Pre-register your study and analysis plan
In some areas of research, notably in the health and psychological sciences but also in social sciences, practices are becoming established for the registration of study hypotheses and protocols in advance of undertaking the research.
In a preregistration researchers specify, in as much detail as they can, their plans for a study (e.g., number and nature of subjects, stimulus materials, procedures, measures, rules for excluding data, plans for data analysis, predictions/hypotheses, etc.) and they post those plans in a time-stamped, locked file in an online repository that can be accessed by editors and reviewers (and, ultimately, by readers).
Pregistrations can be embargoed (such that only those invited to view them can do so), although some repositories limit the duration of embargoes.
Why Preregister?
- Makes your science better by increasing the credibility of your results
- Allows you to stake your claim to your ideas earlier
- It's an easy way to plan for better research
Preregistration does not require every detail be specified in advance; researchers can leave some methodological/analytical details to be decided as the project goes along. Also, researchers can deviate from the preregistration plan whenever they judge it appropriate and as long as this is clearly explained and acknowledged in the final publication. For example, if the data turned out to have a non-normal distribution then the researcher might transform the scores before analyzing them. Or if the data revealed an unexpected pattern the researcher might decide to conduct an unplanned statistical test. In such cases the researcher would explain in the manuscript why the unplanned transformation or test was deemed appropriate.
The preregistration for an exploratory study might be brief, but it would nonetheless have value as an explicit record of which if any aspects of the study were specified a priori. A researcher can run hypothesis testing that is pre-registered and then use the same dataset for exploratory data analysis if each step of the analysis is correctly identified and reported. A thorough preregistration promotes transparency and openness and protects researchers from suspicions of inflation bias, also known as “p-hacking” or “selective reporting. This occurs when researchers try out several statistical analyses and/or data eligibility specifications and then selectively report those that produce significant results.
Where and how can I preregister my studies?
You can preregister your study plans in many ways, all of which are accessible and free.
Sites like AsPredicted.org make preregistration quick and easy using a Web form that works well for many simple experimental designs.
The Open Science Framework (OSF) allows for both simple preregistration and complete specification of all aspects of your study — you can upload files, scripts, images, and so on. The OSF site provides a detailed example of how to do a preregistration.
That example uses a template (OSF provides a number of those), but you don’t have to use one. In fact, you can type your plans in a Word file, upload that to OSF, and preregister it.
You can use these tools to create a view-only link or a PDF that allows an anonymous reviewer to see your plans.
Preregistration is new to many researchers and the Center for Open Science provides a range of helpful resources on the topic including FAQs.
Further Resources on pre-registration and registered reports
Pre-registration and Registered Reports: a Primer from UKRN lists resources helpful to learning more. The primer includes links to available pre-registration temples by main purpose and target discipline/area.
