Inconvenience and generalization in building a better psychology: Commentary on Sherman (2025).

Abstract

In this commentary, we supplement Sherman's (2025) defense of convenience sampling, reviewing the complementary role of broad generalization and diverse samples. Specifically, Sherman's commentary could be misinterpreted as downplaying or disavowing the importance of broad generalization, despite the latter being necessary if we are to capture more than a narrow sliver of human cognitive variation. Moreover, we argue that stating the generalizability of our findings explicitly is key to both accurate interpretation and effective translation into applied work-a principle which holds even when our studies are not aiming to produce generalizable conclusions. We close with a review of practical ways in which broad generalization may be achieved. These include developmental, comparative, or computational approaches, as well as theoretical frameworks and "inconvenient" samples that capture cross-cultural variation. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).