Week 1: Introduction to Research Transparency and Reproducibility

What is research transparency and why is it important? This week will introduce you to the concepts of transparency and openness as key facets of the scientific ethos.

Introduction to research transparency and the scientific ethos 

In our first activity, I’ll discuss the structure of the rest of the course and introduce you to Merton’s norms – widely held values for conducting science.

1.1 Let’s get started!

1.2 Merton’s norms and the Scientific Ethos

1.3 How closely do we conform to Merton’s norms?

What happens when scientific norms are violated?

We discuss the state of transparency practices in social science research today and compare it to how the scientific community generally believes science should be conducted.

1.4 Violations of the scientific ethos in social psychology

1.5 Diederick Stapel is accused of research fraud: A New York Times article

1.6 Articulating the problem and possible ways forward