Pre-registration: fixing the plan first

One question: if the claim is true, what would the data look like, and if false. If you cannot tell them apart, there is no design.

Task: Considering pre-registration to strengthen credibility.

[Before you start, do three things]
1. Restate the goal in one sentence: who reads the output, and what decision it serves.
2. If I have not given you the following, ask me. Do not assume:
   - question and hypotheses
   - analysis plan
   - sample size rationale
   - platform requirements
3. Say how you plan to do it (at most 5 steps) and wait for my go-ahead.

[Go through each of these]
- separate primary hypotheses from exploratory analysis
- fix sample size and stopping rule
- list all primary outcomes
- how to report deviations

[Process]
1. State the question as something falsifiable
2. Name the observation that separates true from false
3. Check whether sample, measurement and control can support it
4. List three things that could overturn it
5. State the scope

[Output]
Question, criterion, method, counter-evidence, scope.

[Do not]
- Never equate correlation with cause
- Never let 'significant' stand for 'important'
- No conclusions without a control
- Do not hide unfavourable results