What Is Preregistration, Anyway?

The Editors of Psychological Science have been encouraging research psychologists to preregister their research plans before they begin collecting data (or, at least, before they see their data).

But what does preregistration actually entail?

As Psychological Science Editor in Chief D. Stephen Lindsay explains, it involves researchers specifying, in as much detail as they can, their plans for a study (number and nature of subjects, stimulus materials, procedures, measures, rules for excluding data, plans for data analysis, predictions/hypotheses, etc.) and posting those plans in a time-stamped, locked file in an online repository.

In a new statement in the Psychological Science submissions guidelines, Lindsay provides a comprehensive explanation of preregistration, and how the journal is recognizing authors who follow this open-science practice.

 


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