Open Science at Liberal Arts Colleges

Abstract

Adopting and sustaining open science practices is accompanied by particular opportunities and challenges for faculty at small liberal arts colleges (SLACs). Their predominantly undergraduate student body, small size, limited resources, substantial teaching responsibilities, and focus on intensive faculty-student interactions make it difficult to normalize open science at SLACs. However, given the unique synergy between teaching and research at SLACs, many of these practices are well-suited for work with undergraduate psychology students. In addition, the opportunities for collaboration afforded by the open science community may be especially attractive for those doing research at SLACs. In this paper, we offer suggestions for how open science can further grow and flourish among faculty who work closely with undergraduates, both in classrooms and in labs. We also discuss how to encourage professional development and transform institutional culture around open science practices. Most importantly, this paper serves as an invitation to SLAC psychology faculty to participate in the open science community.

Will Open Science Succeed in Higher Education?

“…Researchers at less well-funded institutions where teaching is the main responsibility have less available time to pursue research. Lane et al have discussed the problems of Open Science in small liberal arts colleges (Lane et al, 2020). Their article summarizes experiences from four different prestigious liberal arts colleges and so provides a valuable insight into this situation.…”

Promoting Civility in Formal And Informal Open Science Contexts

“…Informal contexts have provided platforms for open-science researchers to build community and share resources. Informal open-science contexts, such as YouTube videos (e.g., truTV, 2017), podcasts (e.g.,Srivastava et al, 2017Srivastava et al, -2020, and blogs (e.g.,Scheel et al, 2017-Present) have also facilitated researchers' public outreach regarding the importance of research transparency.Researchers new to open science are frequently advised to become more active in informal contexts, such as social media(Kalandadze & Hart, 2022;Kathawalla et al, 2021;Lane et al, 2020). Informal open-science contexts are believed to provide opportunities to stay abreast of current open-science challenges and solutions, learn new open-science strategies and approaches, and build open-science networks and collaborations(Koyama & Page-Gould, 2020).…”