Course details

8.3462

Toward Open Cognitive Sciences

 S
WS 2020 Dr. phil. Timo Röttger
2h/wk
4 ECTS 		B.Sc modules:
CS-BWP-CNP - Cognitive (Neuro-)Psychology
CS-BWP-MCS - Methods of Cognitive Science
KOGW-WPM-KNP - Cognitive (Neuro-)Psychology
M.Sc modules:
CC-MP-IDC - Interdisciplinary Course
CS-MWP-CNP - Cognitive (Neuro-)Psychology
KOGW-MPM-IDK - Interdisciplinary courses
KOGW-MWPM-KNP - Major subject Cognitive (Neuro-)Psychology

Doctorate program

Our understanding of human behavior is increasingly shaped by experimental data. With a rapidly growing body of quantitative evidence, it is of critical importance to evaluate and substantiate existing findings in the literature. This is important because recent attempts to rigorously replicate well-cited findings in the social and psychological sciences have uncovered a surprising lack of replicability. This class aims at discussing the reasons for this so-called ‘replication crisis’, reflecting on its implication for our research, and introducing tools and practices that can help us tackle the lack of replicability. Much of the current replication crisis is related to common challenges associated with contemporary statistical frameworks. Staying on a conceptual level, the workshop will also discuss statistical concepts such as researcher degrees of freedom, statistical power, and Type-M errors. We will discuss practical solutions to overcome these issues, including preregistration, Bayesian inference, and open and transparent research practices. With regard to the latter, the workshop will spend much time on introducing reproducible workflows, including their implementation into existing processes. We will introduce practical solutions and tools that help researchers overcome barriers to reproducibility and practice using these tools during hands-on activities, including how to efficiently share our research using the Open Science Framework."