Open Science Promotion and Advocacy for Research Knowledge (OSPARK) Research Protocol

The Open Science Promotion and Advocacy for Research Knowledge (OSPARK) Bootcamp aims to upskill open science advocates in digital marketing and communications, with the intention of making their advocacy more effective. This protocol describes three studies which support the development and evaluation of OSPARK training. The research project will investigate how open science advocates engage in outreach activities, the barriers which limit their engagement, their perceived training needs, and their knowledge and confidence regarding outreach activities. These research questions will be investigated through study 1, a qualitative study in which participants will take part in discussion groups asking open ended questions about their open science outreach, and study 2, a larger scale mixed-methods survey. This project will also evaluate the OSPARK Bootcamp’s impact on knowledge, confidence, and self-efficacy regarding outreach activities through study 3, a pretest/posttest questionnaire completed by OSPARK Bootcamp attendees.