Open data, open review and open dialogue in making social sciences plausible

TL;DR

This paper advocates for integrating open data, open review, and open dialogue in social sciences to enhance trust, robustness, and plausibility of research through community engagement and transparency.

Contribution

It highlights the importance and feasibility of adopting open practices in social sciences to improve research quality and restore credibility.

Findings

Open practices can enhance trust and robustness in social sciences.

Implementation challenges are acknowledged but deemed manageable.

Open data, review, and dialogue are likely to become policy standards.

Abstract

Nowadays, protecting trust in social sciences also means engaging in open community dialogue, which helps to safeguard robustness and improve efficiency of research methods. The combination of open data, open review and open dialogue may sound simple but implementation in the real world will not be straightforward. However, in view of Begley and Ellis's (2012) statement that, "the scientific process demands the highest standards of quality, ethics and rigour," they are worth implementing. More importantly, they are feasible to work on and likely will help to restore plausibility to social sciences research. Therefore, I feel it likely that the triplet of open data, open review and open dialogue will gradually emerge to become policy requirements regardless of the research funding source.