Introduction
“Open science” represents a broad movement to make all phases of research—from design to dissemination—more transparent and accessible. The scientific community and Federal agencies that support research have a growing interest in open science methods. In part this interest stems from highly publicized news stories and journal articles that cast doubt on research credibility[1]. These articles highlighted issues such as data manipulation (e.g., p-hacking), publication bias (e.g., no publication of null results), inability to replicate or reproduce research results,[2] and other individual and system-level practices.[3] Proponents of open science strive to transform the research ecosystem through a range of methods that encourage open sharing of research information and enable researchers to verify and build on each other’s work.[4]
[1] For example, see Hardwicke, T. E., & Ioannidis, J. P. (2018). Populating the Data Ark: An attempt to retrieve, preserve, and liberate data from the most highly-cited psychology and psychiatry articles. PloS One, 13(8), e0201856 and John, L. K., Loewenstein, G., & Prelec, D. (2012). Measuring the prevalence of questionable research practices with incentives for truth telling. Psychological Science, 23(5), 524—532.
[2] Winerman, L. (2017). Trends report: Psychologists embrace open science. American Psychological Association, 48, 90. Retrieved from https://www.apa.org/monitor/2017/11/trends-open-science
[3] Ibid.
[4] National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2018). Open science by design: Realizing a vision for 21st century research. Washington, DC: Board on Research Data and Information, Policy, and Global Affairs. Retrieved from http://sites.nationalacademies.org/pga/brdi/open_science_enterprise/
Purpose
This document provides a list of resources for readers who wish to learn more about open science methods. It was developed following the 2019 methods meeting, Methods for Promoting Open Science in Social Policy Research, organized by the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families.[1] The resources were compiled from the meeting topic memorandum, speakers’ slides, Q&A sessions at the meeting, and follow-up input from the working group members who helped plan the event.
[1] See https:// opremethodsmeeting.org/ for additional information on OPRE’s methods meetings, including agendas and meeting products.
Key Findings and Highlights
Resources are divided into categories by topic and can be accessed by clicking a hyperlink in each citation. The categories are:
- Background information on open science (i.e. Federal initiatives and policies that support open science, motivation for promoting open science in social science research, general open science concepts);
- Pre-registration;
- Reproducibility and replicability;
- Data management and sharing; and
- Systematic reviews
Citation
Hansen, D., & Holzwart, R. (2020). OPRE 2019 Methods Meeting Resource List (OPRE Report 2020-131). Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.