The buffet of open research
Throughout this course, you have discovered a number of tools you can use to make your research more open. However, not all of them will be practicable for every project. What you can do may depend on the details of your research, or on broader considerations such as the amount of your funding, your career stage, and the level of support your institution offers.
You might want to think about approaching open research like a buffet:
‘You might not be able to try everything’ – not all open research methods are appropriate for every research study (and you might not like every dish at the buffet).
‘You don’t have to try everything all at once’ – incorporating even some open research methods in your work is a step forward, and trying to do too much might be overwhelming (much like eating too many dishes from the buffet).
‘Label everything’ – as you have learned, documenting the research process is important for transparency and helps other researchers understand the steps taken (just as having food properly labelled prevents people accidentally eating something they shouldn’t).
There is not one correct way of doing open research – we can take whatever we like from the ‘buffet of open science’.
Finding your community