From developmental-psychology-skills
Guides analysis and reporting for Developmental Psychology manuscripts, focusing on growth-curve models, measurement invariance, effect sizes with confidence intervals, and JARS-compliant disclosure.
How this skill is triggered — by the user, by Claude, or both
Slash command
/developmental-psychology-skills:devpsych-data-analysisThe summary Claude sees in its skill listing — used to decide when to auto-load this skill
Developmental Psychology holds analyses to a developmental and a credibility standard at once: the model
Developmental Psychology holds analyses to a developmental and a credibility standard at once: the model must actually capture change (not just a cross-sectional snapshot), and reporting must meet JARS — effect sizes with confidence intervals, full disclosure, and a clean confirmatory vs. exploratory split. The most common fatal error is interpreting trajectories without first establishing that the construct is measured the same way across ages.
devpsych-open-science-and-transparency).A preregistered three-wave latent-growth study (ages 4, 6, 8; N = 300, 18% attrition) of effortful control, testing maternal scaffolding as a driver of the growth slope.
Invariance (reported first):
configural fit good; metric and scalar invariance hold across waves
(ΔCFI < .01) → mean change is interpretable.
Confirmatory (preregistered):
Latent slope > 0: b = 0.42/year, 95% CI [0.31, 0.53] (within-person growth).
Scaffolding × time: b = 0.18, 95% CI [0.07, 0.29] (steeper growth with
higher wave-1 scaffolding).
Missing data: FIML; MAR; completers and dropouts did not differ on baseline
covariates (attrition analysis in supplement).
Exploratory (labeled):
RI-CLPM suggests child→parent effects in later waves; reported as
exploratory and flagged for confirmation in a future sample.
Why this passes scrutiny: invariance is reported before the growth claim; every developmental parameter carries an effect size and a CI; missingness is modeled, not deleted; the reciprocal-effects finding is honestly demoted to exploratory.
| Reviewer pushback | What it signals here | Developmental Psychology fix |
|---|---|---|
| "Is the construct the same at each age?" | invariance not tested | report configural→metric→scalar before interpreting change |
| "You deleted dropouts" | attrition bias | refit with FIML/MI; add the completers-vs-dropouts analysis |
| "ANOVA on age groups for a change claim" | wrong model for the claim | fit a growth/multilevel model on within-person data |
| "Stars, no effect size" | pre-reform reporting | report slope/interaction effect sizes with CIs |
| "Is this confirmatory?" | HARKing concern | point to preregistration; relabel post hoc trajectories exploratory |
【Model】growth / multilevel / SEM / cross-lagged / mediation-moderation — matches the change claim?
【Invariance】configural→metric→scalar tested before interpreting change? [Y/N]
【Main result】effect size + confidence interval + meaning
【Missing data】FIML/MI + attrition analysis reported? [Y/N]
【Confirmatory vs exploratory】clearly separated (JARS)? [Y/N]
【Reproducible】scripts + data dictionary + fresh-session check? [Y/N]
【Next】devpsych-tables-figures
../../resources/external_tools.md — lavaan, Mplus, lme4/nlme, semTools invariance, mice, effect-size tooling../../resources/official-source-map.md — JARS statistical and disclosure requirementsnpx claudepluginhub brycewang-stanford/awesome-journal-skills --plugin developmental-psychology-skillsGuides data analysis and reporting for JEP manuscripts: multilevel models, effect sizes with CIs, mediation/moderation, and full JARS disclosure.
Guides analysis and reporting for Journal of Applied Psychology manuscripts, covering SEM, multilevel models, mediation/moderation, and meta-analysis with proper effect sizes and confidence intervals.
Guides data analysis and reporting for Psychological Science manuscripts, emphasizing effect sizes with confidence intervals, full disclosure, and confirmatory/exploratory splits.