Limitations of methodological experiments

The extent to which empirical results can lead to methodological conclusions is investigated. No specific limitations are found to be involved in drawing conclusions on the plausibility of an artifact (Campbell).Two other types of meta-research do appear to be problematic: (a) empirically based inferences on the kind of roles adopted by subjects with respect to the experiment (Weber and Cook) are tenuous, since the role-playing may well enter into the meta-research itself; (b) a similar intricacy arises with research on experimenter expectancy effects (Rosenthal). Possible ways of correcting for artifacts in meta-research, and the potential threat to scientific discourse that is associated with these corrections, are discussed.