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Protocoles de recherche

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.

01Canevas

Comment le travail se déroule.

systèmes · autour de ce sujetIllustratif

Tableau des protocoles et des réplications

Research protocols · Labs · Quarter 3

Deux réplications en coursGCRI · Labs

Protocoles

PR-378 sensor driftExpérience de terrainOuiApprouvéEn cours
PR-705 AI triageRandomiséOuiConditionsConfiguration
PR-694 message recallExpérience par enquêteOuiApprouvéTerminé
PR-360 heat exposureCohorteNonEn attenteBrouillon

Replication R-25

Effet initial
0.4 SD
Effet de réplication
0.2 SD
Verdict
Plus petit, même signe
Publié
avec données et code

Disponibilité des bancs d'essai

Protocol and replication board: the screen’s structure, terms and states for Research protocols.Noms donnés à titre d'exemple et valeurs illustratives ; une conception, non un enregistrement ni un système en service.

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

02La question

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.

Mécanisme

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.

Mécanisme

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.

Mécanisme

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.

Mécanisme

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.

03Méthodes et preuves

How research protocols is modelled, measured and tested.

Le modèle, ses hypothèses, ses données et son incertitude, sous la forme qu'un scientifique ou un ingénieur vérifierait. Les structures suivent des méthodes publiées. Les valeurs représentées sont illustratives, ce ne sont pas des résultats.

Modèle, équations et hypothèses

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

Risque de l'élément iRi = f(Hi, Ei, Vi, Ci)aléa, exposition, vulnérabilité et capacité à faire face
Perte annuelle attendueEAL = ∑k pk · Lksur les événements k de probabilité annuelle pk
Systèmes couplésxt+1 = A xt + B ut + εtA carries the couplings, u the shock, ε the error
HypothèsePourquoi il est réaliséComment il est testé
Aléa et exposition sont indépendants au sein d'un événementGarde l'intégrale des pertes calculableComparer avec un ajustement de copule sur des relevés conjoints
Les couplages sont linéaires près du point de fonctionnementLaisse les chocs se propager à travers APerturber au-delà de la plage linéaire et comparer
Les courbes de vulnérabilité se transposent d'un lieu à l'autreLes courbes locales sont rarement disponiblesValider par rapport aux pertes observées lorsqu'elles existent
Entrées
jeux de données versionnés avec provenance
Productions
des distributions, jamais des nombres isolés
Code
publié avec la fiche de modèle et les tests
Reproduction
mêmes données, code, environnement et graine
Formulations standard du risque et de l'espace d'états ; les hypothèses énumérées sont typiques de la méthode, énoncées pour examen, et non des résultats.
Principes directeurs FAIR · GO FAIR et FORCE11W3C PROV · World Wide Web ConsortiumOrientations sur le traitement cohérent des incertitudes · GIECCEOS Analysis Ready Data · Comité sur les satellites d'observation de la Terre
04In the five domains

Protocols are registered before results in every domain.

05Indicateurs

Ce qui est mesuré, et avec quelle qualité.

Chaque indicateur porte son unité, sa périodicité, le type de source qui le sous-tend et l'étiquette de preuve que porterait une valeur. Aucune valeur n'est affichée : un programme les fournit sous sa propre autorité.

IndicateurUnitéFréquenceType de sourceÉtiquette
Registration before data collectionpercent of studies with a time-stamped registrationannuelTrial and study registriesStatistiques publiées
Primary outcome consistencypercent of reports matching the registered primary outcomeannuelRegistry and publication comparisonOBSERVÉ
Sample size justificationpercent of protocols with a power or precision rationaleannuelProtocol auditOBSERVÉ
Reporting guideline adherencepercent of applicable checklist items reportedpar étudeAssessment against CONSORT, PRISMA, ARRIVE or STROBEESTIMÉ
Protocol amendmentscount per study, each with a stated reasonpar étudeRegistry history and ethics committee recordsStatistiques publiées
Registered report availabilitynumber of journals offering the formatannuelCenter for Open Science journal listDÉCLARÉ
Results posting timelinessmonths from primary completion to posted resultspar étudeTrial registriesStatistiques publiées
Randomisation and blinding reportedpercent of eligible studiesannuelRisk-of-bias assessmentsESTIMÉ
06Sources

D'où proviennent les données probantes.

Jeux de données publics et registres institutionnels nommés, chacun avec sa catégorie de licence. Les sources fournies dans le cadre d'accords ne sont utilisées que selon leurs conditions et ne sont jamais republiées.

SourcesCe qu'elle apporteCatégorie de licence
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 resultsDomaine public
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
07Décisions

Qui décide, et à quoi servent les données probantes.

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

Qui décideLa questionDonnées probantes servies par cette page
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
Bailleurs de fonds de la rechercheWhether 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

Résultats que produit ce thème

  • 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
08Questions essentielles

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?
09Mécanismes et facteurs

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.

10Méthodes et données

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 les probabilités et la statistique. It depends on assumed effect sizes that are often uncertain.

  3. 03

    Causal designs

    Randomisation, difference-in-differences, regression discontinuity and instrumental variables from inférence causale. 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.

11Méthodes

Comment c'est étudié, et ce que les méthodes ne peuvent pas dire.

  1. Probabilités et statistiquesPlanification de la taille d'échantillon et de la puissance · Méta-analyse avec évaluation des biaisAppliqué ici
  2. Inférence causale et évaluation d'impactProjets pilotes randomisés et déploiements échelonnés · Évaluation quasi expérimentale des programmesAppliqué ici
  3. Quantification de l'incertitude et validation des modèlesBudgets d'incertitude de mesure · Analyse de sensibilité des modèles de simulationAppliqué ici
  4. Ingénierie des systèmesTraçabilité des exigences jusqu'à la vérification · Revues de maturité par étapesAppliqué ici
12Where this page’s references

Where this page’s references lead.

Les organismes et documents à l'aune desquels cette page se lit. Les statuts et éditions changent ; chaque lien mène à l'organisme émetteur.

13Questions

Questions et réponses.

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.
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