Pre-registration for empirical research and its practices: A tutorial on Open Science Framework

Abstract

In the midst of the current reproducibility crisis in psychology, pre-registration is considered a remedy to increase the reliability of psychological research. However, because pre-registration is an unconventional practice for most psychological researchers, they find it difficult to introduce pre-registration into their studies. To promote pre-registration, this article provides a detailed and practical step-by-step tutorial for beginners on pre-registration with Open Science Framework. Furthermore, a typical example what beginners might experience and ways to resolve such issues are provided as supplementary material. Finally, we discuss various issues related to pre-registration, such as transparent research, registered reports, preprints, and open science education. We hope that this article will contribute to the improvement of reproducible psychological science in Japan.