Reimagining Rigour: Building Science That Reflects Real Lives

By Lauren Lawson, ANZ ACBS 2025 chapter president

Last month, I had the pleasure of delivering the presidential address at the ANZ ACBS conference on a topic that feels more important than ever: how we can reimagine rigour in psychological science so that it reflects real human lives, rather than forcing people to fit narrow models.

One of the things I’ve always valued about the ACBS community is the way it brings science and practice together. ACBS has never been just about collecting data - it’s about understanding the processes that shape human experience and applying that knowledge in ways that are meaningful, flexible, and deeply human.

The research–practice gap

For decades, our attention has been pulled toward the more visible parts of psychological problems: the diagnostic categories, symptom checklists, and manualised treatments. Meanwhile, the deeper mechanisms that actually drive and maintain distress often sit beneath the surface, receiving less attention in research than they do in clinical work.

It’s perhaps not surprising, then, that our overall treatment effect sizes have barely shifted in more than 30 years. While practice has often tried to adapt to the complexities of real people, research has sometimes stayed too focused on the surface, trimming leaves rather than understanding the roots.

Heterogeneity isn’t noise - it’s the point

Traditional research has tended to treat variability as something to control. But real change begins underground, in the diverse and dynamic processes that shape people’s lives.

This is particularly clear when we look at groups historically marginalised in research. Autistic adults, for example, have long been underrepresented or forced into models developed for non-autistic populations. That approach misses the complexity and diversity of their lived experience, and in doing so, risks shaping services that don’t meet their needs.

Heterogeneity isn’t an obstacle to good science - it’s the starting point for building something better.

A shift in how we build evidence

If we want to move forward as a field, we need to stop building models only from the branches down. We need to start from the roots up - from the psychological processes themselves, and from the contexts in which they grow.

That means:

• Designing methods that work with heterogeneity, not against it.

• Building models that are flexible, contextually grounded, and capable of holding complexity.

• Creating evidence that can actually guide personalised, meaningful care.

  
  

This isn’t about abandoning rigour. It’s about redefining rigour to reflect the world as it truly is: complex, messy, and beautifully diverse. Real rigour is not about controlling variability out of existence; it’s about building frameworks that can hold it.

If we want science that truly serves people, we must build it from processes up, not diagnoses down.

This means aligning research more closely with practice, embracing human diversity rather than smoothing it away, and generating evidence that informs policy, services, and systems — not just journal articles.

ACBS is uniquely positioned to lead this shift. By grounding our work in process and context, we can grow a science that reflects the richness and complexity of real human lives, and in doing so, create pathways to genuine, meaningful change.

With gratitude

Thank you for the privilege of serving as your ANZ ACBS President in 2025. It has been a joy to help foster connection, collaboration, and growth across our community. I’m looking forward to continuing to serve on the Board as Immediate Past President next year - and I hope to see many of you in Auckland for the 2026 ANZ ACBS Conference!