> They intended to demonstrate that you need a _reason_ to want to split
No, no, no. FFS no! Sure this is a good thing to do if you are trying to prove a hypothesis. But you you are trying to explore for truly novel and unexpected linkages p-hack to your heart's content, form hypothesis, and then do follow up studies to see whether there's really something there!
Ignoring possibilities is bad exploratory science. And, as a reader, it's quite annoying to read old studies only to find that the author's didn't bother splitting on the parameter you are currently interested in.
Split them all, if only in the supplementary data, and let future studies sort them out.
No, no, no. FFS no! Sure this is a good thing to do if you are trying to prove a hypothesis. But you you are trying to explore for truly novel and unexpected linkages p-hack to your heart's content, form hypothesis, and then do follow up studies to see whether there's really something there!
Ignoring possibilities is bad exploratory science. And, as a reader, it's quite annoying to read old studies only to find that the author's didn't bother splitting on the parameter you are currently interested in.
Split them all, if only in the supplementary data, and let future studies sort them out.