Description
Scholars have developed a number of mechanisms for embedding open science practices in psychological research, but these developments have largely neglected the substantial literature on both the social dimension of science, and the interactional nature of human sociality. Sociologists of science have for several decades been concerned with the contingency of laboratory experimentation, but this tradition of work has primarily been confined to exploring experimental work in the natural sciences. Moreover, while there is a wealth of research exploring how social scientific methods such as interviews, focus groups and surveys are conducted in practice, the literature on psychological experimentation is limited. To address these gaps, this talk draws on data from two contrasting studies that sought to apply the insights of discursive and rhetorical psychology to experimentation in psychology: the first a secondary analysis of audio recordings from Stanley Milgram’s obedience experiments; the second a study of a modern cognitive psychology experiment. Not only do these analyses highlight the interactional nature of psychological experimentation, it will be argued that they point the way to a novel approach to conceptualising ‘openness’ in psychological science that emphasises the value of recording and paying attention to laboratory interaction. In contrast to previous attempts at engagement between discursive researchers and experimentalists, this endeavour need not be adversarial: instead, the insights from discursive analysis can be used to help train novice experimenters, with the aim of leading to better experiments that are conducted with an appreciation of the discursive context of institutional interaction.| Period | 28 Mar 2025 |
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| Event title | Qualitative Open Science: Challenges, Opportunities, Tensions & Synergies |
| Event type | Conference |
| Location | Amsterdam, NetherlandsShow on map |
| Degree of Recognition | International |