Offtopic questions about things unrelated to open science as a subject, but are part of an open science study

Question

Related to this question:

Is this question off-topic?

There are a few questions on the site that are about things unrelated to open science (IMO), but are part of an open science project. Here are some examples:

How to get illegal substances for open science study?

Where to get mice/rats (live specimens) for open science project?

Are there any limitations for independent open studies on live insect specimens?

And there are some more. The fact that it is an "independent open study" doesn't change a thing. Each of the questions has an answer, but it is unrelated to open science. You could ask "How do I use a pipette?", and then you could ask "How do I use a pipette in an independent open study?" and it would not matter. That question will not qualify to be on this SE site.

What do you think?

This post has been migrated from the Open Science private beta at StackExchange (A51.SE)

Answer 1

I agree, these questions have little to do with open science. They are about how a member of public can conduct scientific research.

Whether or not the person conducts their research in the open is incidental.

e.g. "How to get illegal substances for a secret science study?" would most likely get similar responses.

This post has been migrated from the Open Science private beta at StackExchange (A51.SE)