The benefits of preregistration for hypothesis-driven bilingualism research

Abstract

Preregistration is an open science practice that requires the specification of research hypotheses and analysis plans before the data are inspected. Here, we discuss the benefits of preregistration for hypothesis-driven, confirmatory bilingualism research. Using examples from psycholinguistics and bilingualism, we illustrate how non-peer reviewed preregistrations can serve to implement a clean distinction between hypothesis testing and data exploration. This distinction helps researchers avoid casting post-hoc hypotheses and analyses as confirmatory ones. We argue that, in keeping with current best practices in the experimental sciences, preregistration, along with sharing data and code, should be an integral part of hypothesis-driven bilingualism research.

Whose open science are we talking about? From open science in psychology to open science in applied linguistics

“…Preregistration is intended to reduce the potential for researchers to engage in questionable research practices, such as p -hacking and HARKing. The necessity and benefit of minimising bias in hypothesis-driven research are certainly not limited to psychology, and arguments in favour of this initiative have been made in our field too (Huensch, in press; Mertzen et al, 2021).…”

The Relationship Between Apathy and Cognitive Impairment Among Hispanic/Latin Americans: A Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Systematic Review

“…Regarding selective reporting for observational studies, many analyses are not preregistered and thus most studies are expected to be determined as unclear risk. With advocacy towards preregistration of analyses, 22-24 we anticipate a higher proportion of low-risk selective reporting determinations when evaluating research in future review papers.…”

Whose open science are we talking about? From open science in psychology to open science in applied linguistics

“…Preregistration is intended to reduce the potential for researchers to engage in questionable research practices, such as p-hacking and HARKing. The necessity and benefit of minimising bias in hypothesis-driven research are certainly not limited to psychology, and arguments in favour of this initiative have been made in our field too (Huensch, in press;Mertzen et al, 2021).…”