Front Psychol November 2016 PMID 27933012

Degrees of Freedom in Planning, Running, Analyzing, and Reporting Psychological Studies: A Checklist to Avoid -Hacking.

Jelte M Wicherts, Coosje L S Veldkamp, Hilde E M Augusteijn, Marjan Bakker, Robbie C M van Aert, Marcel A L M van Assen

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Mentions

63
Peak: 6 in Jul 2019
across 6 sources since Mar 2017

Extended reach

498,759
potential audience

Total likes

90

Video views

188

Mentions per month

Mar 2017 – Jul 2025

Where it's discussed

  • X / Twitter45 posts
  • YouTube9 videos
  • Reddit3 posts
  • News3 articles
  • Bluesky2 posts
  • Facebook1 posts

AI synopsis

What people are saying

Discussions emphasize the value of the checklist, with comments like 'a very useful checklist' and references to improving preregistration, reflecting strong interest and recognition of its impact. The tone is generally analytical and motivated for methodological rigor, with examples discussing how the checklist helps prevent p-hacking and improves research transparency, showcasing deep engagement with the material and its potential influence on research standards.

AgreementModerate agreement

Most discussions recognize the importance of the checklist and its practical utility in improving research transparency.

InterestHigh interest

Topics about research practices, p-hacking, and preregistration generate high curiosity and engagement among scholars.

EngagementModerate engagement

Participants reference specific aspects of the checklist, compare tools, and discuss methodological improvements, indicating meaningful interaction.

ImpactHigh impact

The widespread sharing and emphasis on better research practices suggest the discussions could influence research norms and practices.

Abstract in brief

  • The article discusses how many decisions made during the planning, running, analyzing, and reporting of psychological studies are often arbitrary, which can lead to biased results and false positives if researchers try to find significant outcomes intentionally.
  • It provides an extensive list of 34 "degrees of freedom" that highlight the choices researchers have at various stages of research, emphasizing the importance of transparency and careful decision-making.
  • This list can be used as an educational tool, a checklist to evaluate study quality, and a way to identify potential biases caused by arbitrary choices in both registered and unregistered studies.]

Top posts

Most liked on X and Bluesky
Daniël Lakens
@lakens · X

@PersonalityPat @siminevazire @improvingpsych @AnuABee This checklist is useful to see if you covered everything when writing the pre-registration: https://t.co/Oy6r2d0FmW

Jul 10, 2019 · 30 likes · 5 shares · 30,675 followers View post →
Elisabeth Bik
@MicrobiomDigest · X

MB: By pre-registration of a research study, you can define the path you will take through the "garden of forking paths". By specifying which choices the research will take, such degrees of freedom can be reduced. See: https://t.co/ZkdPBy2tGd and https://t.co/uFl0h1qBss

Aug 25, 2021 · 13 likes · 3 shares · 144,373 followers View post →
Daniël Lakens
@lakens · X

@RickCarlsson @KhandisBlake That is all the analysis plan (at least in frequentist statistics). Sample size, stopping rule, conditions, measures, outlier removal, etc. Anything that impacts false positives (which pre-reg intends to control). A useful checklist is at https://t.co/Oy6r2d0FmW

Mar 31, 2019 · 6 likes · 2 shares · 30,675 followers View post →
Daniël Lakens
@lakens · X

@Heinonmatti @RogertheGS @olivier_klein @raklein3 @CameronBrick @NHankonen I typically recommend the checklist in https://t.co/Oy6r2d0FmW. Regarding how to deal with deviations, there are no articles on this, and thus no teaching material. Most researchers don't know what to do with these.

Apr 7, 2020 · 5 likes · 30,675 followers View post →
Maximilian Adler
@AdlerMaximilian · X

@LauraMKoenig @annemscheel Andy Field (both R and SPSS available), for Open Science ican recommend the Open Science Committee of LMU Munich (https://t.co/DM0v2WwtqQ) of the one and only @nicebread303 Furthermore this paper: https://t.co/E0k7M79WCN

Sep 9, 2020 · 5 likes · 1 share · 101 followers View post →
Daniël Lakens
@lakens · X

@jpsimmon @donandrewmoore @PNASNews It would be great if the preregistration used all the items from this checklist. https://t.co/yNiGp8XvB2 With 800 citations, I think is the best starting point to guide people to a complete preregistration.

Jul 25, 2024 · 4 likes · 30,675 followers View post →

All mentions

Nico Trajtenberg
@nicotrajtenberg · X

9/10 times I see an amazing methodological paper, its done by a dutch! What is in the water or air of Netherlands? Cool discussion by Wicherts and colleagues on researcher degrees of freedom distinguishing when you can justify it and when you cant https://t.co/FiKSQ6j9k6

Jul 25, 2025 · 3 likes · 2,692 followers View post →
Daniël Lakens
@lakens · X

@uri_sohn The brevity that is required is 1 way. The prompts above the questions is another. Why don't you include the checklist by Wicherts et al (https://t.co/yNiGp8WXLu) as a nudge to be more complete?

Jul 25, 2024 · 30,675 followers View post →
Daniël Lakens
@lakens · X

@jpsimmon @donandrewmoore @PNASNews It would be great if the preregistration used all the items from this checklist. https://t.co/yNiGp8XvB2 With 800 citations, I think is the best starting point to guide people to a complete preregistration.

Jul 25, 2024 · 4 likes · 30,675 followers View post →
Daniël Lakens
@lakens · X

@rmwillen This is doing a much better job of verbalizing the tests you will perform. I do not think it captures all the items on this checklist https://t.co/yNiGp8WXLu but it looks relatively close. The best way to tell is to compare it with the final report - was everything in there?

Jul 24, 2024 · 30,675 followers View post →
Daniël Lakens
@lakens · X

@OxACClab So it is not worthless, but it is not worth much, and it is very obviously too far removed from best practice. Why didn't you follow this checklist? https://t.co/yNiGp8WXLu That would already have improved things!

Jul 24, 2024 · 1 like · 30,675 followers View post →
Anders Granholm
@andersgranholm · X

#MethodMonday 44: Researcher degrees of freedom and variation in analyses/results https://t.co/myyGAHP5ZK https://t.co/PbUaL2AvW3 Two papers from psychology, but the central points apply to most fields 1/..

Dec 4, 2023 · 4 likes · 1,192 followers View post →
Rafał Zwolak
@RafaZwolak · X

@JaroslawKuzniar @pisorgpl Temat zasługuje na poważniejsze traktowanie, bo tu analiza statystyczna jest bardziej alarmująca, niż wnioski. https://t.co/eAFdrWtK4O

Sep 25, 2023 · 208 followers View post →
黒木玄 Gen Kuroki
@genkuroki · X

RT @syeducation: @olivier_klein This is not exactly what you are asking for, but is certainly related: Wicherts et al.'s (2016) p-hacking c…

Feb 18, 2023 · 1 share · 15,568 followers View post →
moin syed
@syeducation · X

@olivier_klein This is not exactly what you are asking for, but is certainly related: Wicherts et al.'s (2016) p-hacking checklist, https://t.co/kYADykJbBN

Feb 9, 2023 · 1 like · 1 share · 2,529 followers View post →
Darías Holgado
@DariasHolgado · X

@MaxPrimbs https://t.co/SHQYsEtx2c and https://t.co/wG1NtjPn03

Oct 13, 2022 · 193 followers View post →
Siu Kit YEUNG
@siukityeung_res · X

RT @lakens: @aufdroeseler @AaronCharlton @uni_bamberg_of Not a template, but a very useful checklist https://t.co/Oy6r2d0FmW

May 17, 2022 · 1 share · 564 followers View post →
Qiming (Simon) Yuan | 苑启明
@Psych_Yuan · X

A good checklist to avoid p-hacking. https://t.co/jO4L7BBtRC

May 16, 2022 · 238 followers View post →
Daniël Lakens
@lakens · X

@aufdroeseler @AaronCharlton @uni_bamberg_of Not a template, but a very useful checklist https://t.co/Oy6r2d0FmW

May 16, 2022 · 4 likes · 1 share · 30,675 followers View post →
Krzysztof Potempa
@BRAINCURES · X

RT @JelteWicherts: Degrees of freedom in planning, running, analyzing & reporting psychological studies. A checklist to avoid p-hacking htt…

Feb 21, 2022 · 49 shares · 2,657 followers View post →
NanoBubbles (nanobubbles.bsky.social)
@_Nano_Bubbles · X

RT @MicrobiomDigest: MB: By pre-registration of a research study, you can define the path you will take through the "garden of forking path…

Aug 25, 2021 · 3 shares · 656 followers View post →
Not
@MichaelPaulEdw1 · X

RT @MicrobiomDigest: MB: By pre-registration of a research study, you can define the path you will take through the "garden of forking path…

Aug 25, 2021 · 3 shares · 1,441 followers View post →
F.Chasteland
@fchasteland · X

RT @MicrobiomDigest: MB: By pre-registration of a research study, you can define the path you will take through the "garden of forking path…

Aug 25, 2021 · 3 shares · 936 followers View post →
Elisabeth Bik
@MicrobiomDigest · X

MB: By pre-registration of a research study, you can define the path you will take through the "garden of forking paths". By specifying which choices the research will take, such degrees of freedom can be reduced. See: https://t.co/ZkdPBy2tGd and https://t.co/uFl0h1qBss

Aug 25, 2021 · 13 likes · 3 shares · 144,373 followers View post →
Daniël Lakens
@lakens · X

@rfarmer27 @eba_psych @OSFramework This is a good list of items to address in your preregistration: https://t.co/Oy6r2d0FmW It can be helpful to look at existing preregistrations (but you will want to do better than most of them, see also the related paper in this tweet https://t.co/hbTS9NgxSz

Jul 17, 2021 · 3 likes · 30,675 followers View post →
NormanFarb
@NormanFarb · X

@yorl Here's another example: https://t.co/yPDrGulLmr "This entails D2: Measuring additional variables that can be selected later as covariates, independent variables, mediators, or moderators. "

Jun 7, 2021 · 2 likes · 955 followers View post →
super_psych
@superpsych2 · X

https://t.co/D5JMfSV77a

Mar 29, 2021 View post →
Kate Petrova
@kate_ptrv · X

@benjaminwnelson It may not hit all the basics, but I think this paper is a great (and welcoming!) introduction to OS https://t.co/dPaWSov2S7

Mar 24, 2021 · 2 likes · 4,469 followers View post →
Carlos L
@caeoutlook · X

https://t.co/CrMXpnqAWi

Oct 28, 2020 · 72 followers View post →
Carlos L
@caeoutlook · X

RT @JelteWicherts: Degrees of freedom in planning, running, analyzing & reporting psychological studies. A checklist to avoid p-hacking htt…

Oct 28, 2020 · 49 shares · 72 followers View post →
Dr. Laura M. König
@LauraMKoenig · X

RT @AdlerMaximilian: @LauraMKoenig @annemscheel Andy Field (both R and SPSS available), for Open Science ican recommend the Open Science Co…

Sep 9, 2020 · 1 share · 4,448 followers View post →
Maximilian Adler
@AdlerMaximilian · X

@LauraMKoenig @annemscheel Andy Field (both R and SPSS available), for Open Science ican recommend the Open Science Committee of LMU Munich (https://t.co/DM0v2WwtqQ) of the one and only @nicebread303 Furthermore this paper: https://t.co/E0k7M79WCN

Sep 9, 2020 · 5 likes · 1 share · 101 followers View post →
25metre
@25metre · X

RT @JelteWicherts: Degrees of freedom in planning, running, analyzing & reporting psychological studies. A checklist to avoid p-hacking htt…

Jun 19, 2020 · 49 shares · 1,202 followers View post →
Dr. Helena Hartmann
@helenahhartmann · X

@iamscicomm I am sad to say I didn't invent it haha

May 14, 2020 · 1 like · 7,964 followers View post →
Gordon Pennycook
@GordPennycook · X

Example of an approach that takes (a) https://t.co/qaP6Cld3Oa Example of an approach that takes (b) https://t.co/xTMwP4Kb4v

Apr 11, 2020 · 1 like · 10,586 followers View post →
Daniël Lakens
@lakens · X

@Heinonmatti @RogertheGS @olivier_klein @raklein3 @CameronBrick @NHankonen I typically recommend the checklist in https://t.co/Oy6r2d0FmW. Regarding how to deal with deviations, there are no articles on this, and thus no teaching material. Most researchers don't know what to do with these.

Apr 7, 2020 · 5 likes · 30,675 followers View post →
Nicole Shantz
@Nicole_Shantz · X

I'm amazed at how easy it is to p-hack by mistake. As @jpsimmon mentions, "good (and bad) people are p-hackers." As we learned in seminar, here are some ways to avoid it: https://t.co/f1RpGa2lfh #AcademicTwitter #Psyc4180 @julie_conder @chantelle0090

Mar 18, 2020 · 1 like · 50 followers View post →
Alexandre Heeren
@AlexandreHeeren · X

RT @JelteWicherts: Degrees of freedom in planning, running, analyzing & reporting psychological studies. A checklist to avoid p-hacking htt…

Feb 25, 2020 · 49 shares · 1,355 followers View post →
Jessica Fritz
@DrJessicaFritz · X

RT @JelteWicherts: Degrees of freedom in planning, running, analyzing & reporting psychological studies. A checklist to avoid p-hacking htt…

Jan 11, 2020 · 49 shares · 811 followers View post →
matti heino
@Heinonmatti · X

RT @JelteWicherts: Degrees of freedom in planning, running, analyzing & reporting psychological studies. A checklist to avoid p-hacking htt…

Jan 11, 2020 · 49 shares · 2,905 followers View post →
Raimondo Bruno
@PsychopharmRes · X

"Degrees of Freedom in Planning, Running, Analyzing, and Reporting Psychological Studies: A Checklist to Avoid p-Hacking" https://t.co/nBNEKz2kO1

Nov 19, 2019 · 571 followers View post →
Chris Meechan
@ChrisMeechan2 · X

RT @JelteWicherts: Degrees of freedom in planning, running, analyzing & reporting psychological studies. A checklist to avoid p-hacking htt…

Oct 23, 2019 · 49 shares · 1,239 followers View post →
Tahir Enes Gedik
@tahirenesgedik · X

Genelde içeriden gelen eleştiriler daha sert ve yapıcı oluyor. Mesela: https://t.co/WSsEVU1Dd4 https://t.co/KMQxnDGdFx

Jul 24, 2019 · 3 likes · 667 followers View post →
Lilla Hodossy
@Lilla_Hodossy · X

RT @lakens: @PersonalityPat @siminevazire @improvingpsych @AnuABee This checklist is useful to see if you covered everything when writing t…

Jul 10, 2019 · 5 shares · 309 followers View post →
Dr. Krista Byers-Heinlein
@Krista_BH · X

RT @lakens: @PersonalityPat @siminevazire @improvingpsych @AnuABee This checklist is useful to see if you covered everything when writing t…

Jul 10, 2019 · 5 shares · 5,740 followers View post →
Billy Jansson
@BillyJansson · X

RT @lakens: @PersonalityPat @siminevazire @improvingpsych @AnuABee This checklist is useful to see if you covered everything when writing t…

Jul 10, 2019 · 5 shares · 43 followers View post →
Dr. Jessie Sun
@JessieSunPsych · X

RT @lakens: @PersonalityPat @siminevazire @improvingpsych @AnuABee This checklist is useful to see if you covered everything when writing t…

Jul 10, 2019 · 5 shares · 4,331 followers View post →
Daniël Lakens
@lakens · X

@PersonalityPat @siminevazire @improvingpsych @AnuABee This checklist is useful to see if you covered everything when writing the pre-registration: https://t.co/Oy6r2d0FmW

Jul 10, 2019 · 30 likes · 5 shares · 30,675 followers View post →
Franzi Stanke
@franziskastanke · X

RT @lakens: @RickCarlsson @KhandisBlake That is all the analysis plan (at least in frequentist statistics). Sample size, stopping rule, con…

Mar 31, 2019 · 2 shares · 312 followers View post →
Gabriel González Medina
@Gabriel00602805 · X

RT @lakens: @RickCarlsson @KhandisBlake That is all the analysis plan (at least in frequentist statistics). Sample size, stopping rule, con…

Mar 31, 2019 · 2 shares · 196 followers View post →
Daniël Lakens
@lakens · X

@RickCarlsson @KhandisBlake That is all the analysis plan (at least in frequentist statistics). Sample size, stopping rule, conditions, measures, outlier removal, etc. Anything that impacts false positives (which pre-reg intends to control). A useful checklist is at https://t.co/Oy6r2d0FmW

Mar 31, 2019 · 6 likes · 2 shares · 30,675 followers View post →
Berna Devezer
@devezer.bsky.social · Bluesky

when in doubt, check this out: 34 ways to p-hack your data http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01832/full

Mar 25, 2017 View post →
Brian Nosek
@briannosek.bsky.social · Bluesky

ICYMI: Degrees of Freedom in Planning, Running, Analyzing, & Reporting Psych Studies: A Checklist to Avoid p-Hacking http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01832/full

Mar 2, 2017 View post →
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doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01832 doi: 10.1177/1745691612459060 Yamada, Y. (2018). How to crack pre-registration: toward transparent and open. Belcher, W. L. ...

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https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg. 2016.01832. Wilkinson, M. D., Dumontier, M., Aalbersberg, I. J., Appleton, G., Axton, M., Baak, A., et al. (2016). The FAIR ...

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Reddit

... (10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01832) ; American Economics Review - Non (10.1257/aer.20190687) ; Business - Non (10.1177/10422587211050354), etc ...

May 30, 2023 View →
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Reddit

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01832/full. While I don't believe there have been any articles concerning this exact ...

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Reddit

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01832/full. Embora não acredite que tenha havido artigos sobre esta ideia exata na ...

Apr 19, 2023 View →
Examples of well-written preregistered study articles
Facebook

org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01832/full. frontiersin.org. Degrees of Freedom in Planning, Running, Analyzing, and Reporting · 7 yrs · 1.

May 27, 2019 View →