Promoting Transparency in Social Science Research

Edward Miguel, Colin Camerer (), K Casey, J Cohen, Km Esterling, A Gerber, R Glennerster, Dp Green, M Humphreys, G Imbens, D Laitin, T Madon, L Nelson, Ba Nosek, M Petersen, R Sedlmayr, Jp Simmons, U Simonsohn and M Van der Laan

Department of Economics, Working Paper Series from Department of Economics, Institute for Business and Economic Research, UC Berkeley

Abstract: Social scientists should adopt higher transparency standards to improve the quality and credibility of research. There is growing appreciation for the advantages of experimentation in the social sciences. Policy-relevant claims that in the past were backed by theoretical arguments and inconclusive correlations are now being investigated using more credible methods. Changes have been particularly pronounced in development economics, where hundreds of randomized trials have been carried out over the last decade. When experimentation is difficult or impossible, researchers are using quasi-experimental designs. Governments and advocacy groups display a growing appetite for evidence-based policy-making. In 2005, Mexico established an independent government agency to rigorously evaluate social programs, and in 2012, the U.S. Office of Management and Budget advised federal agencies to present evidence from randomized program evaluations in budget requests ( 1 , 2 ).

Keywords: 4407 Policy and Administration (for-2020); 44 Human Society (for-2020); Behavioral and Social Science (rcdc); Disclosure (mesh); Humans (mesh); Research (mesh); Social Sciences (mesh); Humans (mesh); Disclosure (mesh); Social Sciences (mesh); Research (mesh); Disclosure (mesh); Humans (mesh); Research (mesh); Social Sciences (mesh); General Science & Technology (science-metrix) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014-01-03
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

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