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Article
Preregistration as a way to limit questionable research practice in advertising research
International Journal of Advertising
  • Lars Bergkvist, Zayed University
ORCID Identifiers

0000-0002-4271-9182

Document Type
Article
Publication Date
10-2-2020
Abstract

© 2020 Advertising Association. This paper discusses two phenomena that threaten the credibility of scientific research and suggests an approach to limiting the extent of their use in advertising research. HARKing (hypothesizing after the results are known) refers to when hypotheses are formulated or modified after the results of a study are known. P-hacking refers to various practices (e.g., adding respondents, introducing control variables) that increase the likelihood of obtaining statistically significant results from a study. Both of these practices increase the risk of false positives (Type I errors) in research results and it is in the interest of the advertising research field that they are limited. Voluntary preregistration, where researchers commit to and register their research design and analytical approach before conducting the study, is put forward as a means to limiting both HARKing and p-hacking.

Publisher
Taylor and Francis Ltd.
Disciplines
Keywords
  • HARKing,
  • methodology,
  • P-hacking,
  • preregistration,
  • questionable research practice
Scopus ID
85083519858
Indexed in Scopus
Yes
Open Access
No
https://doi.org/10.1080/02650487.2020.1753441
Citation Information
Lars Bergkvist. "Preregistration as a way to limit questionable research practice in advertising research" International Journal of Advertising Vol. 39 Iss. 7 (2020) p. 1172 - 1180 ISSN: <a href="https://v2.sherpa.ac.uk/id/publication/issn/0265-0487" target="_blank">0265-0487</a>
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/lars-bergkvist/7/