Qualitative preregistration: flexibility, reflexivity and decisions

Registration can accommodate flexibility

A qualitative project may begin with a revisable design. State what is known, what remains deliberately open and how changes will be justified. OSF offers a qualitative template, not a universal requirement for every tradition.

Choose the epistemological and analytical approach before adopting a statistical template. Fixed hypotheses or numerical coder agreement can be inappropriate for reflexive thematic analysis.

Specify the initial commitments

Describe the question, setting, purposive sampling, recruitment, consent, recording, transcription, translation and confidentiality. Explain researcher relationships and assumptions. Justify collection stopping in terms coherent with the approach and available resources.

Do not treat an interview count as a global rule. In a hypothetical study of migrant students, adding a participant group needs an interpretive rationale and any necessary approval.

Trace interpretation

Connect notes, codes, patterns and interpretation; explain team discussion and attention to contradictory cases. Codes may evolve, but analytic memos and revisions should make the reasoning visible.

A fictional statement about asking a classmate for help might first receive a help-seeking code and later inform a peer-network interpretation. One extract is not a completed theme or proof of saturation.

Amend without freezing inquiry

Record the date, trigger, observed material, question or recruitment change, ethical implications and analytical consequences. Retain previous versions and the revised interview prompts.

If an unexpected experience opens a new line of inquiry, identify the evidence that prompted it. Reflexivity should examine how researcher position affected interpretation, rather than being a ceremonial paragraph.

Report the evolution

Describe the initial plan and subsequent development. Preserve context in supporting and contradictory extracts while protecting identity. COREQ applies to interviews and focus groups, not every qualitative method.

Discuss context and transferability. Traceable interpretation does not require publishing identifiable recordings or transcripts.

Completed teaching worksheet

This is a hypothetical teaching case, not observed data, an actual review or a publication acceptance. Numbers illustrate decisions.

Deliverables and completion checks

• Initial plan identifying open decisions.
• Reflexive and amendment logs linking codes to evidence.
• Method evolution and participant-protection record.

Version and scope references: OSF Support — Registration templates · EQUATOR — COREQ for interviews and focus groups