The Open Empirical Cycle for Hypothesis Evaluation in Psychology

In the last decade it has become clear that replicability of empirical psychological researchshould be better. Open science practices aim to enhance the transparency of researchthereby both enabling others to reproduce the results presented in a paper and increasingthe replicability of these results using new data. Examples of these practices includepreregistration, publication of data and analyses, open access publications, and replicationresearch.Although open science practices are gaining traction, they have rarely been placed ina broader epistemological context. To address this shortcoming, this paper introduces theopen empirical cycle. It draws upon De Groot’s empirical cycle, a model of cumulativeknowledge generation via scientific research. The open empirical cycle is a pragmatic guidefor researchers that includes and links to open science practices. Adhering to the openempirical cycle, if only partly, will structure the scientific workflow and create awareness ofthe adverse consequences of deviations. Following the open empirical cycle increases thetransparency, quality, trustworthiness, and replicability of research.The open empirical cycle presented in this paper focusses on hypothesis evaluationusing quantitative data in psychology. However, it can straightforwardly be applied tohypothesis evaluation in other social and behavioral sciences and biomedical sciences. Itbrings together ideas from de Groot’s empirical cycle, traditional, and open research steps,key references, and open science tools, thereby providing a pragmatic, contemporary, andstructured approach to hypothesis evaluation.