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Comment
. 2022 Feb 10:45:e37.
doi: 10.1017/S0140525X21000522.

From description to generalization, or there and back again

Kelsey L West  1 , Kasey C Soska  1 , Whitney G Cole  1 , Danyang Han  1 , Justine E Hoch  1 , Christina M Hospodar  1 , Brianna E Kaplan  1
Affiliations
Comment

From description to generalization, or there and back again

Kelsey L West et al. Behav Brain Sci. .

Abstract

In his target article, Yarkoni prescribes descriptive research as a potential antidote for the generalizability crisis. In our commentary, we offer four guiding principles for conducting descriptive research that is generalizable and enduring: (1) prioritize context over control; (2) let naturalistic observations contextualize structured tasks; (3) operationalize the target phenomena rigorously and transparently; and (4) attend to individual data.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Depictions of individual data that comprise differences between groups or conditions. (A) Infants cover more ground in a toy-filled room than in an empty room. Each plot shows one infant’s locomotor path through the toy-filled room (purple) and the empty room (gold) ordered from most to least area covered in m2. (B) Infants (square symbols) move more than their mothers (triangular symbols) during free play. Gray bars connect each dyad. (C) Infants spontaneously explore objects more frequently while standing (red circles) than while walking (blue symbols) during free play. Each pair of symbols shows one infant’s data. Inset shows differences across the group. Infants’ propensity to explore objects did not differ by infant age (left panel) or walking experience (right panel).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment on

  • The generalizability crisis.
    Yarkoni T. Yarkoni T. Behav Brain Sci. 2020 Dec 21;45:e1. doi: 10.1017/S0140525X20001685. Behav Brain Sci. 2020. PMID: 33342451 Free PMC article.

References

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