Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T20:39:14.633Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Can We Do Better? Replication and Online Appendices in Political Science

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 May 2020

Jonathan Grossman Open the ORCID record for Jonathan Grossman [Opens in a new window]  and
Ami Pedahzur Open the ORCID record for Ami Pedahzur [Opens in a new window]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Replicability in political science is on the rise, as disciplinary journals have been placing a growing emphasis on data access and research transparency (DA–RT) practices and policies. As a result, nearly every article that is published today in leading political science journals offers an online appendix that includes data, code, and methodological explanations necessary for replication. While these developments are laudable, many appendices still do not enable satisfactory replication because they are inaccessible, compartmentalized, and difficult to understand. In this article and in its accompanying online appendix, we demonstrate this problem and make the case for more accessible and comprehensive appendices whose contribution can fulfill and go beyond mere replicability. We propose several ways in which authors and journals can produce better appendices, namely, by making appendices more intuitive, integrated, and standardized, and by choosing an adequate online platform on which to create and host the appendix.

Type
Reflection
Information
Perspectives on Politics , Volume 19 , Issue 3 , September 2021 , pp. 906 - 911
Copyright
© American Political Science Association 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

A list of permanent links to Supplemental Materials provided by the authors precedes the References section.

*

Data replication sets are available in Harvard Dataverse at: https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/VXZZ0J

The research for this paper was supported by the Leonard Davis Institute for International Relations at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Leonard Davis Institute Research Seminar in January 2020. We thank the participants of the seminar for their constructive comments. We are especially indebted to Yoram Haftel and Raelene Camille Wyse for their excellent suggestions.

References

Alvarez, R. Michael, Key, Ellen M., and Núñez, Lucas. 2018. “Research Replication: Practical Considerations.” PS: Political Science & Politics 51(2): 422–26.Google Scholar
Beukema, Patrick. 2018. “Modernizing Academic Data Science.” Towards Data Science. Retrieved March 6, 2020 (https://towardsdatascience.com/modernizing-academic-data-science-4213794a278e).Google Scholar
Dunleavy, Patrick, Park, Alice, and Taylor, Ros, eds. 2018. The UK’s Changing Democracy: The 2018 Democratic Audit. London: LSE Press. Retrieved March 6, 2020 (https://www.democraticaudit.com/the-uks-changing-democracy-the-2018-democratic-audit/).10.31389/book1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elman, Colin, Kapiszewski, Diana, and Lupia, Arthur. 2018. “Transparent Social Inquiry: Implications for Political Science.” Annual Review of Political Science 21(1): 29–47.10.1146/annurev-polisci-091515-025429CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flinders, Matthew. 2015. “The Rediscovery of the Political Imagination.” In The Relevance of Political Science, ed. Stoker, Gerry, Peters, B. Guy, and Pierre, Jon, 65–83. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.10.1007/978-1-137-50660-3_5CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gibson, James L. 1995. “Cautious Reflections on a Data-Archiving Policy for Political Science.” PS: Political Science & Politics 28(3): 473–76.Google Scholar
Golder, Matt, and Golder, Sona N.. 2016. “Symposium: Data Access and Research Transparency (DA-RT).” Comparative Politics Newsletter 26(1): 10–64.Google Scholar
Hahn, Oliver, and Stalph, Florian, eds. 2018. Digital Investigative Journalism: Data, Visual Analytics and Innovative Methodologies in International Reporting. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ishiyama, John. 2014. “Replication, Research Transparency, and Journal Publications: Individualism, Community Models, and the Future of Replication Studies.” PS: Political Science & Politics 47(1): 78–83.Google Scholar
Karcher, Sebastian, and Weber, Nicholas. 2019. “Annotation for Transparent Inquiry: Transparent Data and Analysis for Qualitative Research.” IASSIST Quarterly 43(2). Retrieved March 6, 2020 (https://doi.org/10.29173/iq959).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Key, Ellen M. 2016. “How Are We Doing? Data Access and Replication in Political Science.” PS: Political Science & Politics 49(2): 268–72.Google Scholar
King, Gary. 1995. “Replication, Replication.” PS: Political Science & Politics 28(3): 444–52.Google Scholar
Lasswell, Harold Dwight. 1950. Politics: Who Gets What, When, How. New York: P. Smith.Google Scholar
Lieberman, Evan S. 2010. “Bridging the Qualitative-Quantitative Divide: Best Practices in the Development of Historically Oriented Replication Databases.” Annual Review of Political Science 13(1): 37–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lupia, Arthur, and Elman, Colin. 2014. “Openness in Political Science: Data Access and Research Transparency: Introduction.” PS: Political Science & Politics 47(1): 19–42.Google Scholar
Meier, Kenneth J. 1995. “Replication: A View from the Streets.” PS: Political Science & Politics 28(3): 456–59.Google Scholar
Moravcsik, Andrew. 2014. “Trust, but Verify: The Transparency Revolution and Qualitative International Relations.” Security Studies 23(4): 663–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Musgrave, Paul, and Karcher, Sebastian. 2018. “Seven Reasons We Use Annotation for Transparent Inquiry (ATI).” Duck of Minerva. Retrieved March 27, 2020 (https://duckofminerva.com/2018/05/seven-reasons-we-use-annotation-for-transparent-inquiry-ati.html).Google Scholar
Ricks, Jacob I., and Liu, Amy H.. 2018. “Process-Tracing Research Designs: A Practical Guide.” PS: Political Science & Politics 51(4): 842–46.Google Scholar
Tripp, Aili Mari. 2018. “Transparency and Integrity in Conducting Field Research on Politics in Challenging Contexts.” Perspectives on Politics 16(3): 728–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Grossman and Pedahzur Supplementary Materials

Grossman and Pedahzur Supplementary Materials

Download Grossman and Pedahzur Supplementary Materials(PDF)
PDF 427.3 KB
Supplementary material: Link

Grossman and Pedahzur Dataset

Dataset

https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/VXZZ0J
Link