Using a Novel Cross-cultural Platform to Train Social and Behavioral Sciences Undergraduates as Emerging Leaders in Best Research Practices

This project aims to serve the national interest by training undergraduate students in the social and behavioral sciences to become emerging leaders in best research practices through engagement in cross-cultural collaboration and adoption of cutting-edge psychological research practices. This project will enhance the quality of psychological science research, as well as increase access for a broad range of undergraduate student researchers through a one-day conference incorporating a unique platform: Network for International Collaborative Exchange (NICE). NICE will serve as an ideal teaching tool as it incorporates evidence-based practices proven to substantially improve research quality, while facilitating crowd-based, cross-cultural collaboration that supports increased undergraduate participation in research. The project will serve as an important tool to help undergraduates develop critical skills needed to conduct high-quality research and contribute to research projects of global scale that significantly advance psychology as a science. The overarching project goal is to educate and train students in the social and behavioral sciences to become emerging leaders equipped to begin adopting best research practices with the support of the NICE platform. Towards this goal the project team will pursue three specific objectives through a one-day conference and broad post-conference access to the conference materials. First, is introducing attendees through keynote speakers and panel discussions to ongoing discussion around research issues in psychological science including the replication crisis and Open Science methods. Second, is equipping attendees with knowledge and tools to address existing research issues by providing hands-on training workshops about the NICE platform and train-the-trainer sessions to give faculty and graduate student mentors the tools to teach the platform at their home institutions. Third, is supporting future research collaborations within the NICE framework by offering opportunities for networking and training on the crowd-based platform. The workshop’s impact will be evaluated, and the outcomes will be disseminated widely, including through the Research Advisory Committee pages on Psi Chi’s website and on the Open Science Framework website. Funding for this conference is from the NSF IUSE: EDU Program which supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.