Conceptual Replication
A new study that tests the same idea with a different sample or design and not an identical procedure.
What it is
Because the sample and measures differ, its figures sit beside the original ones and are read as a test of how far the idea travels. Watts, Duncan and Quan described their 2018 study of the marshmallow test follow-up in this way.
In effect
In the article on whether the marshmallow test predicts success, it describes the 2018 study of children whose mothers had not completed college.
What it does not say
A smaller result in a conceptual replication does not by itself show that an earlier study was wrong; it shows how far the idea holds in a new sample and design.
Sources
- Watts, T. W., Duncan, G. J., & Quan, H. (2018). Revisiting the marshmallow test: A conceptual replication investigating links between early delay of gratification and later outcomes. Psychological Science.