21 – External Validity

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External Validity

  • Threats to external validity revolve around the generalizability of results.
  • When we do research, we can know for sure how the subjects in the sample performed, but can we state that they represent the entire population?
  • While there are statistical procedures to help determine this, the best procedure tends to be replication.
  • IOW: use the same procedures with different subjects and different experimenters under different circumstances to see if your original results are consistent.