Open Science From a Qualitative, Feminist Perspective: Epistemological Dogmas and a Call for Critical Examination

Abstract

Open science serves to address core issues that are unique to quantitative methods in psychology, though it is typically presented as an appropriate framework for psychological research in general. In the present article, I critically examine the context within which open science operates as I bring that perspective into dialogue with priorities and goals of research that are both qualitative and feminist. I orient this examination in response to the question: what does open science mean for research methodologies that have historically been a home for transgressive and radical question-asking? Questioning the purposes of key tenets like replication and statistical significance—values systems that pose central distinctions between quantitative and qualitative methods—begs bigger questions for feminist psychologists. What counts as science? What counts as a valid epistemology? How can we avoid a further marginalization of epistemologies deemed less valid? I explore these questions, followed by a possible reimagining of our field’s engagement with open science in which I present seven suggestions to practically guide this endeavor.

Racial equity in social psychological science: A guide for scholars, institutions, and the field

“…The role of open science. Although the open science movement has imparted important lessons around setting and proliferating norms to improve the quality of our science, the particular norms it seeks to advance may inadvertently contribute to racial inequality in the field (Bennett, 2021). In many ways, the open science movement was sparked by the highly publicized replication crisis in psychology-an increasingly occurring phenomenon whereby attempted replications of past study findings frequently do not reveal the same result (Maxwell, Lau, & Howard, 2015).…”

Open scholarship in applied linguistics: What, why, and how

“…Open [scholarship] is defined as an inclusive construct that combines various movements and practices aiming to make multilingual [scholarly] knowledge openly available, accessible, and reusable for everyone; to increase [scholarly] collaborations and sharing of information for the benefits of [scholarship] Readers familiar with the history of open science in psychology know that it has traditionally been associated with quantitative research and it was only recently that alternative, equally valid epistemologies have received more attention in this space (see Bennett, 2021, for example, for a discussion on open science from the perspective of feminist psychology). A recent survey within applied linguistics (Liu & De Cat, in press) also revealed some concerns from qualitative researchers on open science having unduly quantitative connotations.…”

Open scholarship in applied linguistics: What, why, and how

“…Open [scholarship] is defined as an inclusive construct that combines various movements and practices aiming to make multilingual [scholarly] knowledge openly available, accessible, and reusable for everyone; to increase [scholarly] collaborations and sharing of information for the benefits of [scholarship] , "open research", and "open science" interchangeably, we deliberately replaced the term "science" with "scholarship" in the above definition to highlight our aim to promote a more inclusive and critical understanding of open science. Readers familiar with the history of open science in psychology know that it has traditionally been associated with quantitative research and it was only recently that alternative, equally valid epistemologies have received more attention in this space (see Bennett, 2021, for example, for a discussion on open science from the perspective of feminist psychology). A recent survey within applied linguistics (Liu & De Cat, in press) also revealed some concerns from qualitative researchers on open science having unduly quantitative connotations.…”