Building a collaborative Psychological Science: Lessons learned from ManyBabies 1.

Area of Science:

• Developmental Psychology
• Infancy Research
• Open Science Practices

Background:

• Infancy research often requires large sample sizes, posing recruitment challenges for individual laboratories.
• The ManyBabies initiative was established to overcome these limitations through large-scale, collaborative research projects.
• Open Science principles are central to ManyBabies' mission to enhance transparency and reproducibility.

Purpose of the Study:

• To report on the first ManyBabies project (ManyBabies 1), focusing on infant-directed speech preference.
• To share lessons learned from coordinating a large-scale, multi-lab research collaboration.
• To outline the vision for the role of large-scale collaborations in advancing developmental science.

Main Methods:

• Coordinated experimental research across over 70 laboratories with more than 100 researchers.
• Developed and implemented a standardized research protocol for data collection.
• Employed collaborative workflows for data analysis and project management.

Main Results:

• Successfully scaled experimental research for a large international collaboration.
• Identified key successes and challenges in protocol implementation, data analysis, and funding acquisition.
• Documented diverse researcher experiences within the collaborative framework.

Conclusions:

• Large-scale collaborations are vital for addressing complex questions in infancy research.
• The ManyBabies model provides a framework for effective multi-lab coordination and Open Science.
• Lessons learned can inform best practices for future large-scale collaborations in psychology, promoting growth and diversity.