The extent to which research findings can be generalized beyond the specific study to other populations, settings, times, and conditions. It addresses whether the results apply to the broader world outside the research context.
Established by Campbell and Stanley in the 1960s alongside internal validity, with 'external' indicating validity outside or beyond the immediate study. This concept became central to debates about laboratory versus field research in psychology.
A study of college students' memory might have zero external validity for elderly populations or non-Western cultures! This is why psychology has been criticized as the science of 'WEIRD' people—Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic.
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