Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-16T10:13:07.121Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

From description to generalization, or there and back again

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2022

Kelsey L. West
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY10003, USAkelsey.west@nyu.edu kasey.soska@nyu.edu wgcole@nyu.edu danyang.han@nyu.edu justine.hoch@nyu.edu christina.hospodar@nyu.edu brianna.kaplan@nyu.edu
Kasey C. Soska
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY10003, USAkelsey.west@nyu.edu kasey.soska@nyu.edu wgcole@nyu.edu danyang.han@nyu.edu justine.hoch@nyu.edu christina.hospodar@nyu.edu brianna.kaplan@nyu.edu
Whitney G. Cole
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY10003, USAkelsey.west@nyu.edu kasey.soska@nyu.edu wgcole@nyu.edu danyang.han@nyu.edu justine.hoch@nyu.edu christina.hospodar@nyu.edu brianna.kaplan@nyu.edu
Danyang Han
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY10003, USAkelsey.west@nyu.edu kasey.soska@nyu.edu wgcole@nyu.edu danyang.han@nyu.edu justine.hoch@nyu.edu christina.hospodar@nyu.edu brianna.kaplan@nyu.edu
Justine E. Hoch
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY10003, USAkelsey.west@nyu.edu kasey.soska@nyu.edu wgcole@nyu.edu danyang.han@nyu.edu justine.hoch@nyu.edu christina.hospodar@nyu.edu brianna.kaplan@nyu.edu
Christina M. Hospodar
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY10003, USAkelsey.west@nyu.edu kasey.soska@nyu.edu wgcole@nyu.edu danyang.han@nyu.edu justine.hoch@nyu.edu christina.hospodar@nyu.edu brianna.kaplan@nyu.edu
Brianna E. Kaplan
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY10003, USAkelsey.west@nyu.edu kasey.soska@nyu.edu wgcole@nyu.edu danyang.han@nyu.edu justine.hoch@nyu.edu christina.hospodar@nyu.edu brianna.kaplan@nyu.edu

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.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adolph, K. E., Cole, W. G., & Vereijken, B. (2015). Intraindividual variability in the development of motor skills in childhood. In Diehl, M., Hooker, K. & Sliwinski, M. (Eds.), Handbook of intraindividual variability across the lifespan (pp. 5983). New York: Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group.Google Scholar
Adolph, K. E., & Hoch, J. E. (2019). Motor development: Embodied, embedded, enculturated, and enabling. Annual Review of Psychology, 70, 141164.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Adolph, K. E., & Robinson, S. R. (2013). The road to walking: What learning to walk tells us about development. In Zelazo, P. (Ed.), Oxford handbook of developmental psychology (pp. 403443). New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Lee, D. K., Cole, W. G., Golenia, L., & Adolph, K. E. (2018). The cost of simplifying complex developmental phenomena: A new perspective on learning to walk. Developmental Science, 21, e12615.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ossmy, O., Hoch, J. E., MacAlpine, P., Hasan, S., Stone, P., & Adolph, K. E. (2018). Variety wins: Soccer-playing robots and infant walking. Frontiers in Neurorobotics, 12, 19.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Spelke, E. (1985). Preferential-looking methods as tools for the study of cognition in infancy. In Gottlieb, G. & Krasnegor, N. A. (Eds.), Measurement of audition and vision in the first year of postnatal life: A methodological overview (pp. 323363). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.Google Scholar
Tamis-LeMonda, C. S., Kuchirko, Y., Luo, R., & Escobar, K. (2017). Power in methods: Language to infants in structured and naturalistic contexts. Developmental Science, 20, e12456.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vereijken, B. (2010). The complexity of childhood development: Variability in perspective. Physical Therapy, 90, 18501859. doi: 10.2522/ptj.20100019.CrossRefGoogle Scholar