AN EXAMINATION ON THE ADVANTAGES OF OPEN DATA SHARING IN BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE RESEARCH
Open Access
- Author:
- Lee, Matthew
- Area of Honors:
- Science
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Dr. Rick Owen Gilmore, Thesis Supervisor
Henriette Evans, Thesis Honors Advisor - Keywords:
- open
data
sharing
behavioral
neuroscience - Abstract:
- The importance of data sharing among scientific investigators is becoming more recognized in today’s research society. Open data sharing has enabled the greatest possible use of data and has helped increase the rate of scientific discovery. Sharing data allows researchers to have their data validated, has let researchers support each other’s investigations, and allows data to be used to its maximum potential. With that being said, there are obstacles standing in way of the widespread use of data sharing, especially in the behavioral neuroscience field. These obstacles include: a lack of standard tools for neuro-scientific data sharing, a lack of standard protocol to prepare data for sharing, and little incentive for researchers to share their data. This is troubling because the computational, neuroimaging, and behavioral methods used in behavioral neuroscience could be improved to enhance the rate and quality of research in the field. This thesis will highlight today’s most common open data sharing initiatives in the behavioral neuroscience field for functional neuroimaging and video data and note the benefits and drawbacks of each. Furthermore, this thesis will explain what is still needed to enhance data sharing in the behavioral neuroscience field and will incorporate recent open data sharing initiatives in other fields. Lastly, the direction in which open data sharing (in a broad sense) is heading will be observed. In whole, my thesis is an examination of the advantages of open data sharing in behavioral neuroscience research.