Estimating social bias in data sharing behaviours: an open science experiment
Postdoc Claudia Acciai and Associate Professor Mathias Wullum Nielsen have published the article “Estimating social bias in data sharing behaviours: an open science experiment” in Scientific Data.
The article is written in collaboration with Professor Jesper W. Schneider from the Department of Political Science, Aarhus University.
Through a preregistered, randomized audit experiment (N = 1,634), the authors test possible ethnic, gender and status-related bias in scientists’ data-sharing willingness.
814 (54%) authors of papers where data were indicated to be ‘available upon request’ responded to the data requests, and 226 (14%) either shared or indicated willingness to share all or some data.
While the preregistered hypotheses regarding bias in data-sharing willingness were not confirmed, study documents systematically lower response rates for data requests made by putatively Chinese treatments compared to putatively Anglo-Saxon treatments.
Further analysis indicate a theoretically plausible heterogeneity in the causal effect of ethnicity on data-sharing. Based on interaction analyses, the authors find indications of lower responsiveness and data-sharing willingness towards male but not female data requestors with Chinese names.
These disparities, which likely arise from stereotypic beliefs about male Chinese requestors’ trustworthiness and deservingness, impede scientific progress by preventing the free circulation of knowledge.
Read the full article (open access): Estimating social bias in data sharing behaviours: an open science experiment | Scientific Data (nature.com)