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Forschungsprotokolle

A research protocol fixes, before data are collected, what a study asks, how it will answer and what would count as an answer: the hypotheses, the design, the controls, the outcomes, the sample and the analysis. Many failures of credibility trace back to a protocol that was vague, unwritten or changed after the data were seen. This page sets out how protocols are built, registered, reviewed and reported, and what ethics committees, editors and funders rely on when they accept a study’s claims.

01Arbeitsfläche

Wie die Arbeit abläuft.

System · rund um dieses ThemaBeispielhaft

Tafel für Protokolle und Replikation

Research protocols · Labs · Quarter 3

Zwei Replikationen laufenGCRI · Labs

Protokolle

PR-378 sensor driftFeldexperimentJaGenehmigtLäuft
PR-705 AI triageRandomisiertJaBedingungenEinrichtung
PR-694 message recallUmfrageexperimentJaGenehmigtAbgeschlossen
PR-360 heat exposureKohorteNeinAusstehendEntwurf

Replication R-25

Ursprünglicher Effekt
0.4 SD
Replikationseffekt
0.2 SD
Urteil
Kleiner, gleiches Vorzeichen
Veröffentlicht
mit Daten und Code

Verfügbarkeit von Testumgebungen

Protocol and replication board: the screen’s structure, terms and states for Research protocols.Beispielnamen und beispielhafte Werte; ein Entwurf, kein Eintrag und kein Live-System.

Abb.Protocol and replication board: example names and illustrative values, not a record or a live system.

02Die Frage

Research protocols: how the risk develops.

Hypotheses, controls and scientific acceptance. The dossier below sets out how the risk develops, what is measured, where the data come from, how it is modelled and who decides.

Mechanismus

Flexibility becomes bias

When outcomes, exclusions, covariates or stopping rules are chosen after the data are seen, many analyses become possible and the most striking one tends to be reported. Each choice looks reasonable alone; together they inflate false positives and effect sizes.

Mechanismus

Weak controls confound results

A missing control, unblinded assessment or non-random allocation lets something other than the intervention explain the difference. Design flaws cannot be repaired by analysis; they travel into every result and review built on the study.

Mechanismus

Underpowered designs mislead twice

Small samples miss real effects, and the effects they do detect tend to be overestimated. Underpowered studies that reach significance seed literatures that later, larger replications cannot match.

Mechanismus

Deviations go unreported

Protocols change for good reasons, such as slow recruitment or a safety signal. When a change is not dated, explained and reported, readers cannot tell a justified amendment from outcome switching, and reviews pool what should not be pooled.

03Methoden und Evidenz

How research protocols is modelled, measured and tested.

Das Modell, seine Annahmen, seine Daten und seine Unsicherheit in der Form, in der eine Wissenschaftlerin oder ein Ingenieur sie prüfen würde. Die Strukturen folgen veröffentlichten Methoden. Die dargestellten Werte sind illustrativ, keine Befunde.

Modell, Gleichungen und Annahmen

The model structure used for research protocols, the assumptions it makes and how each is tested.

Risiko des Elements iRi = f(Hi, Ei, Vi, Ci)Gefahr, Exposition, Verwundbarkeit und Bewältigungskapazität
Erwarteter jährlicher SchadenEAL = ∑k pk · Lküber Ereignisse k mit jährlicher Wahrscheinlichkeit pk
Gekoppelte Systemext+1 = A xt + B ut + εtA carries the couplings, u the shock, ε the error
AnnahmeWarum es entstehtWie es geprüft wird
Gefahr und Exposition sind innerhalb eines Ereignisses unabhängigHält das Schadensintegral berechenbarMit einer Copula-Anpassung an gemeinsamen Aufzeichnungen vergleichen
Kopplungen sind nahe dem Arbeitspunkt linearLässt Schocks sich über A ausbreitenÜber den linearen Bereich hinaus stören und vergleichen
Vulnerabilitätskurven lassen sich zwischen Orten übertragenLokale Kurven sind selten verfügbarAnhand beobachteter Schäden validieren, wo es sie gibt
Eingaben
versionierte Datensätze mit Herkunftsnachweis
Ergebnisse
Verteilungen, nie einzelne Zahlen
Code
mit Modellkarte und Tests veröffentlicht
Reproduktion
gleiche Daten, Code, Umgebung und Seed
Standardformulierungen für Risiko und Zustandsraum; die aufgeführten Annahmen sind für die Methode typisch und zur Prüfung benannt, keine Ergebnisse.
FAIR-Leitprinzipien · GO FAIR und FORCE11W3C PROV · World Wide Web ConsortiumHinweise zur einheitlichen Behandlung von Unsicherheiten · IPCCCEOS Analysis Ready Data · Committee on Earth Observation Satellites
04In the five domains

Protocols are registered before results in every domain.

05Indikatoren

Was gemessen wird und wie gut.

Jeder Indikator trägt seine Einheit, seinen Rhythmus, die Art der zugrunde liegenden Quelle und die Evidenzkennzeichnung, die ein Wert tragen würde. Es werden keine Werte gezeigt: Ein Programm liefert sie unter seiner eigenen Autorität.

IndikatorEinheitTaktQuellentypKennzeichnung
Registration before data collectionpercent of studies with a time-stamped registrationjährlichTrial and study registriesVeröffentlichte Statistiken
Primary outcome consistencypercent of reports matching the registered primary outcomejährlichRegistry and publication comparisonBEOBACHTET
Sample size justificationpercent of protocols with a power or precision rationalejährlichProtocol auditBEOBACHTET
Reporting guideline adherencepercent of applicable checklist items reportedje StudieAssessment against CONSORT, PRISMA, ARRIVE or STROBEGESCHÄTZT
Protocol amendmentscount per study, each with a stated reasonje StudieRegistry history and ethics committee recordsVeröffentlichte Statistiken
Registered report availabilitynumber of journals offering the formatjährlichCenter for Open Science journal listBERICHTET
Results posting timelinessmonths from primary completion to posted resultsje StudieTrial registriesVeröffentlichte Statistiken
Randomisation and blinding reportedpercent of eligible studiesjährlichRisk-of-bias assessmentsGESCHÄTZT
06Quellen

Woher die Evidenz stammt.

Benannte öffentliche Datensätze und institutionelle Aufzeichnungen, jeweils mit ihrer Lizenzklasse. Quellen auf Vereinbarungsbasis werden nur zu ihren Bedingungen genutzt und niemals weiterveröffentlicht.

QuelleWas es liefertLizenzklasse
OSF Registries (Center for Open Science)Time-stamped preregistrations and registered report protocols across disciplinesOpen, licence per registration
ClinicalTrials.gov (US National Library of Medicine)Registered trials, protocol change history and posted resultsGemeinfrei
WHO International Clinical Trials Registry PlatformSearch across primary national trial registriesFree, WHO terms of use
PROSPERO (NIHR)Registered protocols for systematic reviewsFree access, terms of use
protocols.ioVersioned, citable step-by-step laboratory and field methodsOpen, CC BY for public protocols
EQUATOR Network libraryReporting guidelines by study design, with extensionsFree access, licence per guideline
Crossref metadataLinks between registrations, articles, corrections and fundersOpen metadata, no restrictions
07Entscheidungen

Wer entscheidet und wozu die Evidenz dient.

Labore prepares evidence. The decisions below are taken by the authorities named, under their own rules, and never by the platform.

Wer entscheidetDie FrageEvidenz, der diese Seite dient
Research ethics committees and institutional review boardsWhether a protocol’s risks, consent and design justify approval, and whether an amendment needs fresh reviewComplete protocol, sample size rationale, amendment history with reasons
Journal editorsWhether to accept a registered report in principle, or whether a submitted analysis matches its planTime-stamped registration compared line by line with the manuscript
ForschungsfördererWhether a proposal’s design can answer its question before money is committedPower or precision rationale, control conditions, data management plan
Medicines and device regulatorsWhether trial evidence was generated under the protocol submitted to themRegistry history, deviation logs, results posting record

Ergebnisse, die dieses Thema hervorbringt

  • Protocol templates stating hypotheses, controls, outcomes and analysis plans before data collection
  • Registration records with time stamps and version history
  • Deviation logs that date and explain every amendment
  • Reporting checklists completed against the relevant EQUATOR guideline
08Kernfragen

What experts ask of any protocol.

  • What exactly is the hypothesis, and what result would count against it?
  • What is the comparison: a control group, a baseline period, a counterfactual model or a randomised arm?
  • Which outcomes are primary, which are secondary, and how will each be measured?
  • What sample, duration or number of runs is needed to detect an effect of the size that matters?
  • What would make the team stop early, for safety or for futility, and who decides?
  • What will be published if the result is null or the experiment fails?
09Mechanismen und Treiber

Why experiments drift without a protocol.

Every experiment involves choices: which observations to exclude, which covariates to adjust for, which time window to use. Each choice may be reasonable alone, but when they are made after seeing the data, the number of possible analyses grows quickly and one of them will usually show something. This is the problem methodologists call analytic flexibility, and it is a central reason why published effects often shrink or vanish when repeated.

Interdisciplinary work adds its own drivers. Disciplines differ in what they treat as a control, how they handle missing data and what level of evidence they expect. A hydrologist, an economist and an epidemiologist may each consider a design rigorous by their own standard while disagreeing about what it shows. A protocol forces those differences into the open before work starts.

Incentives matter too. Positive, novel findings are easier to publish and fund, which rewards flexibility and penalises null results. Pre-registration and registered reports are the main structural responses.

10Methoden und Daten

Tools protocols draw on, and where they stop.

  1. 01

    Pre-registration

    A time-stamped record of hypotheses and analysis plans. It limits post hoc changes but cannot stop a poorly chosen question.

  2. 02

    Power and design analysis

    Estimates how much data is needed to detect a meaningful effect, using Wahrscheinlichkeit und Statistik. It depends on assumed effect sizes that are often uncertain.

  3. 03

    Causal designs

    Randomisation, difference-in-differences, regression discontinuity and instrumental variables from kausale Inferenz. Each rests on assumptions that must be stated and, where possible, tested.

  4. 04

    Acceptance criteria

    Pre-agreed thresholds for when a method, model or prototype is considered to work. They make success testable but can be gamed if set too loosely.

A protocol cannot make a bad measurement good or fix a biased sample. Deviations from protocol are permitted when justified, but are reported with their reasons.

11Methoden

Wie es untersucht wird und was die Methoden nicht sagen können.

  1. Wahrscheinlichkeit und StatistikPlanung von Stichprobengröße und Teststärke · Metaanalyse mit Bewertung von VerzerrungenHier angewandt
  2. Kausale Inferenz und WirkungsevaluationRandomisierte Pilotprojekte und gestufte Einführungen · Quasi-experimentelle ProgrammevaluierungHier angewandt
  3. Unsicherheitsquantifizierung und ModellvalidierungBudgets der Messunsicherheit · Sensitivitätsanalyse von SimulationsmodellenHier angewandt
  4. SystemtechnikRückverfolgbarkeit von Anforderungen zur Verifikation · Bereitschaftsprüfungen an Stage-GatesHier angewandt
12Where this page’s references

Where this page’s references lead.

Die Gremien und Dokumente, vor deren Hintergrund diese Seite gelesen wird. Status und Ausgaben ändern sich; jeder Link führt zur herausgebenden Stelle.

13Fragen

Fragen und Antworten.

What is the difference between a preregistration and a registered report?
A preregistration is a time-stamped plan deposited before analysis. A registered report is a journal format in which the plan is peer reviewed and accepted in principle before results exist, so publication does not depend on the outcome.
Does preregistration forbid exploratory analysis?
No. It separates the two. Planned analyses are reported as confirmatory; analyses suggested by the data are reported as exploratory, with that label, so readers can weigh them accordingly.
Which reporting guideline applies to my study?
It depends on the design: CONSORT for randomised trials, SPIRIT for trial protocols, PRISMA for systematic reviews, ARRIVE for animal research, STROBE for observational studies. The EQUATOR Network keeps the current list and extensions.
Can a protocol be changed after registration?
Yes, with a dated amendment and a stated reason, and with fresh ethics review where the change affects participants. What damages credibility is undisclosed change, not change itself.
Is pre-registration required for every Labs study?
It is designed to be the default for confirmatory work. Exploratory work is welcome but is labelled as exploratory, so that its findings are treated as hypotheses rather than conclusions.
Can a protocol change during a study?
Yes, for good reasons such as safety or an unforeseen data problem. Each change is dated, justified and reported alongside the result.
Who writes the protocol?
The research team writes it; a subject reviewer independent of the team is designed to check it before work begins.
BerichteBeitragen

Evidenz von dieser Seite aus beitragen.

Reports is the Consortium’s quarterly publication. What you know about this subject can become evidence, a case or a correction in the next edition, credited to you and published under CC BY 4.0 where it is your own work.

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