3 ms·

If the result isn't stable across samples how valid is the result?

• samus 4y ago
  If the study otherwise follows best practices, results about differences between well-defined subpopulations, and the reasons behind them, are still worthwhile to investigate and report.
  • leereeves 4y ago
    If the relevant subpopulations are well-defined, then it should be possible to sample from those subpopulations and reproduce the results.
    • Helmut10001 4y ago
      But then, for many studies about (e.g.) Eating, Behavior, Psychology (etc.): Even for well defined populations (lets say, "religious male adults in Texas") there would be so many incidental variables that I would have strong doubts that results are easily reproducible. On the other hand, studies with "well defined" but very narrow subpopulations (e.g. "religious male adults in Texas that work in printing offices and eat granola every morning") are not easily transferrable, which makes it difficult to generalize results (thus, results are less significant).