Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Naumann, Sandra
• Byrne, Michelle L.
• la Fuente, Alethia
• Harrewijn, Anita
• Nugiel, Tehila
• Rosen, Maya
• Atteveldt, Nienke
• Matusz, Pawel J.

Titel

Assessing the Degree of Ecological Validity of Your Study: Introducing the Multidimensional Assessment of Research in Context (MARC) Tool

Ist Teil von

• Mind, brain and education, 2022-08, Vol.16 (3), p.228-238

Ort / Verlag

Hoboken, USA: Wiley Subscription Services, Inc

Erscheinungsjahr

2022

Quelle

Wiley-Blackwell Journals

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• ABSTRACT In cognitive neurosciences, fundamental principles of mental processes and functional brain organization have been established with highly controlled tasks and testing environments. Recent technical advances allowed the investigation of these functions and their brain mechanisms in naturalistic settings. The diversity in those approaches have been recently (Matusz, P. J., Dikker, S., Huth, A. G., & Perrodin, C. (2019). Are we ready for real‐world neuroscience? Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 31(3), 327–338. doi:10.1162/jocn_e_01276) classified via a three‐category cycle, including controlled laboratory, partially naturalistic laboratory, and naturalistic real‐world research. Based on this model, we developed the Multidimensional Assessment of Research in Context (MARC) tool to easily delineate the approach researchers have taken in their study. MARC provides means to describe the degree of ecological validity for each component of a study (e.g., sample, stimuli, measures, etc.), and the study's location on the cycle. The tool comprises seven questions concerning a study's characteristics. It outputs a summary of those and a compass plot, which can be used for presentations, preregistration, grant proposals, and papers. It aims to improve drawing conclusions across studies and raise awareness about the generalizability of research findings. LAY ABSTRACT We developed a questionnaire—the Multidimensional Assessment of Research in Context (MARC) tool—to assess the ecological validity of psychological and neuroscientific studies (the degree to which they capture the real‐world behavior they aim to capture). MARC enables researchers to explicitly report the level of ecological validity of each aspect of their study by answering seven questions, for example, about the task they used or the involvement of nonresearch experts. The use of MARC should improve transparency, result interpretation, and theory development.