Scientific methods ebook for social and cognitive scientists: an open and collaborative repository

Projektbeschreibung

Open Science requires more than conviction and good intentions: it is not only a philosophy, but also a technical skillset and knowledge base. Open Science practices -- e.g., data management and sharing, transparent and open-source software, and preregistering projects -- present a steep learning curve. Undeveloped incentive structures shift scientists’ priorities away from these initially time-consuming processes, despite saving a significant amount of time in the long run. Establishing Open Science practices can only succeed if acquired as an essential part of general methodological skill building, i.e., in the first undergraduate classes -- combined with the acquisition of canonised methodological knowledge (e.g., on experimental design or statistical analysis). To facilitate teaching -- as well as practicing -- Open Science, for both junior and senior scientists, we will develop a comprehensive online textbook, combining a state-of-the-art presentation of core methodological skills already embedded in Open Science practices.

The text will unify scientific theory, open science, and the practical skills necessary to conduct research into a single framework. Theoretical and practical lessons will go hand in hand, e.g. the proper ways of pre-registering a study, counterbalancing experimental stimuli with Python and the underlying theory of experimental design, determining sampling size using R, and publishing the created code. Students will learn about version control and sustainable data management, while building up their skillset and codebase.

In the spirit of Open Science, the book will be hosted on a GitHub repository, open for contributions. This eliminates the need for multiple editions, and a simple text, markup-based structure allows straight-forward conversion into multiple formats, from HTML to ePub or PDF. After establishing the core components and sections on fundamental topics, we will invite experts from different domains to contribute. Contributors will be able to create associated repositories with teaching materials for specialized cases.

The dynamic nature of a GitHub-based website allows searchable content, a modular structure, combined with an overarching narrative. Students can complete all necessary steps for preparing, conducting, and presenting scientific work. Our aim is to provide a standalone

fully-comprehensible online book that can be integrated into different teaching formats: assisting lectures, theoretical seminars, practical workshops, student-organized tutorials, or self-paced online learning. We hope this resource will change the skillsets and thinking of developing researchers early on. We believe such a project is essential to achieving transparent, open, and reproducible scientific disciplines.

Zwischenbericht

Siehe /Zwischenbericht

Autor/in

Name: Jona Sassenhagen
Institution: Goethe University Frankfurt
Kontakt: jona.sassenhagen@gmail.com