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Enhancing Validity in Observational Settings When Replication is Not Possible*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 April 2017

Christopher J. Fariss  and
Zachary M. Jones
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Abstract

We argue that political sciexntists can provide additional evidence for the predictive validity of observational and quasi-experimental research designs by minimizing the expected prediction error or generalization error of their empirical models. For observational and quasi-experimental data not generated by a stochastic mechanism under the researcher’s control, the reproduction of statistical analyses is possible but replication of the data-generating procedures is not. Estimating the generalization error of a model for this type of data and then adjusting the model to minimize this estimate—regularization—provides evidence for the predictive validity of the study by decreasing the risk of overfitting. Estimating generalization error also allows for model comparisons that highlight underfitting: when a model generalizes poorly due to missing systematic features of the data-generating process. Thus, minimizing generalization error provides a principled method for modeling relationships between variables that are measured but whose relationships with the outcome(s) are left unspecified by a deductively valid theory. Overall, the minimization of generalization error is important because it quantifies the expected reliability of predictions in a way that is similar to external validity, consequently increasing the validity of the study’s conclusions.

Type
Research Notes
Information
Political Science Research and Methods , Volume 6 , Issue 2 , April 2018 , pp. 365 - 380
Copyright
© The European Political Science Association 2017 

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Footnotes

*

Christopher J. Fariss, Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science and Faculty Associate, Center for Political Studies, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, Center for Political Studies (CPS) Institute for Social Research, 4200 Bay, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106-1248 USA ([email protected]). Zachary M. Jones, Ph.D. Candidate, Pennsylvania State University; Pond Laboratory, Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA 16801 ([email protected]). The authors would like to thank Michael Alvarez, Neil Beck, Bernd Bischl, Charles Crabtree, Allan Dafoe, Cassy Dorff, Dan Enemark, Matt Golder, Sophia Hatz, Danny Hill, Luke Keele, Lars Kotthoff, Fridolin Linder, Mark Major, Michael Nelson, Keith Schnakenberg, and Tara Slough for many helpful comments and suggestions. This research was supported in part by The McCourtney Institute for Democracy Innovation Grant, and the College of Liberal Arts, both at Pennsylvania State University.

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Supplementary material: Link

Fariss and Jones Dataset

Dataset

http://dx.doi.org/10.7910/DVN/O2BK85
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