Open Science and Methodological Improvements

Abstract

In recent years, meta-research methods issues (e.g., reproducibility, open science, etc.) have yielded provocative findings, vigorous discussions, and novel innovations. This course will engage with these issues in ways that are primarily practical, i.e., useful to current graduate students’ research. However, doing this will require addressing some basic issues in measurement, statistical inference, ethics, and philosophy of science. Readings, discussions, and activities will provide tools that will help you improve your own research practices, and to better interpret the evidence in published reports. The standards, requirements, and values of publishing high quality research in psychology are changing quickly, and we will engage with the very latest developments in ways that will likely increase the quality and impact of your own work. We will also discuss the advantages and disadvantages of potential reforms to the way psychologists (and otherscientists) conduct and report on research.