Journal Article Reporting Standards for Quantitative Research in Psychology

Journal Article Reporting Standards for Quantitative Research in

Psychology: The APA Publications and Communications Board Task

Force Report

Mark Appelbaum

University of California, San Diego

Harris Cooper

Duke University

Rex B. Kline

Concordia University, Montréal

Evan Mayo-Wilson

Johns Hopkins University

Arthur M. Nezu

Drexel University

Stephen M. Rao

Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio

Following a review of extant reporting standards for scientific publication, and reviewing 10

years of experience since publication of the first set of reporting standards by the American

Psychological Association (APA; APA Publications and Communications Board Working

Group on Journal Article Reporting Standards, 2008), the APA Working Group on Quanti-

tative Research Reporting Standards recommended some modifications to the original stan-

dards. Examples of modifications include division of hypotheses, analyses, and conclusions

into 3 groupings (primary, secondary, and exploratory) and some changes to the section on

meta-analysis. Several new modules are included that report standards for observational

studies, clinical trials, longitudinal studies, replication studies, and N-of-1 studies. In addition,

standards for analytic methods with unique characteristics and output (structural equation

modeling and Bayesian analysis) are included. These proposals were accepted by the Publications

and Communications Board of APA and supersede the standards included in the 6th edition of the

Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA, 2010).

Keywords: reporting standards, research methods, meta-analysis, APA Style

The involvement of the American Psychological Associ-

ation (APA) in the establishment of journal article reporting

standards began as part of a mounting concern with trans-

parency in science. The effort of the APA was contempo-

raneous with the development of reporting standards in

other fields, such as the Consolidated Standards of Report-

Mark Appelbaum, Department of Psychology, University of California,

San Diego; Harris Cooper, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience,

Duke University; Rex B. Kline, Department of Psychology, Concordia

University, Montréal, Quebec, Canada; Evan Mayo-Wilson, Bloomberg

School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University; Arthur M. Nezu,

Department of Psychology, Drexel University; Stephen M. Rao, Neuro-

logical Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio.

The authors comprise the APA Publications and Communications Board

Working Group on Quantitative Research Reporting Standards (Mark

Appelbaum, Chair). The order of authorship is alphabetical. This report

was prepared with assistance from David Kofalt, Emily Leonard Ayubi,

and Anne Woodworth. The group thanks Scott Maxwell, Arthur Stone, and

Kenneth J. Sher for their contributions to the 2008 Working Group on

Journal Article Reporting Standards that served as the foundation for this

article. We also thank David Rindskopf, who authored the reporting

standards for the use of Bayesian statistical approaches. We also acknowl-

edge Rick Hoyle, whose 2013 paper with Jennifer Isherwood serves as the

basis for the structural equation modeling reporting standards; Robyn Tate

(Tate, Perdices, Rosenkoetter, McDonald, et al., 2016), lead author of “The

Single-Case Reporting Guideline In BEhavioural Interventions (SCRIBE)

2016 Statement: Explanation and Elaboration” that is the basis of the

N-of-1 reporting standards; Pamela Cole and others from the Society for

Research in Child Development, who advised on the reporting standards

for longitudinal designs; Graeme Porte for his comments on the reporting

standards for replication studies; Bruce Thompson, Cecil Reynolds, and

Ronald Livingston for their comments on reporting standards about psy-

chometrics; and members of the Society for Research Synthesis Method-

ology for advice on the meta-analysis reporting standards.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Mark

Appelbaum, Department of Psychology, University of California, San Diego,

9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093-0109. E-mail: mappelbaum@

ucsd.edu

American Psychologist

0003-066X/18/$12.00 http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/amp0000191

ing Trials (CONSORT; see http://www.consort-statement

.org/) in the medical sciences. Work on the APA standards

began with the appointment of the first Working Group on

Journal Article Reporting Standards (JARS) by the Publi-

cations and Communications (P&C) Board of APA in 2006.

The report of that committee was received by the P&C

Board and subsequently published in the American Psychol-

ogist (APA Publications and Communications Board Work-

ing Group on Journal Article Reporting Standards, 2008).

The content of that report and the article was also incorpo-

rated into the sixth edition of the Publication Manual of the

American Psychological Association (hereinafter referred to

as the Publication Manual; APA, 2010).

In May 2015, the P&C Board of APA authorized the

appointment of two working groups: one to revisit and

expand the work of the original JARS (JARS–Quant Work-

ing Group or Working Group) and the other to establish new

standards for reporting qualitative research (JARS–Qual

Working Group). This report is the result of the delibera-

tions of the JARS–Quant Working Group and both updates

the 2008 article and extends its scope.

Developing New Reporting Standards

The development of reporting standards is an ongoing

process. In selecting the reporting standards to include in

this report, the Working Group tried to balance several

factors. These included perceptions of the frequency of

research involving a particular research strategy, experi-

mental design, or analytic strategy; the extent to which an

approach needed a separate set of reporting standards; and

the state of technical development in the publishing–

archiving domains that would allow for the recommended

standards. The Working Group made judgments that a dif-

ferent group of individuals may not have made and expects

that future groups will continue to develop new standards

and modify some that are in the current document. The list

of uncovered topics is long, and the next JARS–Quant

Working Group may venture into domains that are now just

being developed. One example is the development of re-

porting standards for secondary data analysis. Changes in

attitudes about data sharing, new technologies for data shar-

ing, and emerging ideas about the responsible conduct of

data-sharing ventures make it likely that reporting standards

for secondary data analysis may appear in future versions of

reporting standards. The development of reporting stan-

dards spans many fields and is an international undertaking.

In the process of developing the new standards, the Working

Group took into account standards that had been developed

in many areas and aspired to utilize features of the existing

standards that could be adapted into the scientific needs of

the field.

Between Then and Now

Since about the year 2000, many organizations have created

or further refined their own sets of reporting standards. Where

work on these reporting standards overlap with the work often

done by those in the behavioral, social, and psychological

sciences, the Working Group has chosen to cite (and, on

occasion, incorporate) those standards into JARS–Quant rather

than try to develop a complementary set of reporting standards.

For example, a few words from the Animal Research: Report-

ing of In Vivo Experiments (ARRIVE; Kilkenny et al., 2010)

guidelines have been incorporated into JARS–Quant to make

the two sets of standards for reporting studies using nonhuman

living organisms consistent. In the case of reporting standards

when neuropsychological measurements are used, recent work

on standards for reporting work that includes functional MRI

(fMRI; e.g., Nichols et al., 2017), event-related potential (ERP;

e.g., Picton et al., 2000), and other neuropsychological mea-

sures was cited. On other occasions, sections of other pub-

lished standards have been adapted into the tables, as in the

case of reporting standards for structural equation modeling

(SEM) and N-of-1 studies. Finally, other groups, including the

Society for Research in Child Development and the Society for

Research Synthesis Methodology on longitudinal studies and

meta-analysis, respectively, provided input, as did individuals

with special expertise and insights into a particular issue,

including David Rindskopf for standards for reporting the

results of studies using Bayesian analyses. For those looking

for guidelines for study types not covered in JARS–Quant but

with health outcomes, the Enhancing the QUAlity and Trans-

parency Of health Research (EQUATOR) network (http://www

.equator-network.org/) currently lists more than 300 different

sets of guidelines, including some similar to JARS. The

EQUATOR set contains some guidelines that are general (e.g.,

CONSORT) and some that are very narrowly construed, such

as guidelines for reporting studies specific to disease types.

During the same period, there has been a gathering

movement to register or preregister randomized control

trials and randomized clinical trials (Cybulski, Mayo-

Wilson, & Grant, 2016). Although these registrations are

most commonly found in the medical domain, increas-

ingly they are appearing for trials with psychoeduca-

tional, psychotherapeutic, or related studies. In JARS–

Quant, guidance on where to report the registration

information for studies that are registered is provided.

Some APA journals, at the discretion of their editors, are

now requiring registration of some kinds of clinical trials

to qualify for publication. Routine registration of psycho-

logical studies that involve controlled trials is encouraged

in JARS–Quant. There are several ways that studies can

be registered, particularly using ClinicalTrials.gov (http://

www.clinicaltrials.gov), a registry and results database of

publicly and privately supported clinical studies using

human participants conducted around the world.

APPELBAUM ET AL.

The Structure of JARS–Quant

Recommendations in both the JARS–Quant and the original

JARS follow the same basic structure. These recommendations

are stated in a series of tables that apply either singly or in

combination to cover varying designs of empirical studies.

Over time, additional tables (and modules within tables) may

be added as new reporting standards emerge.

In the current version, there are three general groups of

tables: Tables 1–6, the uses of which are determined by the

nature of the inquiry being reported; Tables 7 and 8, the uses

of which are dictated by specific statistical–quantitative anal-

yses being reported; and Table 9, which contains reporting

standards for research syntheses and meta-analysis. Tables

have been designed to be comprehensive and to apply widely.

For any individual report, the authors would be expected to

select those items that apply to the particular study. Efforts

were made to minimize overlap among tables; however, in

some cases, this was not always possible or even desirable.

Certain items, such as reporting the flow of participants and

participant attrition from studies, appear in multiple tables.

This was done because the implications of reporting this in-

formation may vary over different kinds of studies (e.g., clin-

ical trials vs. longitudinal studies). Figure 1 provides a flow-

chart that shows the decisions that are made in determining

which tables, among Tables 1–6, apply for a particular study.

All tables presume that Table 1 has been completed by the

reporters of the research. The structure for reporting the flow of

participants through each stage of an experiment or quasi-

experiment can be found in the appendix of the Publication

Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed.;

APA, 2010).

The JARS–Quant tables do not specify where this informa-

tion should be reported. The intent is for the information to be

presented without compromising the readability of the paper.

Information that is needed by the reader to understand the

content of the report and evaluate the credibility of the results

and conclusions should be immediately available to the reader

(i.e., in the print version or online main text of the article).

When possible, well-constructed tables can be used to present

this information without disturbing the flow of the text. More

detailed information that would be needed to allow replication

of the empirical data collection or fine-grained understanding

of the content of the article can be successfully provided in the

supplemental materials provided by publishers. These supple-

mental materials however, should be ones freely open to all

readers of the journal article, not just for subscribers.

Providing the information specified in the JARS–Quant

tables is expected to become routine and minimally burden-

some because these data are (or should be) regularly col-

lected in the process of conducting empirical research; thus,

JARS–Quant only represents guidelines for presenting the

already-available data.

Table 1 remains the master table in the JARS–Quant

hierarchy. All other tables involve detailed reporting expec-

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

Step 5

If your study involved an

experimental

manipulation

Follow Table 2

If your study did not

involve an experimental

manipulation

Follow Table 3

If your study was

conducted on a single

individual

Follow Table 5

If your study used

random assignment

to place participants

in conditions

Follow Table 2,

Module A

If your study did not

use random assignment

to place participants in

conditions

Follow Table 2,

Module B

If your study collected data on more than one occasion

Follow Table 4

If your study was intended to be a replication of an earlier study

Follow Table 6

If your study

qualifies as a

clinical trial

Follow Table 2,

Module C

For all studies

Follow Table 1

Figure 1. A flowchart describing the steps in choosing the JARS–Quant tables to complete depending on

research design.

QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH REPORTING STANDARDS

Table 1

Journal Article Reporting Standards (JARS): Information Recommended for Inclusion in Manuscripts That Report New Data

Collections Regardless of Research Design

Paper section and topic Description

Title and title page

Title • Identify main variables and theoretical issues under investigation, the relationships between them. Identify the

populations studied.

Author note • Provide, in the author note, acknowledgment and explanation of any special circumstances, including

• Registration information if the study has been registered

• Use of data also appearing in previous publications

• Prior reporting of the fundamental data in dissertations or conference papers

• Sources of funding or other support

• Relationships or affiliations that may be perceived as conflicts of interest

• Previous (or current affiliation of authors) if different from location where study was conducted

• Contact information for the corresponding author

• Additional information of importance to the reader that may not be appropriately included in other sections of

the paper

Abstract

Objectives • State the problem under investigation.

• Main hypotheses

Participants • Describe subjects (animal research) or participants (human research), specifying their pertinent characteristics for

this study; in animal research, include genus and species. Participants will be described in greater detail in the

body of the paper.

Study method • Describe the study method, including

• Research design (e.g., experiment, observational study)

• Sample size

• Materials used (e.g., instruments, apparatus)

• Outcome measures

• Data-gathering procedures, including a brief description of the source of any secondary data. If the study is a

secondary data analysis, so indicate.

Findings • Report findings, including effect sizes and confidence intervals or statistical significance levels.

Conclusions • State conclusions, beyond just results, and report the implications or applications.

Introduction

Problem • State the importance of the problem, including theoretical or practical implications.

Review of relevant

scholarship

• Provide a succinct review of relevant scholarship, including

• Relation to previous work

• Differences between the current report and earlier reports if some aspects of this study have been reported on

previously

Hypothesis, aims, and

objectives

• State specific hypotheses, aims, and objectives, including

• Theories or other means used to derive hypotheses

• Primary and secondary hypotheses; other planned analyses

• State how hypotheses and research design relate to one another.

Method

Inclusion and exclusion • Report inclusion and exclusion criteria, including any restrictions based on demographic characteristics.

Participant

characteristics

• Report major demographic characteristics (e.g., age, sex, ethnicity, socioeconomic status) as well as important

topic-specific characteristics (e.g., achievement level in studies of educational interventions).

• In the case of animal research, report the genus, species, and strain number or other specific identification, such as

the name and location of the supplier and the stock designation. Give the number of animals and the animals’

sex, age, weight, physiological condition, genetic modification status, genotype, health–immune status; if

known, drug- or test-naïve, and previous procedures to which the animal may have been subjected.

Sampling procedures • Describe procedures for selecting participants, including

• Sampling method if a systematic sampling plan was implemented

• Percentage of sample approached that actually participated

• Whether self-selection into the study occurred (either by individuals or by units, such as schools or clinics)

• Settings and locations where data were collected as well as dates of data collection.

• Agreements and payments made to participants

• Institutional Review Board agreements, ethical standards met, and safety monitoring

APPELBAUM ET AL.

Table 1 (continued)

Paper section and topic Description

Sample size, power,

and precision

• Describe the sample size, power, and precision, including

• Intended sample size

• Achieved sample size, if different from intended sample size

• Determination of sample size, including

• Power analysis, or methods used to determine precision of parameter estimates

• Explanation of any interim analyses and stopping rules employed

Measures and

covariates

• Define all primary and secondary measures and covariates, including measures collected but not included in this

report.

Data collection • Describe methods used to collect data.

Quality of

measurements

• Describe methods used to enhance the quality of measurements, including

• Training and reliability of data collectors

• Use of multiple observations

Instrumentation • Provide information on validated or ad hoc instruments created for individual studies, for example, psychometric

and biometric properties.

Masking • Report whether participants, those administering the experimental manipulations, and those assessing the outcomes

were aware of condition assignments.

• If masking took place, provide statement regarding how it was accomplished and if and how the success of

masking was evaluated.

Psychometrics • Estimate and report values of reliability coefficients for the scores analyzed (i.e., the researcher’s sample), if

possible. Provide estimates of convergent and discriminant validity where relevant.

• Report estimates related to the reliability of measures, including

• Interrater reliability for subjectively scored measures and ratings

• Test–retest coefficients in longitudinal studies in which the retest interval corresponds to the measurement

schedule used in the study

• Internal consistency coefficients for composite scales in which these indices are appropriate for understanding the

nature of the instruments being employed in the study

• Report the basic demographic characteristics of other samples if reporting reliability or validity coefficients from

those sample(s), such as those described in test manuals or in the norming information about the instrument.

Conditions and design • State whether conditions were manipulated or naturally observed. Report the type of design as per the JARS–Quant

tables:

• Experimental manipulation with participants randomized

• Table 2 and Module A

• Experimental manipulation without randomization

• Table 2 and Module B

• Clinical trial with randomization

• Table 2 and Modules A and C

• Clinical trial without randomization

• Table 2 and Modules B and C

• Nonexperimental design (i.e., no experimental manipulation): observational design, epidemiological design,

natural history, and so forth (single-group designs or multiple-group comparisons)

• Table 3

• Longitudinal design

• Table 4

• N-of-1 studies

• Table 5

• Replications

• Table 6

• Report the common name given to designs not currently covered in JARS–Quant.

Data diagnostics • Describe planned data diagnostics, including

• Criteria for post-data collection exclusion of participants, if any

• Criteria for deciding when to infer missing data and methods used for imputation of missing data

• Defining and processing of statistical outliers

• Analyses of data distributions

• Data transformations to be used, if any

Analytic strategy • Describe the analytic strategy for inferential statistics and protection against experiment-wise error for

• Primary hypotheses

• Secondary hypotheses

• Exploratory hypotheses

Results

Participant flow • Report the flow of participants, including

• Total number of participants in each group at each stage of the study

• Flow of participants through each stage of the study (include figure depicting flow when possible; see Figure 2)

(table continues)

QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH REPORTING STANDARDS

tations for specific kinds of designs and for use with specific

statistical approaches. The reporting standards for re-

search synthesis and meta-analyses are self-contained in

Table 9. In essence, Table 1 covers the basic features for

reporting all forms of quantitative empirical studies. It is

organized around the usual structure of a journal article

found in the behavioral and psychological sciences liter-

ature. Whether individual items are reported in the text of

the article or in archived supplemental materials depends

on the flow of the article. Much of Table 1 is similar to

that of the original JARS Table 1, but some important

changes are noted next.

Changes in Table 1

The Method section of the JARS–Quant Table 1 contains

subsections on Data Diagnostics and Analytic Strategy.

These subsections were added for two reasons. First, they

highlight the importance of including in reports descriptions

of ways in which, if any, a data set has been modified prior

to data analysis. These modifications could include, for

example, the exclusion of data, imputation of missing data,

identification and adjustment of statistical outliers, and the

application of data transformations to alter the distribution

of data points. These subsections are included in the Method

Table 1 (continued)

Paper section and topic Description

Recruitment • Provide dates defining the periods of recruitment and repeated measures or follow-up.

Statistics and data

analysis

• Provide information detailing the statistical and data-analytic methods employed, including

• Missing data

• Frequency or percentages of missing data

• Empirical evidence and/or theoretical arguments for the causes of data that are missing, for example, missing

completely at random (MCAR), missing at random (MAR), or missing not at random (MNAR)

• Methods actually employed for addressing missing data, if any

• Descriptions of each primary and secondary outcome, including the total sample and each subgroup that includes

the number of cases, cell means, standard deviations, and other measures that characterize the data employed.

• Inferential statistics, including

• Results of all inferential tests conducted, including exact p values if null hypothesis statistical testing (NHST)

methods were employed, including reporting the minimally sufficient set of statistics (e.g., dfs, mean square

[MS] effect, MS error) needed to construct the tests

• Effect-size estimates and confidence intervals on those estimates that correspond to each inferential test

conducted, when possible

• Clear differentiation between primary hypotheses and their tests–estimates, secondary hypotheses and their

tests–estimates, and exploratory hypotheses and their test–estimates

• Complex data analyses, for example, structural equation modeling analyses (see also Table 8), hierarchical linear

models, factor analysis, and multivariate analyses, and so forth, including

• Details of the models estimated

• Associated variance–covariance (or correlation) matrix or matrices

• Identification of the statistical software used to run the analyses (e.g., SAS PROC GLM, or the particular R

library program)

• Estimation problems (e.g., failure to converge, bad solution spaces), regression diagnostics, or analytic anomalies

that were detected and solutions to those problems.

• Other data analyses performed, including adjusted analyses, if performed, indicating those that were planned and

those that were not planned (though not necessarily in the level of detail of primary analyses).

• Report any problems with statistical assumptions and/or data distributions that could affect the validity of findings.

Discussion

Support of original

hypotheses

• Provide a statement of support or nonsupport for all hypotheses whether primary or secondary, including

• Distinction by primary and secondary hypotheses

• Discussion of the implications of exploratory analyses in terms of both substantive findings and error rates that

may be uncontrolled

Similarity of results • Discuss similarities and differences between reported results and work of others.

Interpretation • Provide an interpretation of the results, taking into account

• Sources of potential bias and threats to internal and statistical validity

• Imprecision of measurement protocols

• Overall number of tests or overlap among tests

• Adequacy of sample sizes and sampling validity

Generalizability • Discuss generalizability (external validity) of the findings, taking into account

• Target population (sampling validity)

• Other contextual issues (setting, measurement, time; ecological validity)

Implications • Discuss implications for future research, program, or policy.

Note. Tables have been designed to be comprehensive and to apply widely. For any individual report, the author would be expected to select those items

that apply to the particular study.

APPELBAUM ET AL.

section of Table 1 because the criteria and methods used to

make such modifications should be established prior to data

analysis. If such modifications occur after data analysis has

begun, this should be mentioned in the report and a clear

rationale for the post hoc modifications should be provided.

In addition, the unmodified data set should be retained and

made available for verification purposes. Researchers mak-

ing post hoc modifications should describe results based on

both the modified and the unmodified data sets (however,

one of the two sets of analyses could be included in sup-

plemental materials).

Second, the subsections of Method in Table 1 emphasize the

designation of hypotheses as of primary, secondary, and ex-

ploratory interest. These designations are meant to help convey

to readers how experiment-wise results, of both null hypothesis

significance tests and effect-size estimations, might be influ-

enced by chance. This distinction in hypotheses is also re-

flected in changes to the JARS–Quant that appear in the

subsections on Statistical and Data Analysis and Discussion in

Table 1.

Animal research. References to animal research in

Table 1 have been slightly modified to include the words

genetic modification status, genotype, health–immune

status, drug- or test-naïve, and previous procedures to

make JARS–Quant consistent with the reporting stan-

dards included in ARRIVE (Kilkenny et al., 2010).

Psychometrics. When describing psychometric charac-

teristics, authors should use language that is consistent with

the recommendations of the most recent standards for edu-

cational and psychological testing (American Educational

Research Association, American Psychological Associa-

tion, & National Council on Measurement in Education,

2014). Specifically, the term reliability should refer to test

scores in particular samples and not to tests or testing

instruments. Likewise, the term validity should refer not to

a test but to the proposed interpretations of test scores

(Reynolds & Livingston, 2012). That is, reliability and

validity are not properties of tests that are invariant across

all samples or proposed score interpretations (Thompson,

2003). Best practice is to estimate both reliability and va-

lidity, when possible, within the researcher’s sample or

samples (i.e., the scores analyzed). If the report includes

values of reliability or validity coefficients from other pub-

lished or unpublished sources, then these should be directly

compared with the characteristics of the researcher’s sam-

ple. Finally, the report should contain the appropriate types

of score reliability coefficients, given the characteristics of

the test, design, or analysis (see Slaney, Tkatchouk, Gabriel,

& Maraun, 2009, for more information).

Neural measurement techniques. Although there are

no changes in the content of Table 1 concerning neural mea-

surement techniques, the variety of such techniques (including

electroencephalogram [EEG], fMRI, magnetoencephalogra-

phy [MEG], ERP, etc.) and their use have increased greatly in

the past 2 decades. Alongside these developments in the tech-

niques, sets of reporting standards for them have emerged. The

JARS–Quant Working Group does not specifically endorse

these independent standards but recognizes their value for

reporting details of data collection and processing that are

outside of the purview of this report.

When reporting the results of studies using this class of

measurements, researchers must make full information about

the technique accessible, including advanced data-processing

information, either in the text of the paper or in the supple-

mental materials (usually the latter). These reporting expecta-

tions are in addition to those that would be expected in studies

that do not employ this set of measurements. Other than the

changes noted above, all of the other elements in the original

Table 1 remain in full application, including the use of subject

flow diagrams as illustrated in Figure 2. No items in the

original Table 1 were eliminated.

Reporting Standards for Studies With an

Experimental Manipulation

Listed in Table 2 are reporting standards for studies in which

there is an experimental manipulation. Presented in Table 2 are

additional modules that then further refine reporting standards

for cases when assignment of participants to manipulation is

done by a random process (Module A), when assignment is

nonrandom (Module B), or when the study is a randomized

clinical trial or a randomized control trial (Module C). Table 2

with Modules A and B were all present in the original JARS

but have been slightly revised. Module C on reporting stan-

dards for clinical trials is new to JARS–Quant.

Clinical Trials

Listed in Table 2 Module C are the new additional re-

porting standards for formal clinical trials. There are two

similar terms used to describe a wide class of studies with

experimental manipulations: randomized control trials and

randomized clinical trials (which are a subset of random-

ized control trials). In the literature, there is a tendency to

use both terms interchangeably—however, a randomized

clinical trial is a subset of the larger universe of randomized

controlled trials. Module C includes reporting standards for

clinical trials because certain investigations do require re-

searchers to use these reporting standards. It would not be

required for the reporting or registration of a more general

randomized control trial, for example, in a university setting

aimed at evaluating the efficacy of a new approach to teach

calculus skills among college students; however, registra-

tion of studies with nonhealth outcomes may nevertheless

be desirable.

In this context, a clinical trial is a research investigation

that evaluates the effects of one or more health-related

interventions (e.g., psychotherapy, medication, or a diet

QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH REPORTING STANDARDS

intervention) on health outcomes (e.g., depression or diabe-

tes) by prospectively assigning humans or groups of people

to various experimental conditions. Assignment or alloca-

tion can be accomplished either randomly or nonrandomly

(see Table 2, Modules A and B). Although the original

JARS Table 1 included reporting standards that covered

many aspects of a clinical trial, there are additional require-

ments for modern clinical trials. Thus, Module C was added

to JARS–Quant.

One important difference concerns increased calls, both

nationally and internationally, for clinical trial registration.

This involves providing information to a registry about the

Assessed for eligibility (n = )

Enrollment

Assignment

Excluded (total n = ) because

Did not meet inclusion criteria

(n = )

Refused to participate

(n = )

Other reasons

(n = )

Assigned to experimental group

(n = )

Received experimental manipulation

(n = )

Did not receive experimental

manipulation

(n = )

Give reasons

Assigned to comparison group

(n = )

Received comparison manipulation

(if any)

(n = )

Did not receive comparison manipulation

(n = )

Give reasons

Lost to follow-up

(n = )

Give reasons

Discontinued participation

(n = )

Give reasons

Follow-Up

Lost to follow-up

(n = )

Give reasons

Discontinued participation

(n = )

Give reasons

Analyzed (n = )

Excluded from analysis (n = )

Give reasons

Analysis

Analyzed ( n =)

Excluded from analysis ( n =)

Give reasons

Figure 2. Flow of participants through each stage of an experiment or quasi-experiment. This flowchart is an

adaptation of the flowchart offered by the CONSORT Group (Schulz, Altman, Moher, & the CONSORT Group,

2010).

APPELBAUM ET AL.

Table 2

Reporting Standards for Studies With an Experimental Manipulation (in Addition to Material Presented in Table 1)

Paper section and topic Description

General principles

Method

Experimental manipulations • Provide details of the experimental manipulation(s) intended for each study condition, including

comparison conditions, and how and when experimental manipulations were actually administered,

including

• Content of the specific experimental manipulations (if experimental manipulation is part of a clinical

trial, address Module C)

• Summary or paraphrasing of instructions, unless they are unusual or compose the experimental

manipulation, in which case they may be presented verbatim

• Method of experimental manipulation delivery

• Description of apparatus and materials used and their function in the experiment

• Specialized equipment by model and supplier

• Deliverer: who delivered the experimental manipulations

• Level of professional training

• Level of training in specific experimental manipulations

• Number of deliverers, and in the case of experimental manipulations, the M, SD, and range of number

of individuals–units treated by each

• Setting: where the manipulations or experimental manipulations occurred

• Exposure quantity and duration: how many sessions, episodes, or events were intended to be delivered

and how long they were intended to last

• Time span: how long it took to deliver the experimental manipulation to each unit

• Activities to increase compliance or adherence (e.g., incentives)

• Use of language other than English and the translation method

• Sufficient detail to allow for replication, including reference to or a copy of the manual of procedures.

If the manual of procedures is available, and how others may obtain it

Units of delivery and analysis • State the unit of delivery (how participants were grouped during delivery).

• Describe the smallest unit that was analyzed (and in the case of experiments, that was randomly assigned

to conditions) to assess experimental manipulation effects (e.g., individuals, work groups, classes).

• Describe the analytical method used to account for this (e.g., adjusting the standard error estimates by the

design effect or using multilevel analysis) if the unit of analysis differed from the unit of deliver.

Results

Participant flow • Report the total number of groups (if experimental manipulation was administered at the group level) and

the number of participants assigned to each group, including

• Number of participants approached for inclusion

• Number of participants who began the experiment

• Number of participants who did not complete the experiment or crossed over to other conditions, with

reasons

• Number of participants included in primary analyses

• Include a figure describing the flow of participants through each stage of the study (see Figure 2).

Treatment fidelity • Provide evidence on whether the experimental manipulation was implemented as intended.

Baseline data • Describe baseline demographic and clinical characteristics of each group.

Adverse events and side effects • Report all important adverse events or side effects in each experimental condition. If none, state so.

Discussion • Discuss results, taking into account the mechanism by which the experimental manipulation was intended

to work (causal pathways) or alternative mechanisms.

• Discuss the success of, and barriers to, implementing the experimental manipulation; fidelity of

implementation if an experimental manipulation is involved.

• Discuss generalizability (external validity and construct validity) of the findings, taking into account

• Characteristics of the experimental manipulation

• How, what outcomes were measured

• Length of follow-up

• Incentives

• Compliance rates

• Describe the theoretical or practical significance of outcomes and the basis for these interpretations.

Module A: Reporting standards for studies using random assignment

Method

Random assignment method • Describe the unit of randomization and the procedure used to generate the random assignment sequence,

including details of any restriction (e.g., blocking, stratification).

Random assignment implementation

and concealment

• State whether and how the sequence was concealed until experimental manipulations were assigned,

including who

• Generated the assignment sequence

• Enrolled participants

(table continues)

QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH REPORTING STANDARDS

Table 2 (continued)

Paper section and topic Description

• Assigned participants to groups

Masking • Report whether participants, those administering the experimental manipulations, and those assessing the

outcomes were aware of condition assignments.

• Provide a statement regarding how any masking (if it took place) was accomplished and whether and how

the success of masking was evaluated.

Statistical methods • Describe statistical methods used to compare groups on primary outcome(s).

• Describe statistical methods used for additional analyses, such as subgroup comparisons and adjusted

analysis.

• Describe statistical methods used for mediation or moderation analyses, if conducted.

Module B: Reporting standards for studies using nonrandom assignment

Method

Assignment method • Report the unit of assignment (i.e., the unit being assigned to study conditions; e.g., individual, group,

community).

• Describe the method used to assign units to study conditions, including details of any restriction (e.g.,

blocking, stratification, minimization).

• State procedures employed to help minimize selection bias (e.g., matching, propensity score matching).

Masking • Report whether participants, those administering the experimental manipulation, and those assessing the

outcomes were aware of condition assignments.

• Report whether masking took place. Provide a statement regarding how it was accomplished and how the

success of masking was evaluated, if it was evaluated.

Statistical methods • Describe statistical methods used to compare study groups on primary outcome(s), including complex

methods for correlated data.

• Describe statistical methods used for any additional analyses conducted, such as subgroup analyses and

adjusted analysis (e.g., methods for modeling pretest differences and adjusting for them).

• Describe statistical methods used for mediation or moderation analyses, if these analyses were used.

Module C: Reporting standards for studies involving clinical trials

Title and title page • State whether trial was registered prior to implementation.

Abstract • State whether the trial was registered. If the trial was registered, state where and include the registration

number.

• Describe public health implications of trial results.

Introduction • State the rationale for evaluating specific intervention(s) for a given clinical problem, disorder, or

variable.

• Describe the approach, if any, to assess mediators and moderators of treatment effects.

• Describe potential public health implications of study.

• State how results from current study can advance knowledge in this area.

Method

Participant characteristics • State the method(s) of ascertaining how participants met all inclusion and exclusion criteria, especially if

assessing clinical diagnosis(es).

Sampling procedures • Provide details regarding similarities and differences of data collection locations if multisite study.

Measures • State whether clinical assessors were

• Involved in providing treatment for studies involving clinical assessments

• Aware or unaware of assignment to condition at post-treatment and follow-up assessment(s); (if

unaware, how was this accomplished?)

Experimental interventions • Report whether the study protocol was publicly available (e.g., published) prior to enrolling participants;

if so, where and when.

• Describe how intervention in this study differed from the “standard” approach in order to tailor it to a

new population (e.g., differing age, ethnicity, comorbidity).

• Describe any materials (e.g., clinical handouts, data recorders) provided to participants and how

information about them can obtained (e.g., URL address).

• Describe any changes to the protocol during the course of the study, including all changes to the

intervention, outcomes, and methods of analysis.

• Describe the Data and Safety Monitoring Board.

• Describe any stopping rules.

Treatment fidelity • Describe method and results regarding treatment deliverers’ (e.g., therapists) adherence to the planned

intervention protocol (e.g., therapy manual).

• Describe method and results of treatment deliverers’ (e.g., therapists) competence in implementing the

planned intervention protocol (e.g., therapy manual).

• Describe (if relevant) method and results regarding whether participants (i.e., treatment recipients)

understood and/or followed treatment recommendations (e.g., did they comprehend what the treatment

was intended to do, complete homework assignments if given, and/or practice activities assigned outside

of the treatment setting?).

APPELBAUM ET AL.

study prior to its implementation as well as a summary of

results upon its completion. Trial registration can enhance

transparency by providing a complete description of the trial

to both the scientific community and the general public.

From an ethical perspective, the Declaration of Helsinki,

which is the set of ethical principles regarding human ex-

perimentation developed by the World Medical Association

(2013), stated that “every clinical trial must be registered in

a publicly accessible database before recruitment of the first

subject” (p. 2193). Trial registration also helps minimize

publication bias and selective reporting of results. As of

January 18, 2017, all clinical trials, funded in whole or in

part by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), must be

registered in ClinicalTrials.gov. A clinical trial is defined

by NIH as a “research study in which one or more human

subjects are prospectively assigned to one or more interven-

tions (which may include placebo or other control) to eval-

uate the effects of those interventions on health-related

biomedical or behavioral outcomes” (NIH, 2014, para. 4).

Relevant to the majority of clinical trials conducted by psy-

chologists, this definition includes various types of psychother-

apy and psychosocial interventions (e.g., cognitive therapy,

diet, exercise, problem-solving training) as well as delivery

systems (e.g., telemedicine, face-to-face interviews). Addi-

tional information can be found in FAQs on the NIH website

(http://www.grants.nih.gov/clinicaltrials_fdaaa/faq.htm#5052).

On an international basis, the World Health Organization

(WHO) manages the International Clinical Trials Registry

Platform (http://www.who.int/ictrp/trial_reg/en/), which pro-

vides a way to search ClinicalTrials.gov and other registries.

Information about where a trial is registered should be reported

on the title page, in the abstract, and in the reporting of the

experimental manipulation. A second issue involves the

difference in the amount of information necessary to ade-

quately describe the experimental manipulation imple-

mented in a clinical trial. This can include details regarding

one or more psychotherapy treatment conditions as well as

any comparators and control conditions.

In addition, because of the potential variability in perfor-

mance among both assessors or data gatherers of clinical

information (e.g., those conducting complex clinical inter-

views) and psychotherapists or interventionists, more de-

tails are usually requested. One issue involves taking steps

to monitor how the intervention was delivered. This is often

referred to as treatment integrity or fidelity, and includes the

degree to which the planned intervention (e.g., as described

in a treatment manual) was delivered by a therapist (e.g., did

the individuals implementing the experimental manipula-

tion follow the protocol?) and taken-up by participants (e.g.,

did the clients attend all sessions?; see Borrelli, 2011; Mont-

gomery, Underhill, Gardner, Operario, & Mayo-Wilson,

2013; Nezu & Nezu, 2008). This information would be

reported in the Results section.

Of particular importance, highlighted in this new module is

the need to report mild to severe adverse events, or occurrences

more likely to happen when evaluating interventions meant to

affect health outcomes compared with other types of research

investigations. Recent research has indicated that few behav-

ioral health intervention studies monitor and report adverse

events other than serious occurrences, such as suicide or hos-

pitalization (see Peterson, Roache, Raj, & Young-McCaughan,

2012; for the STRONG STAR Consortium). Increased distress

symptomatology or the negative effects of treatment on others

are rarely reported (Duggan, Parry, McMurran, Davidson, &

Dennis, 2014). Without such information, patients are unable

to ascertain the full array of possible risks or benefits of

psychological interventions, clinicians are unable to determine

the valence and direction of a benefit–harm analysis, and the

ability of policymakers and professional organizations to de-

velop valid clinical practice guidelines is severely hampered.

Such information, even including a statement that no adverse

effects occurred, would be reported in the Results section.

Nonexperimental Research

Table 3 is new to JARS–Quant and deals with reporting

standards for studies in which no variables are manipulated.

Instead, the main goal of such studies is to observe, de-

scribe, classify, or analyze the naturally occurring relations

between variables of interest. These studies are sometimes

Table 2 (continued)

Paper section and topic Description

• Describe any additional methods used to enhance treatment fidelity.

Research design • Provide rationale for length of follow-up assessment.

Results • Describe how treatment fidelity (i.e., therapist adherence and competence ratings) and participant

adherence was related to intervention outcome.

• Describe method of assessing clinical significance, including if the threshold for clinical significance was

prespecified (e.g., as part of a publicly available protocol).

• Identify possible differences in treatment effects due to intervention deliverer.

• Describe possible differences in treatment effects due to data collection site if multisite study.

• Describe results of analyses of moderation–mediation effects, if tested.

• Explain why study was discontinued, if appropriate.

• Describe frequency and type of adverse effects that occurred (or state that none occurred).

Discussion • Describe how this study advances knowledge about the intervention, clinical problem, and/or population.

QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH REPORTING STANDARDS

called observational, correlational,ornatural history stud-

ies. Given the nature of the research question, such studies

may have different designs or sampling plans (e.g., prospec-

tive, retrospective, case-control, cohort, cohort-sequential).

They include single-group studies, in which relations

among attributes in a naturally occurring group are analyzed

as well as studies in which comparisons are made across

two or more naturally occurring groups on variables of

interest. Reporting guidelines in Table 3 were informed, in

part, by the STrengthening the Reporting of OBservational

studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) reporting standards

(http://www.strobe-statement.org/index.php). As with other

tables, Table 3 is intended to be used along with Table 1.

Longitudinal Research

In almost all cases, a longitudinal study (Table 4)

employs one of the basic study designs but the same

Table 3

Reporting Standards for Studies Using No Experimental Manipulation (Single-Group Designs, Natural-Group Comparisons, etc.; in

Addition to Material Presented in Table 1)

Paper section and topic Description

Title/Abstract

Study design • Describe the design of the study.

Data use • State the type of data used.

Method

Participant selection • Describe the method(s) of selecting participants (i.e., the units to be observed, classified, etc.), including

• Method(s) of selecting participants for each group (e.g., methods of sampling, place of recruitment) and the number

of cases in each group

• Matching criteria (e.g., propensity score), if matching was used

• Identify data sources used (e.g., sources of observations, archival records), and if relevant, include codes or algorithms

to select participants or link records.

Variables • Define all variables clearly, including

• Exposure

• Potential predictors, confounders, and effect modifiers

• State how each variable was measured.

Comparability of

assessment

• Describe comparability of assessment across groups (e.g., the likelihood of observing or recording an outcome in each

group for reasons unrelated to the effect of the intervention).

Analysis • Describe how predictors, confounders, and effect modifiers were included in the analysis.

Discussion

Limitations • Describe potential limitations of the study. As relevant, describe the possibility of misclassification, unmeasured

confounding, and changing eligibility criteria over time.

Table 4

Reporting Standards for Longitudinal Studies (in Addition to Material Presented in Table 1)

Paper section and topic Description

General reporting expectation

Sample characteristics

(when appropriate)

• Describe reporting (sampling or randomization) unit—individual, dyad, family, classroom:

• N per group, age, and sex distribution

• Ethnic composition

• Socioeconomic status, home language, immigrant status, education level, and family characteristics

• Country, region, city, and geographic characteristics

Sample recruitment and

retention methods

Attrition • Report attrition at each wave, breaking down reasons for attrition.

• Report any differential attrition by major sociodemographic and experimental condition.

Additional sample

description

• Report any contextual changes for participants (units) as the study progressed (school closures–mergers,

major economic changes; for long-term studies, major social changes that may need explanation for

contemporary readers to understand the context of the study during its early years).

Method and measurement • Specify independent variables and dependent variables at each wave of data collection.

• Report the years in which each wave of the data collection occurred.

Missing data • Report the amount of missing data and how issues of missing data where handled analytically.

Analysis • Specify analytic approaches utilized and assumptions made in performing these analyses.

Multiple publication • Provide information on where any portions of the data have been previously published and the degree of

overlap with current report.

APPELBAUM ET AL.

experimental unit or units are observed on the same

response variables on more than one occasion. In these

studies, the objective is usually to understand the

occasion-changes either in and of themselves or as func-

tions of other influences. As used here, longitudinal

designs are distinct from three other similar designs.

Rather than the passage of time (or some other metric),

occasion might also refer to experimental manipulations

such as dosage level, experimental condition, and so

forth, and may occur within a single session or in differ-

ent sessions. The latter kinds of designs are often called

within-subject designs and generally have different re-

porting standards than for what is being referred to here

as longitudinal studies. Although all longitudinal studies

are within-subject, not all within-subject designs are lon-

gitudinal. Also, there are designs in which the same

experimental units are measured on several different de-

pendent variables at various points during a single ses-

sion, but no attribute is measured on more than one

occasion. These are multivariate outcome studies, and

reporting standards for longitudinal studies do not gen-

erally apply to such studies. Finally, there are time-series

experiments that generally have their own reporting stan-

dards.

Longitudinal studies come in many different shapes

and forms and are traditionally, but not uniquely, seen in

developmental, geriatric, and educational studies as well

as in clinical trials. These studies may typically involve

some preintervention measures, an intervention, and then

one or more postintervention measures. Other longitudi-

nal studies may involve a selection of cases at a particular

time or event and then repeated observations of these

participants on a prespecified schedule (which may or

may not be the actual achieved schedule). The prespeci-

fied schedule may be time or event based.

Some work has been published on reporting standards

for longitudinal studies (Tooth, Ware, Bain, Purdie, &

Dobson, 2005), but most of these are designed to report

studies that arise from epidemiology. To develop report-

ing standards that would reflect longitudinal studies in

the behavioral sciences, several organizations were con-

sulted, including the Governing Council of the Society

for Research in Child Development. The Working Group

received assistance from the Governing Council of the

Society for Research in Child Development in creating

standards for reporting longitudinal studies.

As with other reporting standards, those for longitudi-

nal studies can be divided into two general classes: (a)

those items that are required for a well-trained reader to

be able to make decisions concerning the validity and

scope of application of the findings as the article is being

read, and (b) those details that might be necessary for a

fine-grained understanding of the work and its possible

replication. Information of the first type should appear in

the body of the paper, whereas the more fine-grained

information can be made available in the supplemental

materials. Because most longitudinal studies are, at any

one measuring instance, a traditional experimental or

observational design, the reporting standards for that

class of design also would be expected to be followed in

the report. In addition, any materials that pertain to the

entire study (e.g., a study registration number) would be

expected to appear as it would in a nonlongitudinal

study.

It is expected that when important conditions change from

observational period to observational period (e.g., a test

form is changed, a new measure that is purportedly mea-

suring a similar or the same construct is substituted for an

earlier measure, when major life events occur such as family

structure changes for some participants), these will be

clearly noted. In such cases, the dates of data collection

(e.g., years 2010–2015) should be given.

N-of-1

A class of studies (see Table 5) known as N-of-1 exper-

imental designs (also known as single-case studies) are

commonly employed in many areas of behavioral and edu-

cational research, but there has been limited specification of

reporting standards for this class of design. In addition,

there is ample evidence of incomplete reporting in single-

case intervention research (e.g., Barker, Mellalieu, McCar-

thy, Jones, & Moran, 2013; Didden, Korzilius, van Oor-

souw, & Sturmey, 2006; Maggin, Chafouleas, Goddard, &

Johnson, 2011; Smith, 2012; Tate, Perdices, McDonald,

Togher, & Rosenkoetter, 2014).

Although reporting guidelines for N-of-1 trials currently

exist (CONSORT Extension for N-of-1 Trials [CENT];

Shamseer et al., 2015; Vohra et al., 2015), no reporting

guidelines have been available specifically for behavioral

science research. The SCRIBE 2016 guideline (Single-Case

Reporting Guideline In BEhavioural interventions) was de-

veloped to address this need (Tate, Perdices, Rosenkoetter,

McDonald, et al., 2016; Tate, Perdices, Rosenkoetter, Shad-

ish, et al., 2016). The SCRIBE 2016 guideline provides

researchers who conduct single-case experiments with a

minimum standard, in the form of a 26-item checklist, with

which they can write their reports clearly and accurately.

The SCRIBE 2016 guideline is intended to be used in the

four prototypical designs often used in single-case experi-

ments: withdrawal–reversal, multiple baseline, alternating–

simultaneous treatments, and changing criterion as well as

combinations and variants of the designs. Two primary

articles on the SCRIBE 2016 are available: (a) a SCRIBE

Statement (Tate, Perdices, Rosenkoetter, Shadish, et al.,

2016) that describes the methodology of their development,

and (b) an explanation and elaboration article (Tate, Perdi-

ces, Rosenkoetter, McDonald, et al., 2016) that provides a

QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH REPORTING STANDARDS

rationale for each of the 26 items, along with examples from

the literature of adequate reporting of the items.

The SCRIBE 2016 checklist will provide researchers,

authors, reviewers, and editors involved in the publication

of results of single-case trials with a tool to measure the

clarity and accuracy of reporting. The checklist is also

expected to facilitate the replication of these studies. In

Table 5, a portion of the SCRIBE 2016 formulation is

summarized. In this table, which is intended to be used in

conjunction with Table 1 and the Table 2 modules, those

elements of SCRIBE 2016 that are unique to the single-case

design are summarized.

Studies Reporting Replications

Reproducibility is a core scientific principle. Increasingly,

there have been efforts to make replication more likely,

including the adoption of reporting standards such as these,

policy changes in journals to include publication of repli-

cation studies as part of their primary mission, and so forth

(Begley & Ellis, 2012; Nosek & Lakens, 2013; Open Sci-

ence Collaboration, 2015). At the same time, there is a

necessity to ensure that the replication studies themselves

are reported in such a way that readers can easily understand

what was done and how to evaluate the claims made in

those replication studies (See Table 6). These standards

concern external replication, which occurs when research-

ers state that a study being reported is a repetition of one or

more specific, previously published, or archived studies.

They do not apply to internal replication, which involves

cross-validation of analyses within the same sample or the

use of resampling or randomization procedures, such as

bootstrapping, that recombine or generate cases to estimate

the statistical precision of specific estimators.

Reporting should highlight the comparisons between

the original and replication studies such that sufficient

detail is provided to permit evaluation of whether any

differences in outcomes between the original and the

replication study are due to differences such as in par-

ticipants, conditions, measures, methods of analysis, or

other factors induced into the replication study. More

information about terms and concepts mentioned in these

standards is available in Mackey (2012) and Maxwell,

Lau, and Howard (2015).

Reporting Standards for Some

Quantitative Procedures

Although reporting standards are generally associated

with entire research designs, some quantitative proce-

dures are of sufficient complexity and open to such

internal variation that additional information (beyond just

the name of the technique and a few parameters) needs to

be reported for the reader to be able to fully comprehend

the analysis. Researchers may need additional informa-

tion to evaluate the conclusions that the authors have

drawn or replicate the analysis with their own data.

Structural Equation Modeling

Structural equation modeling (SEM) is a family of statistical

techniques that involve the specification of a structural or

measurement model, given relevant theory and previous em-

pirical results. These statistical techniques will include a series

of analytic steps that estimate effects represented in the model

(parameters) and evaluate the extent of correspondence be-

tween the model and data. Hoyle and Isherwood (2013) de-

veloped standards for studies in which results of SEM analyses

are reported (see Table 7). These standards take the form of a

comprehensive description of data preparation, specification of

the initial model(s), estimation, model fit assessment, respeci-

fication of the model(s), and the reporting of the results. Hoyle

Table 5

Reporting Standards for N-of-1 Studies (in Addition to Material Presented in Table 1)

Paper section and topic Description

Design • Describe the design, including

• Design type (e.g., withdrawal-reversal, multiple-baseline, alternating-treatments, changing-criterion, some

combination thereof, or adaptive design)

• Phases and phase sequence (whether determined a priori or data-driven) and, if applicable, criteria for

phase change

Type of design

Procedural changes • Describe any procedural changes that occurred during the course of the investigation after the start of the

study.

Replication • Describe any planned replication.

Randomization • State whether randomization was used, and if so, describe the randomization method and the elements of the

study that were randomized (e.g., during which phases treatment and control conditions were instituted).

Analysis

Sequence completed • Report for each participant the sequence actually completed, including the number of trials for each session

for each case.

• State when participant(s) who did not complete the sequence stopped and the reason for stopping.

Outcomes and estimation • Report results for each participant, including raw data for each target behavior and other outcomes.

APPELBAUM ET AL.

and Isherwood’s questionnaire was adapted with permission

for inclusion in these revised JARS–Quant reporting stand-

ards.

The standards for SEM studies outlined next are orga-

nized by the sections of the manuscript. Those for the

title, abstract, introduction, Method, and Discussion sec-

tions elaborate on certain points from Table 1 by adding

information more specific to SEM. Standards for the

Results section of manuscripts in which SEM results are

reported concern estimation, evaluation of model fit, and

the reporting of statistical findings. These standards call

on authors to state their justification for choices made

when alternative statistical methods (e.g., maximum like-

lihood vs. a different estimation method) or model testing

strategies (e.g., trimming vs. building) are available. For

respecification, authors should disclose the theoretical or

statistical bases for modifying an initial model. For more

information about best practices in SEM, see Kline

(2016, Chapter 18), Mueller and Hancock (2008), and

Schumaker and Lomax (2016, Chapter 18).

Bayesian Statistics

Bayesian statistical analysis has become a more com-

monly used statistical procedure in behavioral research.

Relatively little has been published to guide authors regard-

ing what information to report when using this class of

analysis. To that end, the JARS–Quant Working Group

invited David Rindskopf to develop a set of reporting stan-

dards for use with Bayesian analysis. These standards are

summarized in Table 8.

Meta-Analysis Reporting Standards

Revisions to the meta-analysis reporting standards

(MARS) were developed in three steps. First, two recent

revisions to other reporting standards for research syntheses

and meta-analysis in the health professions were examined

(Montgomery, Underhill, et al., 2013; Stroup et al., 2000),

as was a published recommendation regarding the reporting

of literature search strategies (Atkinson, Koenka, Sanchez,

Moshontz, & Cooper, 2015). Second, items not represented

on the original MARS were added to the revised MARS

after terminology was changed to reflect that used in the

social sciences. Third, the members of the Society for

Research Synthesis Methodology were asked to examine

the original MARS and to suggest any changes for the

revision. Two members made suggestion that were incor-

porated into the revision. Finally, the revision was vetted

with the JARS–Quant Working Group.

Table 6

Reporting Standards for Replication Studies (in Addition to Material Presented in Table 1)

Paper section

and topic Description

Study type • Report sufficient information both in the study title and, more important, in the text that allows the reader to

determine whether the study is a direct (exact, literal) replication, approximate replication, or conceptual (construct)

replication.

• Indicate whether a replication study has conditions, materials, or procedures that were not part of the original study.

• Describe these new features, where in the study they occur, and their potential impact on the results.

• Report for both the original study and the replication study indications of treatment fidelity.

Participants • Compare the recruitment procedures in the original and replication studies. Note and explain major variations in how

the participants were selected, such as whether the replication study was conducted in a different setting (e.g.,

country or culture) or whether the allocation of participants to groups or conditions is different. Describe

implications of these variations on the results.

• Compare the demographic characteristics of the participants in both studies. If the units of analysis are not people

(cases), such as classrooms, then report the appropriate descriptors of their characteristics.

Instrumentation • Report instrumentation that includes both hardware (apparatus) and “soft” measures used to collect data, including

questionnaires, structured interviews, or psychological tests. Clarify in appropriate subsections of the Method section

any major differences between the original and replication studies.

• Indicate whether questionnaires or psychological tests were translated to another language, and specify the method(s)

used, such as back-translation, to verify that the translation was accurate.

• Report psychometric characteristics of the scores analyzed in the replication study and compare these properties with

those in the original study.

• Specify and compare the informant(s) and method(s) of administration across the two studies. The latter includes the

setting for testing, such as individual versus group administration, and the method of administration, such as paper-

and-pencil versus online.

Analysis • Report results of the same analytical methods (statistical or other quantitative manipulations) used. Results from

additional or different analyses may also be reported. State the statistical criteria for deciding whether the original

results were replicated in the new study. Examples of criteria include statistical significance testing, effect sizes,

confidence intervals, and Bayes factors in Bayesian methods. Explain decision rules when multiple criteria, such as

significance testing with effect size estimation, are employed. State whether the effect size in a power analysis was

specified to equal that reported in the original study (conditional power) or whether power was averaged over

plausible values of effect size based on an estimated standard error (predictive power), which takes account of

sampling error.

QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH REPORTING STANDARDS

Table 7

Reporting Standards for Studies Using Structural Equation Modeling

Paper section

and topic Description

Title • Mention the basic mechanism or process reflected in the primary model to which the data are fit.

(Note: The complexity of the multivariate data analyzed in many structural equation modeling (SEM) studies makes it

unlikely that, in most cases, the variables under investigation and the relations between them could be concisely stated in

the title.)

Abstract • Report values for at least two global fit statistics, each from a different class, and include a brief statement about local fit

(residuals). State whether the interpreted model (if any model is retained) is the originally specified model.

Introduction • Describe the primary model to be fitted to the data, and include an explanation of theory or results from previous empirical

studies that support the primary model.

• Point out paths that are especially important, and justify directionality assumptions, such as the claim that X causes Y

instead of the reverse. Do the same for paths of secondary importance.

• State whether respecification is planned, if the primary model is rejected.

Method • State whether the data were collected from research participants or generated by computer simulation.

• Report whether indicators of latent variables were drawn from one questionnaire or from multiple questionnaires.

• Describe, for each questionnaire, whether the indicators are items or total scores across homogeneous sets of items (scales,

parcels), stating how

• Scales were constructed, reporting their psychometrics

• Items were treated in the analysis as continuous or categorical

• Report how the target sample size was determined, including

• Rule of thumb

• Availability of resource constraints

• Results of a priori power analysis

• Estimates of parameter precision used to plan the number of cases with appropriate explanation

• For a power analysis, state

• Target level of power

• Null and alternative hypotheses

• Significance of key parameters

• Fit statistics that figured in the analysis

• Expected population effect sizes

• Report the computer software or algorithm used if the data were generated by simulation, state and justify the sizes of

generated samples, and disclose whether samples were lost because of nonconvergence or inadmissible estimates.

Results • Report data diagnostics, including

• Percentage of missingness (if some data are missing) and how it is distributed across cases and variables

• Empirical evidence or theoretical arguments about causes of missing data (i.e., missing completely at random [MCAR],

missing at random [MAR], or missing not at random [MNAR])

• Evidence that distributional or other assumptions of estimation methods are plausible

Missing data • Indicate the statistical method used to address missingness, such as multiple imputation, full information maximum

likelihood (FIML), substitution of values, or deletion of cases. For multiple imputation or FIML estimates, state whether

variables not included in the model were specified as auxiliary variables.

Distributions • State whether the data were evaluated for estimation methods that assume multivariate normality.

• Report values of statistics that measure univariate or multivariate skewness and kurtosis that support the assumption of

normal distributions.

• If the data were not multivariate normal, state the strategy used to address nonnormality, such as use of a different

estimation method that does not assume normality or use of normalizing transformations of the scores.

Data summary • Report in the manuscript—or make available in the supplemental materials—sufficient summary statistics that allow

secondary analysis, including

• Covariance matrix with means, or a correlation matrix with standard deviations and means for continuous variables

• Polychoric correlation matrix, items thresholds, and the asymptotic covariance matrix for categorical variables

• Indicate whether the case-level data are archived, and provide information about how these data can be accessed by

interested readers.

Specification • Indicate the general approach that best describes the application of SEM, strictly confirmatory, comparison of alternative

models, or model generation.

• Provide the diagram for each model fitted to the data. If the diagram would be overly complex, such as when large

numbers of variables are analyzed, then clearly describe the models in text. A reader should be able to translate the text

description of a model into a diagram.

• Give a full account of the specification for all models to be evaluated, including observed variables, latent variables, fixed

or free parameters, and constrained parameters.

• Report sufficient information, such as tabulations of the numbers of observations versus free parameters, so that the model

degrees of freedom can be derived by the reader.

• Verify that models to be analyzed are actually identified. State the basis for this claim, including the method, rules, or

heuristics used to establish identification.

• State the basis in theory or results of previous empirical studies if a measurement model is part of a larger model.

APPELBAUM ET AL.

The revised MARS (see Table 9) includes six groups of

changes. First, the wording has been revised to clarify

that many sections of the MARS should be completed by

research synthesists whether or not the evidence in their

report is amenable to conducting a meta-analysis. Sec-

ond, additional detail has been added to the description of

the title page and author note. Most important, authors

are now asked to (a) explicitly state whether a possible or

perceived conflict of interest may exist, and (b) provide

the name and document entry number if the work had

been placed in a research register prior to being con-

ducted (e.g., University of York, n.d.). Third, in recog-

nition of the growing number of distinct research ques-

tions with unique techniques to which research syntheses

are now being applied, both the abstract and the intro-

duction sections now ask that authors specify the type of

synthesis being conducted. Fourth, the Search Strategy

section has been expanded to deal directly with the five

types of strategies used most frequently in literature

searches. Details of these searches are now asked for to

allow more precise replication of searches and the eval-

uation of whether biases might exist in the retrieved

literature. Fifth, the section on Coding Procedures has

been expanded to include more information on code

development. The section has also been changed with

regard to reporting of coder reliability. Sixth, a subsec-

tion has been added to the Statistical Methods section

asking for the reporting of recently developed statistical

outcomes of meta-analysis.

Some Final Thoughts

The JARS–Quant formulations, like those of the original

JARS, were developed specifically for use in the social,

behavioral, and educational sciences. They incorporate nu-

merous ideas from other reporting standards, of which there

Table 7 (continued)

Paper section

and topic Description

• Describe fully the specification of the mean structure if the model has a means component.

• Explain the rationale for including error correlations in the model if correlated error terms are specified.

• Explain how the effects are specified if the model includes interaction effects.

• Explain how nonindependence is accounted for in the model for nested data (e.g., occasions within persons, students within

classrooms).

• Describe any comparisons of parameters to be made between groups or occasions, and indicate which parameters are to be

compared if models are fitted to data from multiple groups or occasions.

Estimation • State the software (including version) used in the analysis. Also state the estimation method used and justify its use (i.e.,

whether its assumptions are supported by the data).

• Disclose any default criteria in the software, such as the maximum number of iterations or level of tolerance, that were

adjusted in order to achieve a converged and admissible solution.

• Report any evidence of an inadmissible solution (e.g., error variances less than zero or constrained by the computer at zero;

estimated absolute correlations or proportions of explained variance that exceed 1.0). Explain what was done to deal with

the problem.

Model fit • Report fit statistics or indices about global (omnibus) fit interpreted using criteria justified by citation of most recent

evidence-based recommendations for all models to be interpreted.

• Report information about local fit, such as covariance, standardized, normalized, or correlation residuals, that justify

retaining the model at the level of pairs of observed variables for all interpreted models.

• State the strategy or criteria used to select one model over another if alternative models were compared. Report results of

difference tests for comparisons between alternative models.

• State the test and criterion for testing estimates of individual parameters. If parameter estimated were compared over groups

or occasions, indicate how those comparisons were made.

Respecification • Indicate whether one or more interpreted models was a product of respecification. If so, then describe the method used to

search for misspecified parameters.

• State which parameters were fixed or freed to produce the interpreted model. Also provide a theoretical or conceptual

rationale for parameters that were fixed or freed after specification searching.

• Indicate whether models for which results are presented were specified before or after fitting other models or otherwise

examining the data.

Estimates • Report both unstandardized and standardized estimates for all estimated parameters.

• Report the corresponding standard errors, especially if outcomes of significance testing for individual parameters are

reported. State the cutoffs for levels of statistical significance, if such cutoffs were used.

• Report estimates of indirect effects, both unstandardized and standardized. Also report values of standard errors for indirect

effects, if possible. State and justify the strategy for testing indirect effects.

• Report estimates of interaction effects and also results of follow-up analyses that clarify the underlying pattern for

interpreted interactions. Also report values of standard errors for such interactions.

Discussion • Summarize the modifications to the original model and the bases, theoretical or statistical, for doing so.

• Address the issue of equivalent models that fit the same data as well as retained models or alternative-but-nonequivalent

models that explain the data nearly as well as retained models. Justify the preference for retained models over equivalent or

near-equivalent versions.

QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH REPORTING STANDARDS

are many. As with the original JARS, they share many

features of other widely used systems such as CONSORT.

In many cases, the Working Group has fairly directly

adapted the schema of other systems (e.g., N-of-1 reporting

standards); in other cases, other reporting systems are re-

ferred to without any details (e.g., standards for reporting

measures of neural activities); and in some cases, com-

pletely new standards were developed, sometimes aided by

individuals or groups of individuals who were not members

of the Working Group (e.g., standards for reporting results

using Bayesian analyses, longitudinal studies, and studies

purporting to be replication studies). As in the original

JARS, the ways in which the tables might be used (e.g., as

a formal checklist, as a reference list for editors, authors,

and reviewers) are not specified. Some editors may wish to

develop formal checklists; some educators who teach sci-

entific writing for psychology (see Cooper, 2011) might

wish to utilize the tables as part of classroom handouts. The

purpose of the tables in this article is as a communication

device to organize otherwise complex and numerous

ideas.

No matter the approach, the goal was to provide reporting

standards that would be appropriate for most of the empir-

ical, quantitative research conducted by those individuals

who identify their work, at least in part, as behavioral,

social, or educational science. The intent was to span as

wide a range of work as possible, including randomized

clinical trials, single-case designs, observational studies,

longitudinal studies, research synthesis, and other forms of

empirical study—including qualitative studies and mixed

method studies that were the province of the JARS–Qual

Working Group.

Although the focus for the development of JARS–Quant

was the social, behavioral, and educational sciences, the Work-

ing Group stayed keenly aware that many fields use some of

these domains in their work—medicine, nursing, law, and

Table 8

Reporting Standards for Studies Using Bayesian Techniques

Paper section

and topic Description

Model • Completely specify both the systematic and the stochastic parts of the analyzed model, and give the rationale for

choices of functional forms and distributions.

Distributions • Describe the prior distribution(s) for model parameters of interest. If the priors are informative, state the rationale for

that choice, and conduct a sensitivity analysis to check the dependence of the results on the prior distribution.

• Describe the posterior distribution(s) for substantive model parameters and important functions of the parameters. If

feasible, report the highest posterior density (HPD) interval for each parameter or function.

• Plot or describe the joint distribution if substantive parameters are correlated.

• If predictions are made for observable quantities, make available either the actual predictive distribution and parameter

estimates, report summary statistics that describe the distribution, or a graphical summary.

Likelihood • Describe the unnormalized or normalized likelihood if the prior distribution is informative.

Plots • Include the prior distribution, likelihood, and posterior distribution in a single plot (i.e., a triplot) if the prior

distribution is informative and plots are to be presented.

Decisions • Report the utilities, or costs and benefits, and explain how they were derived if the data are used for decision making

about possible actions. Also provide a sensitivity analysis for various prior distributions or assumptions about

utilities for the decision.

Special cases • Explain the rationale for assuming exchangeability (or conditional exchangeability if there are covariates) for

multilevel analyses. If relevant to the research context, present plots or tables of shrinkage-adjusted estimates and

their confidence intervals.

• Report forest plots or caterpillar plots that include original and shrinkage-corrected estimates of effect sizes for each

study with confidence intervals for meta-analytic summaries. If feasible for the analytic method, provide a

parameter trace plot where shrinkage-adjusted estimates are shown against the standard deviation of the residual

effects, combined with the posterior distribution of the residual variance.

• Describe the details of all decision rules, if these rules were decided (before or during the study), and the

consequences (results) of each decision in adaptive designs.

Computations • Describe in detail, including the number of chains, the number of burn-in iterations for each chain, and thinning if

Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) or another sampling procedure is used. Specify the methods used to check for

convergence and their results.

Model fit • Describe the procedures used to check the fit of the model, and the results of those checks.

Bayes factors • Specify the models being compared if Bayes Factors are calculated.

• Report the Bayes Factors and how they were interpreted.

• Test the sensitivity of the Bayes Factors to assumptions about prior distributions.

Bayesian model

averaging

• State the parameter or function of parameters being estimated in Bayesian model averaging. Either plot the distribution

or list the mean and standard deviation if it is near normal; otherwise, list a number of percentiles for the

distribution if it is not near normal.

• Describe how the models were generated and if a reduced set was used for averaging, how the selection was made

and which models were used in the averaging.

APPELBAUM ET AL.

Table 9

Information Recommended for Inclusion in Manuscripts Reporting Meta-Analyses

Paper section and

topic Description

Title • State the research question and type of research synthesis (e.g., narrative synthesis, meta-analysis).

Author note • List all sources of monetary and in-kind funding support; state the role of funders in conducting the synthesis and deciding

to publish the results, if any.

• Describe possible conflicts of interest, including financial and other nonfinancial interests.

• Give the place where the synthesis is registered and its registry number, if registered.

• Provide name, affiliation, and e-mail address of corresponding author.

Abstract

Objectives • State the research problems, questions, or hypotheses under investigation.

Eligibility criteria • Describe the characteristics for inclusion of studies, including independent variables (treatments, interventions), dependent

variables (outcomes, criteria), and eligible study designs.

Methods of

synthesis

• Describe the methods for synthesizing study results, including

• Statistical and other methods used to summarize and to compare studies

• Specific methods used to integrate studies if a meta-analysis was conducted (e.g., effect-size metric, averaging method,

the model used in homogeneity analysis)

Results • State the results of the synthesis, including

• Number of included studies and participants, and their important characteristics

• Results for the primary outcome(s) and moderator analyses

• Effect size(s) and confidence interval(s) associated with each analysis if aa meta-analysis was conducted

Conclusions • Describe strengths and limitations of the evidence, including evidence of inconsistency, imprecision, risk of bias in the

included studies and risk of reporting biases.

Introduction

Problem • State the question or relation(s) under investigation, including

• Historical background, including previous syntheses and meta-analyses related to the topic

• Theoretical, policy, and/or practical issues related to the question or relation(s) of interest

• Populations and settings to which the question or relation(s) is relevant

• Rationale for (a) choice of study designs, (b) the selection and coding of outcomes, (c) the selection and coding potential

moderators or mediators of results

• Psychometric characteristics of outcome measures and other variables

Objectives • State the hypotheses examined, indicating which were prespecified, including

• Question in terms of relevant participant characteristics (including animal populations), independent variables

(experimental manipulations, treatments, or interventions), ruling out of possible confounding variables, dependent

variables (outcomes, criterion), and other features of study designs

• Method(s) of synthesis and if meta-analysis was used, the specific methods used to integrate studies (e.g., effect-size

metric, averaging method, the model used in homogeneity analysis)

Protocol • List where the full protocol can be found (e.g., a supplement), or state that there was no protocol. State that the full

protocol was published (or archived in a public registry) or that it was not published before the review was conducted.

Method

Inclusion and

exclusion

criteria

• Describe the criteria for selecting studies, including

• Independent variables (e.g., experimental manipulations, types of treatments or interventions or predictor variables)

• Dependent variable (e.g., outcomes, in syntheses of clinical research including both potential benefits and potential

adverse effects)

• Eligible study designs (e.g., methods of sampling or treatment assignment)

• Handling of multiple reports about the same study or sample, describing which are primary and handling of multiple

measures using the same participants

• Restrictions on study inclusion (e.g., by study age, language, location, or report type)

• Changes to the prespecified inclusion and exclusion criteria, and when these changes were made

• Handling of reports that did not contain sufficient information to judge eligibility (e.g., lacking information about study

design) and reports that did not include sufficient information for analysis (e.g., did not report numerical data about

those outcomes)

Information

sources

• Describe all information sources:

• Search strategies of electronic searches, such that they could be repeated (e.g., include the search terms used, Boolean

connectors, fields searched, explosion of terms)

• Databases searched (e.g., PsycINFO, ClinicalTrials.gov), including dates of coverage (i.e., earliest and latest records

included in the search), and software and search platforms used

• Names of specific journals that were searched and the volumes checked

• Explanation of rationale for choosing reference lists if examined (e.g., other relevant articles, previous research

syntheses)

• Documents for which forward (citation) searches were conducted, stating why these documents were chosen

• Number of researchers contacted if study authors or individual researchers were contacted to find studies or to obtain

more information about included studies, as well as criteria for making contact (e.g., previous relevant publications), and

response rate

(table continues)

QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH REPORTING STANDARDS

Table 9 (continued)

Paper section and

topic Description

• Dates of contact if other direct contact searches were conducted such as contacting corporate sponsors or mailings to

distribution lists

• Search strategies in addition to those above and the results of these searches

Study selection • Describe the process for deciding which studies would be included in the syntheses and/or included in the meta-analysis,

including

• Document elements (e.g., title, abstract, full text) used to make decisions about inclusion or exclusion from the synthesis

at each step of the screening process

• Qualifications (e.g., training, educational or professional status) of those who conducted each step in the study selection

process, stating whether each step was conducted by a single person or in duplicate as well as an explanation of how

reliability was assessed if one screener was used and how disagreements were resolved if multiple were used

Data collection • Describe methods of extracting data from reports, including

• Variables for which data were sought and the variable categories

• Qualifications of those who conducted each step in the data extraction process, stating whether each step was conducted

by a single person or in duplicate and an explanation of how reliability was assessed if one screener was used and how

disagreements were resolved if multiple screeners were used as well as whether data coding forms, instructions for

completion, and the data (including metadata) are available, stating where they can be found (e.g., public registry,

supplemental materials)

Methods for

assessing risk

to internal

validity

• Describe any methods used to assess risk to internal validity in individual study results, including

• Risks assessed and criteria for concluding risk exists or does not exist

• Methods for including risk to internal validity in the decisions to synthesize of the data and the interpretation of results

Summary

measures

• Describe the statistical methods for calculating effect sizes, including the metric(s) used (e.g., correlation coefficients,

differences in means, risk ratios) and formula(s) used to calculate effect sizes.

Methods of

synthesis

• Describe narrative and statistical methods used to compare studies. If meta-analysis was conducted, describe the methods

used to combine effects across studies and the model used to estimate the heterogeneity of the effects sizes (e.g., a

fixed-effect, random-effects model robust variance estimation), including

• Rationale for the method of synthesis

• Methods for weighting study results

• Methods to estimate imprecision (e.g., confidence or credibility intervals) both within and between studies

• Description of all transformations or corrections (e.g., to account for small samples or unequal group numbers) and

adjustments (e.g., for clustering, missing data, measurement artifacts, or construct-level relationships) made to the data

and justification for these

• Additional analyses (e.g., subgroup analyses, meta-regression), including whether each analysis was prespecified or post

hoc

• Selection of prior distributions and assessment of model fit if Bayesian analyses were conducted

• Name and version number of computer programs used for the analysis

• Statistical code and where it can be found (e.g., a supplement)

Publication bias

and selective

reporting

• Address the adequacy of methods used (e.g., contacting authors for unreported outcomes to identify unpublished studies

and unreported data). Describe any statistical methods used to test for publication bias and selective reporting or

address the potential limitations of the synthesis’s results if no such methods were used.

Results

Study selection • Describe the selection of studies, ideally with a flowchart, including

• Number of citations assessed for eligibility

• Number of citations and number of unique studies included in the syntheses

• Reasons for excluding studies at each stage of screening

• Table with complete citations for studies that met many but not all inclusion criteria with reasons for exclusion (e.g.,

effect size was not calculable)

Study

characteristics

• Summarize the characteristics of included studies. Provide a table showing, for each included study, the principle variables

for which data were sought, including

• Characteristics of the independent and outcome or dependent variables and main moderator variables

• Important characteristics of participants (e.g., age, sex, ethnicity)

• Important contextual variables (e.g., setting, date)

• Study design (e.g., methods of sampling or treatment assignment).

• Report where the full data set is available (e.g., from the authors, supplemental materials, registry)

Results of

individual

studies

• Report the results for each study or comparison (e.g., the effect size with confidence intervals for each independent

variable). If possible, present this information in a figure (e.g., forest plot).

Synthesis of

results

• Report a synthesis (e.g., meta-analysis) for each study result (e.g., weighted average effect sizes, confidence intervals,

estimates of heterogeneity of results).

APPELBAUM ET AL.

social work, to name but a few. In developing the JARS–Quant

recommendations, the Working Group tried to ensure that

these reporting standards would be usable for scholarly work in

other fields but ones that incorporate aspects of the social,

behavioral, and educational sciences into them.

The implementation of reporting standards is a slow

process, with many individuals contributing to realizing

the goals set forth in the JARS–Quant. Certainly, journal

editors, associate editors, and manuscript reviewers will

be prime movers of the adoption of any set of standards.

This fact, however, implies that scholars who have the

most contact with the authors of journal articles must be

encouraged to be aware of these reporting standards and

encourage their use. It is also incumbent upon publishers

(such as APA) to provide training materials that present

these standards in convenient formats. This is essential if

those entering the field—indeed anyone committed to the

advancement of transparent social sciences—are to ac-

quire the habit of utilizing reporting standards as a part of

their formulation of how scholarly research is reported.

Much can be said about the value of adopting reporting

standards and developing ways to provide creative and

forward thinking tools for communicating and training

those who use these standards. However, most basic is the

realization that these reporting standards are important ways

of systematically communicating the work that scholars

have done in the process of doing their science. These

standards do not specify how the science should be done but

rather what about the science needs to be reported so that (a)

scientific claims can be clearly understood, assessed, and

evaluated by the reader, and (b) the work can be replicated

with reasonable accuracy such that a replication would

reflect the science being reported. The Working Group

does, at the same time, recognize that specifying what needs

to be reported also influences what data need to be gathered

(one cannot report the reasons for drop-out if one does not

collect that data). Therefore, a command of the reporting

standards is a critical part of the initial planning of an

empirical study. This initial understanding may not only

ease the task of complete and transparent reporting but also

improve the implementation of the research.

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Publication and

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Received September 6, 2016

Revision received June 27, 2017

Accepted June 29, 2017 䡲

QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH REPORTING STANDARDS