Many people talk about preregistration, but I'm not sure it would result in the hoped benefits.
What I predict would happen:
- either lots of studies are allowed to preregister, most of which cannot reject the null hypothesis. You end up with a lot of "boring" null-result papers in those high-profile journals that nobody gets excited about and nobody gets promoted for and no media coverage happens, bad marketing for universities and research centers.
- or there would be a strict filter for the pre-registration, so that researchers cannot chase their gut intuitions, some authority would need to approve the study even before it's done. This hinders research and hinders the dissemination of truly unexpected discoveries.
The human incentives are way deeper than any one solution could touch on. The whole science funding structure requires flashy and sexy results that are just not possible to produce on that scale.
> or there would be a strict filter for the pre-registration, so that researchers cannot chase their gut intuitions, some authority would need to approve the study even before it's done
I see two things going on here.
Having additional 'oversight' for the scientific validity of a planned experiment, is presumably a good thing.
I don't see that it would be necessary to set out to prevent researchers investigating their intuitions.
What I predict would happen: - either lots of studies are allowed to preregister, most of which cannot reject the null hypothesis. You end up with a lot of "boring" null-result papers in those high-profile journals that nobody gets excited about and nobody gets promoted for and no media coverage happens, bad marketing for universities and research centers.
- or there would be a strict filter for the pre-registration, so that researchers cannot chase their gut intuitions, some authority would need to approve the study even before it's done. This hinders research and hinders the dissemination of truly unexpected discoveries.
The human incentives are way deeper than any one solution could touch on. The whole science funding structure requires flashy and sexy results that are just not possible to produce on that scale.