Documenting decisions transparently

  

  

Week 4 is about ways to make your research more transparent. As you discovered earlier, transparency means being clear about exactly what you did at every stage of your research. However, over the course of an entire research project (typically months to years), it’s highly likely that you will forget certain aspects of how the study was conducted, and when and why decisions were made.

One of the most important ways you can make sure that others will be able to replicate your research is by keeping detailed records of all aspects of the project, and updating them as you go. It’s a bit like keeping a record of the twists and turns you made while going through a maze. Without detailed notes, remembering all the decisions you made at every stage of your research project can be difficult. You will build up a lot of information, which can be hard to compile once you get to the writing stage.