{"id":"https://openalex.org/W4417080482","doi":"https://doi.org/10.1177/25152459261461505","title":"The Threat of Analytic Flexibility in Using Large Language Models to Simulate Human Data","display_name":"The Threat of Analytic Flexibility in Using Large Language Models to Simulate Human Data","publication_year":2026,"publication_date":"2026-07-01","ids":{"openalex":"https://openalex.org/W4417080482","doi":"https://doi.org/10.1177/25152459261461505"},"language":"en","primary_location":{"id":"doi:10.1177/25152459261461505","doi":"https://doi.org/10.1177/25152459261461505","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.1177/25152459261461505","pdf_url":null,"source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S4210173062","display_name":"Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science","issn_l":"2515-2459","issn":["2515-2459","2515-2467"],"is_oa":true,"is_in_doaj":true,"is_core":true,"listed_in":["cwts-core","doaj","dongbi-b","jufo-1","ki-jl-1","norway-1","poland-70","russia-white-list-1","vabb-shw"],"host_organization":"https://openalex.org/P4310320017","host_organization_name":"SAGE Publishing","host_organization_lineage":["https://openalex.org/P4310320017"],"host_organization_lineage_names":["SAGE Publishing"],"type":"journal"},"license":"cc-by","license_id":"https://openalex.org/licenses/cc-by","version":"publishedVersion","is_accepted":true,"is_published":true,"raw_source_name":"Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science","raw_type":"journal-article"},"volume":null,"type":"article","is_traditional":true,"indexed_in":["arxiv","crossref","datacite","doaj"],"open_access":{"is_oa":true,"oa_status":"gold","oa_url":"https://doi.org/10.1177/25152459261461505","any_repository_has_fulltext":true},"authorships":[{"author_position":"first","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5104533623","display_name":"J. David Cummins","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9729-4900","observed_orcids":["https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9729-4900"]},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I118564535","display_name":"University of Bern","ror":"https://ror.org/02k7v4d05","country_code":"CH","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I118564535"]},{"id":"https://openalex.org/I40120149","display_name":"University of Oxford","ror":"https://ror.org/052gg0110","country_code":"GB","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I40120149"]}],"countries":["CH","GB"],"is_corresponding":true,"raw_author_name":"Jamie Cummins","raw_affiliation_strings":["Bennett Institute of Applied Data Science, University of Oxford, Oxford, England","Institute of Psychology, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland"],"raw_orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9729-4900","affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"Bennett Institute of Applied Data Science, University of Oxford, Oxford, England","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I40120149"]},{"raw_affiliation_string":"Institute of Psychology, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I118564535"]}]}],"institutions":[],"countries_distinct_count":2,"institutions_distinct_count":2,"corresponding_author_ids":["https://openalex.org/A5104533623"],"corresponding_institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I118564535","https://openalex.org/I40120149"],"apc_list":{"value":2000,"currency":"USD","value_usd":2000},"apc_paid":{"value":2000,"currency":"USD","value_usd":2000},"fwci":167.609,"has_fulltext":true,"cited_by_count":40,"citation_normalized_percentile":{"value":0.99971542,"is_in_top_1_percent":true,"is_in_top_10_percent":true},"cited_by_percentile_year":{"min":97,"max":100},"biblio":{"volume":"9","issue":"3","first_page":null,"last_page":null},"is_retracted":false,"is_paratext":false,"is_xpac":false,"primary_topic":{"id":"https://openalex.org/T13910","display_name":"Computational and Text Analysis Methods","score":0.6601999998092651,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/3300","display_name":"General Social Sciences"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/33","display_name":"Social Sciences"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/2","display_name":"Social Sciences"}},"topics":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/T13910","display_name":"Computational and Text Analysis Methods","score":0.6601999998092651,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/3300","display_name":"General Social Sciences"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/33","display_name":"Social Sciences"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/2","display_name":"Social Sciences"}},{"id":"https://openalex.org/T10467","display_name":"Psychometric Methodologies and Testing","score":0.06270000338554382,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1803","display_name":"Management Science and Operations Research"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/18","display_name":"Decision Sciences"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/2","display_name":"Social Sciences"}},{"id":"https://openalex.org/T10883","display_name":"Ethics and Social Impacts of AI","score":0.05900000035762787,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1702","display_name":"Artificial Intelligence"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}}],"keywords":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/large-language-models","display_name":"large language models","score":0.8809999823570251},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/synthetic-data","display_name":"synthetic data","score":0.9129999876022339},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/data-fidelity","display_name":"data fidelity","score":0.46399998664855957},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/prompt-engineering","display_name":"prompt engineering","score":0.3799999952316284},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/model-selection","display_name":"model selection","score":0.5770000219345093},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/sampling-parameters","display_name":"sampling parameters","score":0.4480000138282776}],"concepts":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2780598303","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q65921492","display_name":"Flexibility (engineering)","level":2,"score":0.7685999870300293},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C164226766","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7293202","display_name":"Rank (graph theory)","level":2,"score":0.7116000056266785},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C41008148","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q21198","display_name":"Computer science","level":0,"score":0.6615999937057495},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C198531522","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q485146","display_name":"Sample (material)","level":2,"score":0.6044999957084656},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C33676613","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q13415176","display_name":"Dimension (graph theory)","level":2,"score":0.5788999795913696},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2779530757","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1207505","display_name":"Quality (philosophy)","level":2,"score":0.5490000247955322},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C137293760","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3621696","display_name":"Language model","level":2,"score":0.4657000005245209},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C154945302","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q11660","display_name":"Artificial intelligence","level":1,"score":0.41530001163482666},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C119857082","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2539","display_name":"Machine learning","level":1,"score":0.38929998874664307},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2779641649","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q18377767","display_name":"Human Dimension","level":3,"score":0.37439998984336853},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2993724205","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q315","display_name":"Human language","level":2,"score":0.34310001134872437},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2522767166","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2374463","display_name":"Data science","level":1,"score":0.3192000091075897},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2780586882","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7520643","display_name":"Simple (philosophy)","level":2,"score":0.3068999946117401},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C124101348","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q172491","display_name":"Data mining","level":1,"score":0.29089999198913574},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C195324797","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q33742","display_name":"Natural language","level":2,"score":0.2639000117778778},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C112930515","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4389547","display_name":"Risk analysis (engineering)","level":1,"score":0.26089999079704285},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C204321447","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q30642","display_name":"Natural language processing","level":1,"score":0.257099986076355}],"mesh":[],"locations_count":3,"locations":[{"id":"doi:10.1177/25152459261461505","doi":"https://doi.org/10.1177/25152459261461505","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.1177/25152459261461505","pdf_url":null,"source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S4210173062","display_name":"Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science","issn_l":"2515-2459","issn":["2515-2459","2515-2467"],"is_oa":true,"is_in_doaj":true,"is_core":true,"listed_in":["cwts-core","doaj","dongbi-b","jufo-1","ki-jl-1","norway-1","poland-70","russia-white-list-1","vabb-shw"],"host_organization":"https://openalex.org/P4310320017","host_organization_name":"SAGE Publishing","host_organization_lineage":["https://openalex.org/P4310320017"],"host_organization_lineage_names":["SAGE Publishing"],"type":"journal"},"license":"cc-by","license_id":"https://openalex.org/licenses/cc-by","version":"publishedVersion","is_accepted":true,"is_published":true,"raw_source_name":"Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science","raw_type":"journal-article"},{"id":"pmh:oai:arXiv.org:2509.13397","doi":null,"is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.13397","pdf_url":"https://arxiv.org/pdf/2509.13397","source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S4306400194","display_name":"arXiv (Cornell University)","issn_l":"2331-8422","issn":["2331-8422"],"is_oa":true,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":false,"listed_in":[],"host_organization":"https://openalex.org/I205783295","host_organization_name":"Cornell University","host_organization_lineage":["https://openalex.org/I205783295"],"host_organization_lineage_names":[],"type":"repository"},"license":"cc-by","license_id":"https://openalex.org/licenses/cc-by","version":"submittedVersion","is_accepted":false,"is_published":false,"raw_source_name":null,"raw_type":"text"},{"id":"doi:10.48550/arxiv.2509.13397","doi":"https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2509.13397","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2509.13397","pdf_url":null,"source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S4306400194","display_name":"arXiv (Cornell University)","issn_l":"2331-8422","issn":["2331-8422"],"is_oa":true,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":false,"listed_in":[],"host_organization":"https://openalex.org/I205783295","host_organization_name":"Cornell University","host_organization_lineage":["https://openalex.org/I205783295"],"host_organization_lineage_names":[],"type":"repository"},"license":"cc-by","license_id":"https://openalex.org/licenses/cc-by","version":null,"is_accepted":false,"is_published":false,"raw_source_name":null,"raw_type":"Preprint"}],"best_oa_location":{"id":"doi:10.1177/25152459261461505","doi":"https://doi.org/10.1177/25152459261461505","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.1177/25152459261461505","pdf_url":null,"source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S4210173062","display_name":"Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science","issn_l":"2515-2459","issn":["2515-2459","2515-2467"],"is_oa":true,"is_in_doaj":true,"is_core":true,"listed_in":["cwts-core","doaj","dongbi-b","jufo-1","ki-jl-1","norway-1","poland-70","russia-white-list-1","vabb-shw"],"host_organization":"https://openalex.org/P4310320017","host_organization_name":"SAGE Publishing","host_organization_lineage":["https://openalex.org/P4310320017"],"host_organization_lineage_names":["SAGE Publishing"],"type":"journal"},"license":"cc-by","license_id":"https://openalex.org/licenses/cc-by","version":"publishedVersion","is_accepted":true,"is_published":true,"raw_source_name":"Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science","raw_type":"journal-article"},"sustainable_development_goals":[],"study_designs":[],"awards":[],"funders":[],"has_content":{"grobid_xml":true,"pdf":true},"content_urls":{"pdf":"https://content.openalex.org/works/W4417080482.pdf","grobid_xml":"https://content.openalex.org/works/W4417080482.grobid-xml"},"referenced_works_count":52,"referenced_works":["https://openalex.org/W2023740128","https://openalex.org/W2030770980","https://openalex.org/W2032938251","https://openalex.org/W2106421465","https://openalex.org/W2127875809","https://openalex.org/W2140859302","https://openalex.org/W2156451368","https://openalex.org/W2161498332","https://openalex.org/W2547503455","https://openalex.org/W2766845122","https://openalex.org/W2778319275","https://openalex.org/W3191480211","https://openalex.org/W3217579353","https://openalex.org/W4292947474","https://openalex.org/W4319600924","https://openalex.org/W4321455981","https://openalex.org/W4361855702","https://openalex.org/W4376117416","https://openalex.org/W4387799916","https://openalex.org/W4390723916","https://openalex.org/W4392028279","https://openalex.org/W4392340310","https://openalex.org/W4392763134","https://openalex.org/W4401955911","https://openalex.org/W4402512774","https://openalex.org/W4402987844","https://openalex.org/W4403160762","https://openalex.org/W4404990663","https://openalex.org/W4407115268","https://openalex.org/W4407662298","https://openalex.org/W4408341583","https://openalex.org/W4409124407","https://openalex.org/W4409491228","https://openalex.org/W4409719234","https://openalex.org/W4411120402","https://openalex.org/W4411932262","https://openalex.org/W4412061874","https://openalex.org/W4412062109","https://openalex.org/W4412889255","https://openalex.org/W4412944943","https://openalex.org/W4413167964","https://openalex.org/W4415318313","https://openalex.org/W4415343447","https://openalex.org/W4415798544","https://openalex.org/W4416034135","https://openalex.org/W4416243736","https://openalex.org/W4417071108","https://openalex.org/W4417280481","https://openalex.org/W4417539309","https://openalex.org/W6891396639","https://openalex.org/W7129400145","https://openalex.org/W7166871050"],"related_works":["https://openalex.org/W7204586789","https://openalex.org/W4391713857","https://openalex.org/W7203762321","https://openalex.org/W7117468193","https://openalex.org/W7217918145","https://openalex.org/W7164776534","https://openalex.org/W7172019504","https://openalex.org/W7117655861","https://openalex.org/W7223331983","https://openalex.org/W4415033377"],"abstract_inverted_index":{"Social":[0],"scientists":[1],"are":[2],"now":[3],"using":[4,75,130,188],"large":[5],"language":[6],"models":[7],"to":[8,16,117,149,181,198],"create":[9],"\u201csilicon":[10],"samples\u201d:":[11],"synthetic":[12],"data":[13],"sets":[14],"intended":[15],"stand":[17],"in":[18,187],"for":[19,70,178],"human":[20,60,136],"respondents.":[21],"However,":[22],"producing":[23],"these":[24,51,158],"samples":[25,58,190],"requires":[26],"many":[27],"analytic":[28,185],"choices,":[29],"including":[30],"model":[31],"selection,":[32],"sampling":[33],"parameters,":[34],"prompt":[35],"format,":[36],"and":[37,59,87,97,137,191],"amount":[38],"of":[39,173,184],"demographic":[40],"or":[41],"contextual":[42],"information":[43],"provided.":[44],"Across":[45],"two":[46,76],"studies,":[47],"I":[48,65,113,176],"examine":[49],"whether":[50,80],"choices":[52,165],"materially":[53,167],"affect":[54],"correspondence":[55],"between":[56,135],"silicon":[57,138,174,189],"data.":[61],"In":[62,110],"Study":[63,111,128],"1,":[64],"generated":[66],"252":[67],"silicon-sample":[68,120],"configurations":[69,81,98],"a":[71,118],"controlled":[72],"case":[73,122],"study":[74],"social-psychological":[77],"scales,":[78],"evaluating":[79],"recovered":[82],"participant":[83],"rankings,":[84],"response":[85],"distributions,":[86],"between-scales":[88],"correlations.":[89],"Configurations":[90],"varied":[91],"substantially":[92,142],"across":[93,143],"all":[94],"three":[95],"criteria":[96],"that":[99,161,194],"performed":[100,106],"well":[101],"on":[102,108],"one":[103],"dimension":[104],"often":[105],"poorly":[107],"another.":[109],"2,":[112],"extended":[114],"this":[115,200],"analysis":[116],"published":[119],"use":[121],"by":[123],"reexamining":[124],"Argyle":[125],"et":[126],"al.\u2019s":[127],"3":[129],"66":[131],"alternative":[132],"configurations.":[133],"Correlations":[134],"association":[139],"structures":[140],"differed":[141],"configurations,":[144],"from":[145,157],"r":[146,150],"=":[147,151],".23":[148],".84.":[152],"Taken":[153],"together,":[154],"the":[155,171,182],"results":[156],"studies":[159],"demonstrate":[160],"different":[162],"defensible":[163],"configuration":[164],"can":[166],"alter":[168],"conclusions":[169],"about":[170],"fidelity":[172],"samples.":[175],"call":[177],"greater":[179],"attention":[180],"threat":[183],"flexibility":[186],"outline":[192],"strategies":[193],"researchers":[195],"may":[196],"adopt":[197],"reduce":[199],"threat.":[201]},"counts_by_year":[{"year":2026,"cited_by_count":36},{"year":2025,"cited_by_count":4}],"updated_date":"2026-11-09T13:22:03.289127","created_date":"2025-10-10T00:00:00"}