{"id":21399,"date":"2023-06-20T14:07:06","date_gmt":"2023-06-20T13:07:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/ls\/?p=21399"},"modified":"2023-06-27T12:20:27","modified_gmt":"2023-06-27T11:20:27","slug":"transparency-as-a-route-to-social-responsibility-in-research-re-post","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.edgehill.ac.uk\/ls\/2023\/06\/20\/transparency-as-a-route-to-social-responsibility-in-research-re-post\/","title":{"rendered":"Transparency as a route to social responsibility in research [Re-post]"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In case you missed it, this piece appeared the ISR Blog<\/a> earlier in June. Liam Bullingham <\/strong>and Matthew Greenhalgh<\/strong> explain how research can be more transparent, and the benefits this provides.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"three<\/a>
Allowing others to ‘look under the hood’ of your research (by for example, openly sharing your data) adds to its integrity<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Making your research process \u2018transparent\u2019 or \u2018reproducible\u2019 means using open practices where possible. Here, those people making use of the research (policy makers, practitioners, members of the public) can scrutinise your work or \u2018look under the hood\u2019 to learn more about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, making research transparent is easier said than done. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You might share your dataset<\/a> or code<\/a>, include an open licence<\/a>, upload a preprint<\/a>, use open methodologies<\/a>, and more. All this takes up valuable time, can clash with ethics, and there is no guarantee that readers will significantly benefit or that you or your co-investigators will be rewarded. In a climate of \u2018publish or perish\u2019, time is precious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026So why do it?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Transparency, reproducibility and social responsibility <\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Considering what social responsibility means in this context, researchers at Duke University see research as ideally being, valuable to society, rigorous and trustworthy, and conducted with integrity for the benefit of people<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a polarised society, research integrity is clearly important. Anti-science perspectives are enabled when the source is perceived to be biased or lack credibility<\/a>, so transparency can not only help us meet our social obligations and improve the quality of our research, but it could also enhance the perception of it too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A recent Economist article discussed fraud in medical research<\/a>, with stories of fabricated data, manipulated images and retracted papers. When bad actors are free to bypass transparency and conceal the detail, it enables them to escape scrutiny and damage the reputation of research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Research at Edge Hill<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Following The Concordat to Support Research Integrity<\/a> and The UK Reproducibility Network (UKRN)<\/a>, we formed the Edge Hill Reproducibility Group to explore how the University\u2019s research can be more transparent. We have since joined UKRN and look forward to introducing and encouraging more open practices here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An early step on this journey is demonstrating what good practice looks like and how transparent research happens in different disciplines. Here are some examples:<\/p>\n\n\n\n