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Restricted variance interaction effects – What they are and why they are your friends

Chair: Jose Cortina (Virginia Commonwealth University)
Date: May 21st, 2025
Time: 13:00 – 16:00 (Half-day session)
Price: 40 EUR
Capacity: 25 People

Ever hypothesized a cross-level interaction? Of course you have. Many recent papers have pointed out that authors often have difficulty justifying interaction hypotheses, especially cross-level interactions. The purpose of this workshop is to strengthen such justifications with restricted variance (RV) reasoning. The essence of the RV interaction is that, as the value of one variable in a system changes, certain values of another variable in the system become less plausible, thus restricting its variance. This, in turn, influences relationships between that variable and other variables. These types of interactions are quite common, even if they are not recognized as RV interactions, and they exist at every level of analysis. The advantage of the RV interaction is that, compared to other interaction types, it is relatively simple to justify. Moreover, they offer an opportunity to test not only for the presence of a cross-level interaction, but also for one of the reasons for the interaction. The different forms of RV interaction do, however, contain complexities of which a researcher must be aware. In this workshop, we will learn the forms that RV interactions can take and the implications, often counterintuitive, of many of the forms. We will also learn a bit about how one should go about testing them. By the time that this workshop concludes, you will have the ammunition necessary to defeat your nemesis, viz., Reviewer 2.

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