Such methodological limitations constrain the certainty of our interpretations and provide areas for future investigation [ 74, 75].
Other knowledge gaps exist because methodological problems have constrained theory-testing.
Where blinding does involve deception, that is, research participants being given false information or led by omissions to hold false beliefs, the methodological imperative to constrain bias to produce socially useful research appears to be in conflict with the ethical imperative of informed consent, as enshrined in the Helsinki Declaration.
Conclusions drawn from psychotherapy studies completed prior to 1995 were constrained by methodological deficiencies such as ambiguity regarding patient diagnostic status, use of non-specific psychotherapies, and lack of treatment manuals.
Finally, encompassing the impact of transnational contexts helps to overcome the methodological nationalism that can otherwise constrain our understanding of the processes at play (Wimmer & Glick Schiller, 2002).
Few studies however, have examined the relationship between research conducted as part of such programs and the decision-making outcomes that the work is supposed to advance, and is constrained by limited methodological development on how to empirically assess the 'usability' of science.
The interpretation of these findings, however, is constrained by two methodological limitations.
A systematic review of studies between 1990 and 2000, mostly from the USA, Canada and Europe, found that the costs attributable to bloodstream infections was the highest of different types of infection but lack of standardisation and methodological rigour of the studies constrained any conclusions [ 48].
The lack of significant effects from cognitive training studies must be interpreted in the context of methodological limitations that may have constrained the possibility of demonstrating some significant gains, including issues related to power, choice of control condition, choice of outcome measures, and the impact of individual characteristics that may moderate treatment response.
A version of the correspondence principle also lives on in the philosophical literature where it has been generalized into a broad methodological principle (the generalized correspondence principle) constraining the development of new scientific theories.
