If you have reliable measurements then that falls under my number 1. There is no need for any vague theorizing, but go ahead and include it in the speculation s

If you have reliable measurements then that falls under my number 1. There is no need for any vague theorizing, but go ahead and include it in the speculation sections (Intro/Discussion) if you like. Edit: If all that gets published is a correlation coefficient and not the distribution, scatterplots, etc. Then no, that paper is worthless.