Some notes on "Open Science Practices are on the Rise: The State of Social Science (3S) Survey

Figure 3 of Christensen et al (in press)

I just took another look at the results of this survey by Garret Christensen (US Census) and colleagues. It’s results are very promising for those who think social scientists should conduct their research more openly and transparently.

The researchers surveyed graduate students and publishing researchers in economics, political science, psychology and sociology. They asked about how frequently they used three open science practices (posting data, posting materials, preregistering) both now and retrospectively.

The response rates were very high for this kind of survey (probably because participants were paid up to $100) - around 25-60%, depending on the subgroup.

They found that all four fields are improving, with econ having surged before the others, and psychology having experienced a more recent surge (see figure 1 above).

The authors posit a paradigm shift going on in social science spurred by new technologies and institutions (e.g., the Center for Open Science), but there is less evidence for that (the others plot a few key events in the recent credibility revolution and suggest they are associated with changes in research practices). There are other limitations, like asking researchers to think about what practices they used in the past.

In any case, these results from the 3S survey are great evidence that changes are afoot in several fields.