Although the list of challenges associated with characterizing cGxE is long, many of these can be addressed by adopting a handful of rigorous research practices. Below we delineate a series of recommendations that we believe will help advance the study of GxE and ensure that the literature provides meaningful progress for science. We focus at greatest length on the issues pertaining to the G (genetics) in GxE, under the assumption that this will be most unfamiliar to social scientists. Many of the other concerns, reviewed in less detail below, are not specific to the study of cGxE, but complement the broader discussion (Cumming, 2014; J. P. Ioannidis, 2005; Lakens & Evers, 2014; Simmons et al., 2011) in the social sciences about how to produce robust, replicable findings that advance science. The recommendations below are reviewed in Figure 4.
