The phrase "a substantive difference in" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used when discussing significant distinctions or variations between two or more subjects or concepts.
Example: "There is a substantive difference in the approaches taken by the two researchers, which affects the outcomes of their studies."
Alternatives: "a significant difference in" or "a meaningful difference in".
There was a substantive difference in team trajectory and velocity that continued throughout the quarter.
This situation reflects a substantive difference in lifestyle between city and rural lifestyle in Australia.
This finding suggests that there is a substantive difference in the crime trend after 1999 relative to two other periods: less concentration of crime at the same places in addition to crime drop around 1990s.
The three levels of spatial buffer did not make a substantive difference in estimated exposures.
By inference, this should also be a reasonable gauge of a substantive difference in score over time.
Small changes to the number of false negatives did not have a substantive difference in this example.
The same methods of analysis were used to evaluate the repetitive content of exonic regions surrounding the sites of single and parallel gains, to assess whether there was a substantive difference between exons in these two categories.
Nevertheless, it is important to recognize that there is a substantive difference between Brazil's poor in 1994 and the poor in 2015.
But Mr. Chirac said he did not really know Iran or whether there was a substantive difference between conservative and moderate factions in its leadership, the senior official at the meeting said.
A spokeswoman for Natural England said there was no substantive difference in the treatment of successful and unsuccessful nests and the collaboration had helped bring about the best season in years.
The only substantive difference in results using Block Face A only or both Block Faces A + B was that, given the possibility of affirmative answer for either block face, percentages were higher for conditions when both block faces were combined.
