Make your own data sustainable and transparent
WORK SHEET 4
The “credibility revolution” is playing an important role in economics right now. Besides the economists themselves, renowned journals and professional associations advocate more credibility and transparency for economic research in Germany. The requirement for transparency and reproducibility in economics has become much more important for the evaluation of research projects and findings. How can you grant access to your data and analyses? One option is to do it manually. At the end of your paper you could write: “Data and code available upon request”. If someone requests the additional material from you, you send it by e-mail. The better and more sustainable option is to upload your data into an online repository and thus make it more easily accessible to others.
Duration 20 min.
Prepare your final and well commented analysing scripts (e.g. R Code, SPSS syntax, Stata code). First test again if your script, executed with your data, provides exactly the same result output that you describe in your paper.
Upload your script to Open-Science-Framework and include the link in your publication.
The special feature of Open Science Framework is that you can link up all your projects and sub-projects and that you can get a DOI (Digital Object Identifier) for your project. This means that your additional material can be cited. If a researcher builds on your analysis, he or she can cite your material. If you take the trouble to practise Open Science, you might just as well get credit for it.
Checklist:
- Check analysis scripts
- Upload analysis script(s) to Open-Science-Framework
- Get DOI
- Cite DOI and communicate to peers, e.g. with my Social Media account
Congratulations!
Date: September 2020
Questions, comments and notes are welcome at open-science@zbw.eu