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Preregistration creates a time-stamped record of important research decisions before the relevant results are known. Its main value is making it easier to distinguish advance plans from decisions influenced by the data.
Read Guide →Preregistration records what you planned before seeing the relevant results; it does not require you to follow a flawed or impractical plan forever. Changes can be legitimate when they are disclosed, justified, and interpreted appropriately.
Read Guide →Many parts of a study can still change after preregistration, from recruitment and procedures to exclusions and analyses. What matters is why and when the change occurred, whether the results influenced it, and how transparently it is reported.
Read Guide →A protocol describes how you plan to conduct a study; preregistration creates a time-stamped record of research decisions before the relevant results are known. The same document can sometimes serve both purposes, but the concepts are not interchangeable.
Read Guide →Preregistration records a study plan before the relevant results are known. A Registered Report adds prospective journal peer review and in-principle acceptance, making publication less dependent on how the results turn out.
Read Guide →Preregistration can be valuable beyond conventional experiments, but not every study benefits in the same way. Its usefulness depends on which decisions can meaningfully be specified in advance and what transparency the advance record adds.
Read Guide →Qualitative research can be preregistered without pretending that its design is fixed or hypothesis-driven. A useful qualitative preregistration documents the study's starting point while preserving legitimate methodological adaptation.
Read Guide →A deviation from preregistration is not automatically a research mistake. What matters is why the change occurred, when it was made, whether the results influenced it, and whether it is reported transparently.
Read Guide →A useful deviation report tells readers what was preregistered, what actually happened, why the change occurred, and when the decision was made. The goal is to make differences easy to find and interpret rather than forcing readers to reconstruct them.
Read Guide →Preregistration can make important research decisions more transparent and encourage advance planning, but it cannot turn weak methods into strong ones. A preregistered study still needs to be evaluated on its design, measurement, sampling, analysis, execution, and interpretation.
Read Guide →You can sometimes change a research design after data collection has started, but the timing, reason, consequences, and documentation of the change matter. The key is to adapt transparently without quietly redefining the study around what the emerging data appear to show.
Read Guide →The people you can recruit are not always the people you originally intended to study. Before broadening eligibility or changing recruitment settings, determine whether the accessible population can still provide evidence relevant to the original research question.
Read Guide →A measure that performs poorly after data collection begins can threaten the link between your data and the construct you intended to study. Before modifying or replacing it, determine what is actually failing and what any change would mean for data already collected.
Read Guide →A method can be implemented perfectly and still be wrong for the question it is supposed to answer. When that mismatch becomes apparent, reassess what evidence the question requires before deciding whether to adapt the method, narrow the question, or redesign the study.
Read Guide →Not every change to a research sample creates a different study. The critical issue is whether the revised sample still provides evidence about essentially the same population and research question, or whether the change alters what the study is actually about.
Read Guide →Not every tiny departure from a research plan deserves equal space in a publication, but deviations that affect interpretation, participant protections, planned analyses, or confidence in the findings generally should be visible. The goal is to let readers understand the study that was actually conducted.
Read Guide →Every real study operates under constraints, so some methodological compromise is unavoidable. The critical question is whether the remaining design can still support the claims you intend to make after those compromises are considered together.
Read Guide →Research, inquiry, and investigation all involve seeking answers, but the terms emphasize different aspects of that process. Understanding their overlap helps clarify when asking questions or investigating a problem becomes formal research.
Read Guide →Basic research seeks understanding without a specific practical application as its primary aim, while applied research is directed toward a specific practical objective. The distinction is useful, but many studies sit closer to a continuum than a clean either-or divide.
Read Guide →A research gap describes what existing knowledge does not adequately answer, while a research problem defines the specific issue your study will investigate. Learn how the two concepts connect without treating them as interchangeable.
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