Disability and COVID-19: Reproducing Chakraborty (2021)

Since this reproduction study was already quite thorough, the modifications to the study were focused on improving figures, adding figures for clarity, and restructuring the discussion and conclusion sections. These were more focused on improving clarity and understanding of the study rather than fixing errors in the second version of the reproducibility study. Though small, these modifications hopefully improve how future readers/researchers think and review the study.

Going through this reproduction study, I noticed how many steps are often not mentioned within the methods sections of the original study. Particularly, small errors in data sets (such as the missing data) can be tedious to find and fix; however, by creating checks and maps, the reproduced study clearly showcases the process of obtaining the original study’s data. With the addition of various statistical tests and map visualizations, the Chakraborty study has better reproducibility and has the potential to be applied to future outbreaks as well as adjust to demographic changes over time.

Along with the suggested improvements, I also added two thematic map visualizations to highlight some of the most significant variables affecting the GEE model: the Black population with disability and the Hispanic non-White population with disability. The addition of these two maps highlight the South and Southwest as regions of interest due to how their diverse populations and COVID spread affect the GEE model.

Check out the reproduced study here

Check out the Github repository for the reproduction here

References

Chakraborty, J. 2021. Social inequities in the distribution of COVID-19: An intra-categorical analysis of people with disabilities in the U.S. Disability and Health Journal 14 (1):101007. DOI: 10.1016/j.dhjo.2020.101007.