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What is Open Science?

What do you answer when students ask: "What is Open Science?" The game "Open Up Your Research" provides an easy and lighthearted possibility to introduce and discuss the many aspects of Open Science along the research life cycle in university lectures.
Dr. Eva Furrer, Dr. Melanie Röthlisberger, January 28, 2022

Open Science is more and more becoming an important topic not only in research but also in university education. To shed light on the various ways how researchers can open up their research, our team at UZH designed the digital and freely available online game “Open Up Your Research”.

The game

Follow Emma on her journey to a PhD when you play the game “Open Up Your Research”, and make decisions at six critical points during her research process. Should Emma take a traditional approach to science, or follow a more open path? The choices are seemingly simple (see Fig. 1 for an impression). The six steps include the following:

  1. How should Emma find the latest research?
  2. Should she write a data management plan?
  3. Should she preregister her study?
  4. Should she make data and code FAIR?
  5. Should she publish in an Open Access journal?
  6. Should she publish data and code?

This game is intended to make students and researchers aware of the Open Science practices that could be applied in one’s own research workflow. At the same time, not all of these practices might be equally suitable for all disciplines. What is more, it is not always easy to decide which parts of the research workflow should be open as there are many other factors at play that influence one’s decision, such as funder requirements… Nevertheless, the game will provide players with an (sometimes simplified) overview of the kind of Open Science practices that exist.

The following image carousel gives impressions from the game «Open Up Your Research», including the decision points.

Screenshot of the game: The player has to decide whether to create a management.
Decision on data management planning.

How to use it in a lecture

The game provides a low-key way to introduce and discuss many aspects of Open Science. At six key moments during her research trajectory, Emma has to make a decision. The pros and cons of each decision can be discussed with the students who thereafter are invited to vote on what choice Emma should make using a classroom response system (CRS). The next steps for Emma then depend on the majority vote from the students. They in turn immediately learn about the consequences of Emma’s decisions. As such, the game is suitable for use with small and also large student groups.

Examples of classroom discussion

  1. Often students do not know what preregistration is, especially if they are at a beginner’s level. Hence in most cases a quick introduction is necessary, e.g., with the Texas sharpshooter cartoon (see Fig. 2), or, if more time is available, with an overview of clinical trial registration. If the audience is from different or largely experimental disciplines this will frequently lead to a discussion of exploratory versus confirmatory research.
  2. When asked the question if Emma should publish Open Access, it is important to check if students know what this means and what the options are. Depending on the disciplines these options will vary in popularity among researchers and often a discussion regarding incentives for researchers follows naturally. This may also be a perfect opportunity to introduce students to the peer review system.
Illustration of a sharpshooter painting dots on the target with a brush.
Fig. 2: Texas sharpshooter, illustrated by Dirk-Jan Hoep.

Duration of the game

The duration of the game varies depending on the decisions and on how long it takes to get to the decisions. If only brief explanations of the concepts are given and discussion is limited to a minimum the game can be played in about 20 minutes. If more detailed explanations and open discussions are possible it may take up to two times 45 minutes to finish it.

In which discipline is this important?

Open Science is important in all disciplines, however, some of the aspects of the game are targeted towards quantitative disciplines. The critical discussion around these aspects is nevertheless advisable for all disciplines.

References and Resources

The University of Zurich has an Open Science Policy: https://www.openscience.uzh.ch/de/definition/policy.html

Good general overviews of Open Science are the UNESCO recommendations and the LERU roadmap

https://en.unesco.org/science-sustainable-future/open-science/recommendation

https://www.leru.org/publications/open-science-and-its-role-in-universities-a-roadmap-for-cultural-change

The Game has been developed by the University library (former: Main Library), the Center for Reproducible Science and the Open Science Office in collaboration with the Multimedia & E-Learning-Services (MELS) at UZH. Authors: Melanie Röthlisberger, Manuela Höfler, Katherine Hermans, Eva Furrer; Animation: Janine Meyer; Illustration: Tara von Grebel
«The game illustrates in a fun but thought-provoking way how the adoption of open science practices shapes our everyday lives as researchers.»
Samuel Pawel, student in one of our courses
«I thought it was a good tool but I think it's usefulness comes from the trainer! I liked the choose-your-own-adventure format, but it was the fact that you allowed us to make the "wrong choices" and see what the consequences of that were that was most beneficial. You could consider testing the tool in a setting where you go through it at the beginning of a training session and again at the end--perhaps it could then also be used for evaluative purposes.»
Maria Dunbar, student in one of our courses
Dr. Eva Furrer
Dr. Eva Furrer
Eva Furrer is a biostatistician at the Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Prevention Institute of the University of Zurich. She coordinates the Master Program in Biostatistics and manages the Center for Reproducible Science and the Swiss Reproducibility Network.
Dr. Melanie Röthlisberger
Dr. Melanie Röthlisberger
Dr. Melanie Röthlisberger works as a scientific librarian with the team Open Science Services at the University Library of the UZH. She creates and teaches courses on Open Data and Open Access for students and PhDs and has given various presentations on the topic of Open Science for early-career researchers.

Questions, ideas or concerns?

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