Preregistration Guide & Resources
Created by Alex Lorson on Aug 4, 2021
Table of contents
What is a preregistration?
Preregistration is the practice of registering the hypotheses, methods, and/or analyses of a scientific study before it is conducted and involves creating a time-stamped record of the study and analysis plan. So when you preregister your research, you’re simply specifying your research plan in advance of your study and submitting it to a registry (OSF/As.Predicted).
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Preregistration separates hypothesis-generating (exploratory) from hypothesis-testing (confirmatory) research. Both are important. We can think of exploratory and confirmatory as different parts of the research cycle, in which researchers develop hypotheses in the exploratory phase and become more confident in the veracity of those hypotheses in the confirmatory phase. But the same data cannot be used to generate and test a hypothesis, which can happen unintentionally and reduce the credibility of your results. Addressing this problem through planning improves the quality and transparency of your research.
Thus, preregistration enables confirmatory hypothesis testing, which allows you to have a higher level of confidence in your findings and helps others who may wish to build on it.
| Confirmatory Research | Exploratory Research |
|---|---|
| Hypothesis testing | Hypothesis generating |
| Data-independent | Data-dependent |
| Minimizes false positives | Minimizes false negatives in order to find unexpected discoveries |
| P-values retain diagnostic value | P-values lose diagnostic value |
| Inferences may be drawn to wider population | Not useful for making inferences to any wider population |
What is the Open Science Framework (OSF)?
OSF is a free, open source web application that connects and supports your workflow. You can use OSF to collaborate, document, archive, share, and register your research projects, materials, and data. OSF is the product of the non-profit Center for Open Science. It is also very easy to integrate your OSF projects with GitHub or Dropbox. You can learn more about OSF here and by browsing through their website.
Starting with your preregistration
OSF preregistration
- You have to register an account at OSF to use the OSF registry.
- You can start a preregistration either here or by creating a new project and selecting “registrations” (on the top) and then “new registration” (top right corner).
- For more information on how to create a preregistration, see here.
- When starting a preregistration you can choose between different types of preregistrations depending on your preferences and what type of study you want to preregister (OSF/ As.Predicted/ Qualitative data preregistration)
As.Predicted preregistration
- You can preregister your study in form of the As.Predicted preregistration with the OSF registry, however, this comes with OSF specific restrictions. On OSF preregistrations can be public or embargoed for up to four years. Embargoed registrations will be made public automatically when the embargo expires. As.Predicted preregistrations can remain private, see here on why that is.
- You can start an As.Predicted preregistration by going here and clicking on “create a new pre-registration”. You are then asked for your email address to create your account.
Further Resources
- For an overview, further resources and FAQs on preregistrations go here.
- You can also find a number of useful templates and examples here and here.
- Can I make changes to my preregistration? - yes
- Can I use a pre-existing data set for my preregistration? - perhaps
Advanced Topics
Registered Reports
You could think about Registered Reports as peer-reviewed preregistrations.
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The registered report format requires you to submit a description of your study methods and analyses prior to data collection similar to the ordinary preregistration. However, your method and analysis plan will get peer-reviewed (Stage 1 peer review). If your method and analysis plan is accepted, the publication of your findings is provisionally guaranteed. After having conducted your study, your research report is submitted to Stage 2 peer review. Stage 2 peer review confirms that your actual research methods are consistent with the preregistered protocol. Studies that pass Stage 2 peer review are then published regardless of whether the results are confirming or disconfirming, significant or nonsignificant.
You can find out more about registered reports and participating journals here.
This link will give you more information on how to start with your registered report.
Acknowledgement
Most of the content is adapted from the Center of Open Science.