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APA Open Guide

3 Preregistration

Preregistration is a process of planning a study and then making those plans transparently available in a read-only, time-stamped repository. A preregistration may contain study hypotheses, design, analysis, along with all related materials prepared in advance of the study (protocols, measures, code), depending on a researcher's goals. Studies involving the collection of new data may be preregistered, as can analysis of secondary data. A registration refers to the entry of a study in a publicly accessible study registry (see Appendix C.1). A protocol refers to detailed plans outlining study methods, analysis plans and/or theoretical predictions.

When editing or reviewing a study that has been preregistered, here are a few things to consider. First, make sure that the study provides a link to the registry where it was preregistered. Self-hosted documents are not recommended. Second, the preregistration should be time-stamped and read-only. Finally, if resources permit, compare the study as reported in the final paper to the preregistered plan. If deviations from the plan have happened (which is typical), make sure that the deviations are transparently reported in the final paper so that readers can evaluate the consequences of the changes. Check to see if all planned analyses are reported in the paper, regardless of statistical significance of the outcome.

3.1 Checklist

  • Does the TOP statement have the correct link to a publicly accessible version of the preregistration? (or a statement that preregistration is not available or N/A)
  • Does the TOP statement specify whether the preregistration covers study design and/or analysis plan?
  • Is the preregistration hosted on a persistent archive? (see Appendix C.1)
  • Is the preregistration time-stamped?
  • Are all deviations from the plan transparently reported?
  • Are all planned analyses are reported in the paper, regardless of statistical significance of the outcome?
  • Are all unplanned analyses transparently marked as exploratory?

3.2 Resources

  • A template for preregistration of quantitative research in psychology: Report of the Joint Psychological Societies Preregistration Task Force (Bosnjak et al., 2021)
  • Preregistration of secondary data analysis: A template and tutorial (Akker et al., 2021)
  • Recommendations for increasing the transparency of analysis of preexisting data sets (Weston et al., 2019)
  • OSF preregistration forms and templates