Available From UC Press

Recently, social science has had numerous episodes of influential research that was found invalid when placed under rigorous scrutiny. The growing sense that many published results are potentially erroneous has made those conducting social science research more determined to ensure the underlying research is sound.  Transparent and Reproducible Social Science Research is the first book to summarize and synthesize new approaches to combat false positives and non-reproducible findings in social science research, document the underlying problems in research practices, and teach a new generation of students and scholars how to overcome them. Understanding that social science research has real consequences for individuals when used by professionals in public policy, health, law enforcement, and other fields, the book crystallizes new insights, practices, and methods that help ensure greater research transparency, openness, and reproducibility. Readers are guided through well-known problems and are encouraged to work through new solutions and practices to improve the openness of their research. Created with both experienced and novice researchers in mind, Transparent and Reproducible Social Science Research serves as an indispensable resource for the production of high quality social science research.  

Garret Christensen is an Economist at the U.S. Census Bureau and was formerly a Research Scientist at the Berkeley Institute for Data Science and Berkeley Initiative for Transparency in the Social Sciences. His research focuses on the impacts of social safety-net programs. Jeremy Freese is Professor of Sociology at Stanford University, and Co-Principal Investigator of the General Social Survey and Time-Sharing Experiments in the Social Sciences. His research focuses on topics that connect social inequality, health, and social change. Edward Miguel is Oxfam Professor in Environmental and Resource Economics in the Department of Economics at the University of California, Berkeley, and Director of the Center for Effective Global Action. His research focus is on African economic development.

“In this profoundly important book, Christensen, Freese, and Miguel outline a pragmatic, seemingly modest plan for rehabilitating the traditional scientific norms of integrity and transparency. Many people drawn by these norms into social science are troubled by institutional incentives that increasingly reward quantity over quality, tradeoffs over rigor, and impact factors over insight. Students preparing for a career in the social sciences should read it carefully.”—Paul Romer, corecipient of the 2018 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences

“An excellent one-stop-shop introduction to the topic, it summarizes key advances in this area and provides important practical advice for researchers.”—David McKenzie, World Bank

“This book comes at just the right time. As norms shift around the question of what it means to conduct social science with integrity, this book offers a how-to guide and a thoughtful reflection on the ethos of our research. How can science be more open and transparent? How can researchers make sure, across the hundreds of choices they make regarding research design, analysis, and interpretation, that they don’t ‘fool themselves’ into believing findings that aren’t real? This book is part of the vanguard of efforts to establish new norms of social science research. The authors use clear, compelling, and occasionally funny examples and explanations that help to outline a modern vision of scientific integrity.”—Betsy Levy Paluck, Professor of Psychology & Public Affairs, Princeton University

“Social science can help people make better decisions. P-hacking, publication biases, and related practices do the opposite—they mislead other researchers, students, policy makers, and the public. We have to do better. Christensen, Freese, and Miguel’s first-of-its-kind guidebook is loaded with compelling insights and concrete advice about how to better serve those who depend on us. It is an essential reference for social science’s next generation of innovators.”—Arthur Lupia, Hal R. Varian Collegiate Professor of Political Science, University of Michigan

“The authors will convince you and your students to change how you do your work. Only by reforming our practices can we move forward together to produce social science that is both cumulative and credible.”—Stephen L. Morgan, Bloomberg Distinguished Professor, Johns Hopkins University

“This is the first work to draw together the exploding area of methodological and practical work to increase the credibility of social-science research through transparency and reproducibility.”—Graeme Blair, Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of California, Los Angeles

“A clear-eyed take on the state of social science and how it can live up to the promise of providing quality evidence regarding fundamental questions about humans and society.”—Simine Vazire, Associate Professor of Psychology, University of California, Davis

“An essential handbook for anyone engaged in empirical research in the social sciences. Situating open and transparent research practices as a fundamental component of ethical research practices, the authors provide an interdisciplinary, inspiring, and practical guide for students, instructors, and experienced researchers alike. It is chock full of helpful tips, concrete examples, and exceedingly persuasive evidence that it is part of our duty as social scientists to support new norms aimed at maximizing learning from research.”—Susan D. Hyde, Professor of Political Science, University of California, Berkeley, author of The Pseudo-Democrat’s Dilemma