Which practice helps prevent p-hacking and selective reporting in research?

Which practice helps prevent p-hacking and selective reporting in research?

• A. Avoiding preregistration
• B. Preregistration of the study protocol
• C. Publishing only significant results
• D. Hiding data

Answer: (B)

Preregistration of the study protocol helps prevent p-hacking and selective reporting by locking in the research plan before data collection. When researchers specify their hypotheses, primary outcomes, sample size, and the exact analysis methods in advance, there’s a public, time-stamped record of what was planned. This makes it much harder to change analyses or cherry-pick only significant results after seeing the data, because deviations must be disclosed and justified. It also clarifies which results were planned to be confirmatory and which are exploratory, reducing the risk that only favorable findings are reported. In contrast, skipping preregistration, reporting only significant results, or hiding data invites manipulation or selective disclosure, undermining credibility.

Preregistration of the study protocol helps prevent p-hacking and selective reporting by locking in the research plan before data collection. When researchers specify their hypotheses, primary outcomes, sample size, and the exact analysis methods in advance, there’s a public, time-stamped record of what was planned. This makes it much harder to change analyses or cherry-pick only significant results after seeing the data, because deviations must be disclosed and justified. It also clarifies which results were planned to be confirmatory and which are exploratory, reducing the risk that only favorable findings are reported. In contrast, skipping preregistration, reporting only significant results, or hiding data invites manipulation or selective disclosure, undermining credibility.