Preregistration of research for theses – a new standard?

Abstract

The reproducibility crisis is the ongoing methodological crisis, where it is difficult or impossible to reproduce the results of many scientific studies. Because the reproducibility of scientific results is an essential part of science, such failures undermine the credibility of the theories and potentially call into question a substantial part of scientific knowledge. There are several ways to strengthen the reproducibility of results, such as proper reporting and dissemination, e.g., pre-registration of research, registered reports, open data, open code, open research notes, or open access. In this paper, I propose incorporating preregistration into the theses writing process for undergraduate students, which should lead to enhanced reproducibility, transparency, and openness of research results in the context of final theses. Pre-registration is a data-marked, predetermined, read-only research roadmap that, in most cases, is created before the study and published in a public repository. Preregistration increases the credibility, transparency, openness, and robustness of students' results in writing their theses. It also serves as a tremendous educational and communicative element of the thesis writing process that raises the level of student theses and demonstrates a certain level of student knowledge and skills. In this paper, I propose a timeframe for incorporating pre-registration into theses writing processes and discuss the challenges surrounding this process from the perspective of key stakeholders - policymakers, universities, theses supervisors, and students. The article also presents practical advice on where to find support and further guidance on pre-registration aspects. This paper thus pioneers the idea of incorporating preregistration into the normal thesis writing process.