Return of the Research Notebook in Psychology |
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Lab notebooks are widely used or required in most sciences.
Animal labs, experimental sciences, and field work in psychology use lab notebooks.
Many psychologists stopped keeping research notebooks, yet the process is of increasing importance.
Research notebooks are a key step in creating an accountable, useful, and credible science of psychology.
I was consulting with a colleague (a tenured principal investigator) whose lab had an internal disagreement about a research process in a mixed-methods study involving recruitment of teachers. I suggested she consult her lab notebook and the notebooks of her doctoral students to reconcile the disagreement based on what was agreed to at the time of the proposal. She seemed confused. "A what?" A lab or research notebook. "Um...I have never heard of that for psychology or education labs." There was a heavy tint of "OK, boomer" in her response.
I have been inspired by the "Grail Diary" of Professor Henry Walton Jones, Sr., in the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. It's place for recording thoughts, musing, diagrams, and drawings and is ideal for research and discovery.
I am also inspired by Adam Savage's (from Mythbusters) quote, "the difference between screwing around and science is writing it down." I have used digital versions, off-loaded parts to the Center for Open Science site (https://osf.io/); used digital notebooks such as Microsoft Notes, Evernote, Notion, and Anytype; and even used something akin to a bullet journal. Most universities have online lab notebooks that are widely used and nearly always required for wet labs, bench sciences, and engineering. Field workers in archeology, geography, and other fields routinely use paper or tablet notebooks in their work. With all the........