In your original comment, it seemed like you were questioning why the study was funded, then compared it to another obvious cause-effect about kicking a dog. Did I misunderstand?

the conclusion simply follows naturally from the hypothesis

The conclusion might have confirmed your personal hypothesis, but we don't assume that any conclusion "naturally follows" a hypothesis without measuring it.

The proposition here is that people who have opposing political views are more likely to be antagonistic to each other, that is a tautology.

The way you phrased it is a tautology, but the study didn't measure antagonism. It measured whether couples broke up or not.

[–] seven_phone@lemmy.world 4 points 13 hours ago

The research subject as quoted is a tautology, people separate because they have irreconcilable differences, opposing political views is an irreconcilable difference so the conclusion of the research is that couples with irreconcilable differences are more likely to suffer from the problems associated with irreconcilable differences.