Empowering Practitioners: Embracing Transparency in Research for Better Therapy Outcomes

In the realm of empirical legal research, transparency is becoming a crucial component to ensure the credibility and reproducibility of studies. The study titled "The transparency of quantitative empirical legal research published in highly ranked law journals (2018–2020): an observational study" sheds light on the current state of transparency practices and offers valuable insights that can be applied across various fields, including special education and online therapy services.As a practitioner in the field of online therapy, especially within a company like TinyEYE that provides services to schools, embracing transparency in your research and practice can significantly enhance the quality and trustworthiness of your work. Here are some key takeaways from the study and how you can implement them to improve your skills and outcomes:

1. Share Your Data and Materials

One of the major findings of the study is the low level of data availability in published research. Only 19% of articles stated that their data are available, and even fewer provided access to analytic scripts. For practitioners, this means:

• Make your data and materials available to others in the field. This could involve sharing anonymized client data, therapy protocols, and outcome measures.
• Use repositories like Open Science Framework or GitHub to store and share your data and materials.
• Ensure that your data is well-documented so that others can understand and replicate your work.

2. Preregister Your Studies

Preregistration involves posting your research protocols and hypotheses before data collection. The study found that only 3% of articles were preregistered. Preregistering your studies can:

• Enhance the credibility of your research by reducing the risk of selective reporting and data dredging.
• Provide a clear roadmap of your research process, which can be particularly useful in therapy research where outcomes can be highly variable.
• Use platforms like AsPredicted or the Open Science Framework for preregistration.

3. Increase Article Accessibility

The study highlights that article accessibility is high among empirical legal research, with 86% of articles being publicly available. For practitioners:

• Ensure that your research and findings are accessible to other professionals, educators, and stakeholders. Publish in open-access journals or share your work on platforms like ResearchGate.
• Consider writing summaries or blog posts about your research to reach a wider audience.

4. Provide Clear Conflict of Interest and Funding Statements

Transparency about conflicts of interest and funding sources is essential. The study found that only 11% of articles included a conflicts of interest statement, and 40% included a funding statement. To improve transparency:

• Always disclose any potential conflicts of interest in your research and practice.
• Provide clear statements about the sources of funding for your work.

5. Encourage Replication Studies

Replication is a cornerstone of credible research, yet the study found that only 4% of articles were replications. In your practice:

• Encourage and support replication studies of your work. This can help validate your findings and build a stronger evidence base for therapy interventions.
• Collaborate with other practitioners and researchers to replicate and extend your studies.

Conclusion

By adopting these transparency practices, you can enhance the credibility and impact of your work as a practitioner in online therapy. Not only will this improve the quality of your services, but it will also contribute to the broader field of special education and therapy research.To read the original research paper, please follow this link: The transparency of quantitative empirical legal research published in highly ranked law journals (2018–2020): an observational study.