checklist, some examples of how these checks have been employed, and a set of resources that provide statistical and econometric details.