genome wide association study replicate GWAS study Tthe repeated observation of associations between covariates by different investigative teams, in different populations, using different designs and methods is typically taken as evidence that the association is not an artifact. ref: Replication in Genome-Wide Association Studies [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2865141/] the GWAS study that intend to repeat initial GWAS study's observation over a different population using a different design and methods by different investigation teams.