Researcher Degree of Freedom

Researcher Degrees of Freedom refer to the choices researchers make during a study that can influence its outcomes, such as selecting which data to analyze, how to analyze it, or which results to highlight. These decisions, often made after seeing the data, can unintentionally or intentionally lead to biased findings or false positives. Managing these degrees of freedom involves pre-registering analysis plans and adhering to transparent, consistent methods to ensure the results are trustworthy and not shaped by selective reporting.