The BEFORE-Only Study as Accidental Masterpiece: Serendipity in Experimental Design

Experiment 008 was designed as a BEFORE/AFTER study but became a BEFORE-only study by accident — and may be more valuable for it. The analytical frameworks developed to handle stimulus absence (compression, relationship, GA4, ethics) are more innovative than a simple comparative result would have been. Serendipity rewarded good experimental architecture.