/preregister — Preregistration Document Generator

Produce a registry-ready preregistration document. The user uploads it to a real registry (OSF / AsPredicted / AEA RCT Registry) — this skill writes the prose and structure, it does not submit anywhere.

Why preregister

Preregistration is a written commitment to your hypotheses, design, and analysis plan before you see the data (or, for observational analyses, before you analyse the realised outcome). It separates confirmatory tests from exploratory tests and protects you from p-hacking, HARKing, and forking-paths. Different fields use different registries:

• Political science, psychology, broad social science → OSF (osf.io/registries) is the default. AsPredicted (aspredicted.org) is a popular short form for experiments.
• Economics field experiments → AEA RCT Registry (socialscienceregistry.org) is mandatory for AEA journal submission since 2018.
• Public health / clinical trials → ClinicalTrials.gov or ISRCTN (NOT covered by this skill — use the trial-registry's own template).

When to use

• Before launching an experiment (lab, field, or survey).
• Before collecting observational data on a target population for a specific RQ.
• Before analysing data you have access to but haven't yet examined for the focal hypothesis.
• During R&R when a referee asks for a written preanalysis plan.