About the series
NSF Distinguished Lecture Series in Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences
Monday, June 29, 3:00pm, Room 110
Dr. Brian Nosek
University of Virginia
“Improving and Rewarding Openness and Reproducibility”
The currency of science is publishing. Producing novel, positive, and clean results maximizes the likelihood of publishing success because those are the best kind of results. There are multiple ways to produce such results: (1) be a genius, (2) be lucky, (3) be patient, or (4) employ flexible analytic and selective reporting practices to manufacture beauty. In a competitive marketplace with minimal accountability, it is hard to resist (4). But, there is a way. With results, beauty is contingent on what is known about their origin. With methodology, if it looks beautiful, it is beautiful. The only way to be rewarded for strong methodology is to make transparent how the results were obtained. With openness, I won’t stop aiming for beautiful papers, but when I get them, it will be clear that I earned them.
Brian Nosek received a Ph.D. in Psychology from Yale University in 2002 and is a professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Virginia. In 2007, he received early career awards from the International Social Cognition Network (ISCON) and the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI). He co-founded Project Implicit, an Internet-based multi-university collaboration of research and education about implicit cognition – thoughts and feelings that exist outside of awareness or control. Nosek investigates the gap between values and practices – such as when behavior is influenced by factors other than one's intentions and goals. Research applications of this interest are implicit bias, diversity and inclusion, automaticity, social judgment and decision-making, attitudes, beliefs, ideology, morality, identity, memory, and barriers to innovation. Through lectures, training, and consulting, Nosek applies scientific research to improve the alignment between personal and organizational values and practices. Nosek also co-founded and directs the Center for Open Science (COS) that operates the Open Science Framework. The COS aims to increase openness, integrity, and reproducibility of scientific research.
