pre-registration

Pre-registration is the process of formally declaring your research plans and hypotheses before starting a study. Researchers outline their methods, expected outcomes, and analysis strategies in advance, making their intentions transparent. This helps prevent bias, increases accountability, and enhances the credibility of the results. By sharing these plans publicly, pre-registration allows others to evaluate the research against the original goals, thereby improving scientific integrity and reproducibility. It’s particularly common in fields like psychology and social sciences, where researchers aim to ensure their findings are robust and trustworthy.