Increasing the transparency and reproducibility of scientific research has received considerable attention over the past decade. Takeup of this call has varied considerably over the social sciences, with some scratching their heads about the way and how. I will discuss the rise of these practices in a “dual audience” way: both from the perspective of an open science activist who sees the rise of these practices as good thing to be promulgated, and as a licensed sociologist who thinks the rise and recent limelight of the open science movement as curious social phenomenon in its own right. The talk will go all the way from abstract soup to practical nuts: some very broad methodological principles and historical developments will be invoked, as will some extremely specific advice on best practices for doing transparent and reproducible social science research.

This virtual research talk on RDM was supported by the Digital Research Alliance of Canada.