From Population to Person: Quantifying When Group-Level Effects Mislead About Individual
Abstract
This simulation study quantified when population-average within-person effects fail to describe individuals. Results showed that when heterogeneity is large relative to the mean effect, population estimates become misleading for many individuals—at a ratio of 1.0, at least one in six shows the opposite pattern. This project contains all simulation code, analysis scripts, and supplemental materials.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Advanced Causal Inference Techniques
Statistical Methods and Bayesian Inference
Meta-analysis and systematic reviews
Publication details
- Journal / source
- OSF Preprints (OSF Preprints)
- Publication date
- 1 January 2026
- Document type
- Preprint