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Category: Project

Description: The preregistration of research protocols and analysis plans is a main reform innovation to counteract confirmation bias in the social and behavioral sciences. While theoretical reasons to preregister are frequently discussed in the literature, the individually experienced advantages and disadvantages of this method remain largely unexplored. The goal of this exploratory study was to identify the benefits and challenges of preregistration from the researcher's perspective. To this aim, we surveyed 355 researchers, 299 of whom had used preregistration in their own work. The researchers indicated the experienced or expected effects of preregistration on their workflow. The results show that experiences and expectations are mostly positive. Researchers in our sample believe that implementing preregistration improves or is likely to improve the quality of their projects. Specifically, researchers reported that preregistration has benefited or is likely to benefit their analysis plan, research hypothesis, and experimental design, and that preregistration makes it easier to avoid questionable research practices. Criticism of preregistration is primarily related to the increase in work-related stress and the overall duration of the project. The majority of researchers with experience in preregistration reported that the benefits outweigh the challenges. However, the majority of researchers without preregistration would not consider preregistration for future projects or recommend the practice to colleagues. Our interpretation of the results is that beside its original aim, preregistration can have a number of positive side-effects as it adds an extra preparatory step in researchers' workflow, thus requiring researchers to think through the theoretical and practical aspects of their project.