Improving Social Science: Lessons from the Open Science Movement

Abstract

The transdisciplinary movement towards greater research transparency opens the door for a meta-scientific exchange between different social sciences. In the spirit of such an exchange, we offer some lessons inspired by ongoing debates in psychology, highlighting the broad benefits of open science but also potential pitfalls, as well as practical challenges in the implementation that have not yet been fully resolved. Our discussion is aimed towards political scientists but relevant for population sciences more broadly.

Open Minds, Open Methods: Transparency and Inclusion in Pursuit of Better Scholarship

“…They review the political research literature using Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA), not only documenting a problematic lack of reproducibility but also providing a checklist that QCA researchers can use to improve the transparency and reproducibility of their work. Engzell and Rohrer (2020) offer an interdisciplinary perspective on transparency. Their article discusses what political research can learn from psychology's "replication crisis" and ensuing "credibility revolution.…”