Which statement captures the benefits of pre-registration?

Which statement captures the benefits of pre-registration?

• A. It increases questionable practices.
• B. It reduces questionable practices, promotes transparency, and enhances reproducibility.
• C. It eliminates the need for data sharing.
• D. It guarantees significant results.

Answer: (B)

Pre-registration commits researchers to a study plan before collecting data, including hypotheses, methods, planned sample size, and primary analyses. This reduces questionable practices by limiting researcher degrees of freedom in data analysis, lowering the chances of p-hacking and HARKing. It promotes transparency because the plan is recorded and often publicly accessible, making deviations visible. It enhances reproducibility since others can follow the exact plan and compare preregistered analyses to what was reported. It does not guarantee significant results, nor does it eliminate the need for data sharing; those are separate issues. So the statement that describes these benefits is the best choice.

Pre-registration commits researchers to a study plan before collecting data, including hypotheses, methods, planned sample size, and primary analyses. This reduces questionable practices by limiting researcher degrees of freedom in data analysis, lowering the chances of p-hacking and HARKing. It promotes transparency because the plan is recorded and often publicly accessible, making deviations visible. It enhances reproducibility since others can follow the exact plan and compare preregistered analyses to what was reported. It does not guarantee significant results, nor does it eliminate the need for data sharing; those are separate issues. So the statement that describes these benefits is the best choice.