Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are designed to answer causal questions with internal validity. However, threats to internal validity exist for even well-designed RCTs. In this article, we focus on how preregistration can help address some specific threats to internal validity related to the reporting of results. Preregistration involves researchers publicly posting critical decision points in a study prior to conducting it for the purpose of making researcher plans transparent, making deviations from those plans discoverable, and improving the validity of tests of significance. We provide a brief overview of null-hypothesis significance testing; consider how questionable research practices (e.g., p-hacking) and conducting data-dependent analysis threaten the validity of significance tests; discuss how preregistration can help address these threats and how preregistration works for RCTs; note limitations and challenges to preregistration; and provide recommendations for increasing the use of preregistration by researchers conducting RCTs in social work, education, and related fields.

随机对照试验 (RCT) 旨在回答具有内部有效性的因果问题。然而，即使是设计良好的随机对照试验，也存在对内部有效性的威胁。在本文中，我们将重点关注预注册如何帮助解决与结果报告相关的内部有效性的一些特定威胁。预注册涉及研究人员在进行研究之前公开发布研究中的关键决策点，目的是使研究人员计划透明，使与这些计划的偏差可被发现，并提高显着性检验的有效性。我们提供了零假设显着性检验的简要概述；考虑有问题的研究实践（例如，p-hacking）和进行依赖数据的分析如何威胁显着性检验的有效性；讨论预注册如何帮助应对这些威胁，以及预注册对 RCT 的作用；注意预注册的限制和挑战；并为在社会工作、教育和相关领域进行随机对照试验的研究人员增加预注册的使用提供建议。