Preregistration

Preregistration of Randomized Controlled Trials

Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are designed to answer causal questions with internal validity. However, threats to internal validity exist for even well-designed RCTs. In this article, we focus on how preregistration can help address some …

Preregistration of secondary data analysis: A template and tutorial

Preregistration has been lauded as one of the solutions to the so-called ‘crisis of confidence’ in the social sciences and has therefore gained popularity in recent years. However, the current guidelines for preregistration have been developed …

Preregistration of Studies with Existing Data

Preregistration of research plans is becoming an increasingly popular and common tool to enhance the transparency of a study’s methodology. In a preregistration, researchers document their research plans and register them to a public repository prior …

Preregistration of Study Protocols Is Unlikely to Improve the Yield From Our Science, But Other Strategies Might

A recent workshop focused on the idea that protocols for nonrandomized studies should be registered in advance of their conduct. In reviewing the workshop report and publications citing it, I note a number of unfounded assumptions and little …

Preregistration Overview page

What is Preregistration? When you preregister your research, you're simply specifying your research plan in advance of your study and submitting it to a registry. Preregistration separates hypothesis-generating (exploratory) from hypothesis-testing …

Preregistration specificity & adherence: A review of preregistered gambling studies & cross-disciplinary comparison

Study preregistration is one of several “open science” practices (e.g., open data, preprints) that researchers use to improve the transparency and rigour of their research. As more researchers adopt preregistration as a regular research practice, …

Preregistration, Replication, and Nonexperimental Studies

In last month’s column, I worried about whether encouraging us to preregister our hypotheses and analysis plan before running studies would stifle discovery. I came to the conclusion that it needn’t — but that we need to guard against letting the …

Preregistration: Definition, Advantages, Disadvantages, and How It Can Help Against Questionable Research Practices

Questionable research practices (QRPs), such as p-hacking (i.e., the inappropriate manipulation of data analysis to find statistical significance) and post hoc hypothesizing, are threats to the replicability of research findings. One key solution to …

Preregistration: Practical Considerations for Speech, Language, and Hearing Research

Purpose: In the last decade, psychology and other sciences have implemented numerous reforms to improve the robustness of our research, many of which are based on increasing transparency throughout the research process. Among these reforms is the …

Promises and Perils of Pre-analysis Plans

The purpose of this paper is to help think through the advantages and costs of rigorous pre-specification of statistical analysis plans in economics. A pre-analysis plan pre-specifies in a precise way the analysis to be run before examining the data. …