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A distinction is proposed between two different senses of the treatment by background interaction (termed 'external invalidity' by Campbell & Stanley, 1966). The distinction parallels the dichotomy between universalistic (or theory centered) and particularistic (or context centered) objectives of behavioral research. In its universalistic sense the interaction above suggests a redefinition of the abstract meaning attached to the independent variables effective with respect to a given phenomenon of interest. In its particularistic sense this interaction defines the concrete contexts over which a given outcome will hold. The implications of the proposed distinction are discussed in reference to the phases of (1) designing the experiment and (2) evaluating the obtained results.
Arie W. Kruglanski (Mon,) studied this question.