What is Open Science?
Open science refers to methods that can be employed to create valid and reliable research.
These tools and ideas support transparency, openness, and reproducibility in the scientific field, and are applied at different stages of the scientific cycle. A great example is pre-registering your study: you specify your hypotheses and predictions, and describe your analysis plan. The idea is that all additional analyses are then considered exploratory so that a clear distinction between initial hypotheses and post-hoc analyses and interpretations can be made. Another important tool is to share your data and the materials used in your research online to allow direct replication by fellow researchers.
Why is Open Science Important for Students?
We believe that teaching students about open science is an important step towards more reliable science.
We, students, are the future. By educating each other about the open science framework, we can together counter the replication crisis and avoid the use of questionable research practices, and therefore false data, in the future. We can develop skills such as scientific and statistical reasoning, pre-registration, and programming – helpful tools during both our studies and in our professional careers.
Were you an aspiring mental health professional, teacher, data analyst, or researcher, work in all these areas is strongly based on scientific research. To apply our knowledge to our practice, it is therefore important to be able to tell apart good and questionable research.
References
- Nosek, B. A., Alter, G., Banks, G. C., Borsboom, D., Bowman, S. D., Breckler, S. J., … & Contestabile, M. (2015). Promoting an open research culture. Science, 348(6242), 1422-1425.
SIOS - Student Initiative for Open Science 