[MetaROR] Structural reorganisation & scope

[LukasWallrich]

Larger structural reorganisation (mostly R3) plus the scope-statement decision. These moves are bigger than per-chapter fixes and interact with each other, so plan them together rather than piecemeal.

Progress: the lower-risk moves are implemented in PR #33 (branch restructure/metaror-issue-27); checked items below are done there. The Ch1→Ch2 merge, the §5.2/§5.3 moves, and the Ch7/Ch8 reorganisations are not in that batch.

Structural reorganisation:

• Merge Chapter 1 into Chapter 2 — Chapter 1 is only ~1 page; integrate it as a section unless substantially expanded. (R3)
• Reorder Sections 2.3 and 2.4 to put Reproduction before Replication (matching chronological order and the book title), and rename Chapter 2 to "Reproductions and Replications". (R3) — PR MetaROR #27: structural moves (checklist, post-pub, deviations, Ch2 types synthesis) #33: chapter renamed reproduction-first to "Understanding Reproductions and Replications".
• Integrate Section 2.3 (Types of replication) and Section 2.4 into Chapter 4 to avoid duplication and reduce the inconsistency problem. (R3) — PR MetaROR #27: structural moves (checklist, post-pub, deviations, Ch2 types synthesis) #33: duplicated "Types of reproduction" removed (the typology lives with Table 4.1 in Ch4); the conceptual discussion stays in Ch2, retitled "Closeness and Similarity".
• Move/restructure Sections 5.2 (Contacting Authors) and 5.3 (Identification of Claims) — these are relevant to replication too. Move to Chapters 3/4 or add cross-references in Chapter 6, and add a cross-reference so Section 7.4 (Comments from Original Authors) isn't missed by reproduction-focused readers. (R3)
• Split Table 7.1 — move the reproduction-success part into a separate table within the reproduction chapter. (R3) (interacts with the Chapter 7 restructuring decision in Points for discussion)
• Move Chapter 8 content into Chapters 5 and 6 — create new Sections 5.8 (Reporting a Reproduction Study) and 6.7 (Reporting a Replication Study), and move the long table to an Appendix. (R3)
• Move the checklist (Chapter 10) to an Appendix and discuss it in a conclusion section, rather than a standalone Part IV. (R3) — PR MetaROR #27: structural moves (checklist, post-pub, deviations, Ch2 types synthesis) #33: checklist moved to appendix_checklist.qmd, cross-referenced from the Conclusion.
• Move Section 4.1 (Post-Publication Conversations) to Chapter 3 (selecting studies for replication). (R1) — PR MetaROR #27: structural moves (checklist, post-pub, deviations, Ch2 types synthesis) #33.
• Reconsider Section 3.4 (Researcher Bias) — most content doesn't clearly relate to choosing a target study. (R3)
• Merge Sections 5.5 (Deviations) and 5.6 (Analysis) — deviations typically arise during analysis. (R3) — Reconsidered and reversed. Deviations is kept as its own section, placed before Analysis (plan → deviations → results), parallel to the replication chapter. Framing it as something that "arises during analysis" undercut the planned-and-reported norm. See PR MetaROR #27: structural moves (checklist, post-pub, deviations, Ch2 types synthesis) #33 and the comment above.

Scope:

• Consider a scope-limiting statement — if the handbook is limited to social-science disciplines, include that in the title. (R1)

Handled in other issues (decisions with reviewer conflict):

• Merge Chapter 7 into Chapter 6 vs subsections 7.1–7.5 → Points for discussion
• Section 6.5 (Adversarial Collaborations) — expand or remove → Points for discussion

[LukasWallrich]

Update on the "Merge Deviations into Analysis" move (Ch5 Reproductions)

We reconsidered this move and reversed it in PR #33 (commit c7229a7).

Folding Deviations into the end of Analysis, with the framing "deviations from the original procedure typically arise during the analysis," cast deviations as something that incidentally happens during analysis. That undercuts the norm we want to convey: deviations should be planned for and reported, not merely occur.

What changed:

• Deviations is restored as its own section, now placed after Preregistration and before Analysis, so the chapter reads plan -> deviations -> results.
• This mirrors the replication chapter, which already puts planned departures (Changes in the Methods) before Analysis and handles emergent ones transparently (Deviations from the Preregistration). Both execution chapters are now structurally parallel.
• The text was reframed: deviations should be anticipated and pre-specified in the preregistration (each change explained, justified, and with a hypothesis about its expected effect on outcomes), with deviations that only become necessary during analysis still reported transparently in the final report.

The other three structural moves in PR #33 (checklist to appendix, post-publication conversations to the target-selection chapter, Ch2 'types' synthesis) are unaffected.