Preregistration of Randomized Controlled Trials
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6448719 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Bryan G Cook (0000-0001-9294-0873, Curriculum, Instruction, and Special Education, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA, corresponding author), Vivian C Wong (0000-0003-1037-1334, Education Leadership, Foundations, and Policy, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA), Jesse Irvan Fleming (0000-0001-7438-0374, Curriculum, Instruction, and Special Education, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA), Emily J Solari (0000-0002-8498-9834, Curriculum, Instruction, and Special Education, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 35 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 277-286 |
| Publication date | 2022-08-22 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Research on Social Work Practice (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1049-7315 • E-ISSN: 1552-7581 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/10497315221121117 |
| OpenAlex | W4292575429 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 29 |
Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are designed to answer causal questions with internal validity. However, threats to internal validity exist for even well-designed RCTs. In this article, we focus on how preregistration can help address some specific threats to internal validity related to the reporting of results. Preregistration involves researchers publicly posting critical decision points in a study prior to conducting it for the purpose of making researcher plans transparent, making deviations from those plans discoverable, and improving the validity of tests of significance. We provide a brief overview of null-hypothesis significance testing; consider how questionable research practices (e.g., p-hacking) and conducting data-dependent analysis threaten the validity of significance tests; discuss how preregistration can help address these threats and how preregistration works for RCTs; note limitations and challenges to preregistration; and provide recommendations for increasing the use of preregistration by researchers conducting RCTs in social work, education, and related fields
External validity · Internal validity · Medical education · Randomized controlled trial · Advanced Causal Inference Techniques · Applied Psychology · Medicine · Meta-analysis and systematic reviews · Psychology · Qualitative Comparative Analysis Research · Social Psychology
Measuring the Prevalence of Questionable Research Practices With Incentives for Truth Telling
The preregistration revolution
The Meaningfulness of Effect Sizes in Psychological Research
The Statistical Crisis in Science
Training, Wages, and Sample Selection
Degrees of Freedom in Planning, Running, Analyzing, and Reporting Psychological Studies
Scientific Utopia
Badges to Acknowledge Open Practices
False-Positive Psychology
Questionable Research Practices Revisited
Outcome-Reporting Bias in Education Research
Both Questionable and Open Research Practices Are Prevalent in Education Research
Antifragile
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |