The extent to which research findings from a specific study can be applied to other people, settings, times, or situations beyond those directly studied. High generalizability means the results are likely to hold true across diverse contexts.
Formed from 'generalize' (from Latin 'genus' meaning 'kind' or 'type') plus the suffix '-ability.' The concept became central to research methodology in the mid-20th century as scientists grappled with making broader claims from limited studies.
The generalizability crisis in psychology is so severe that some researchers joke about 'psychology of undergraduates' rather than 'psychology of humans!' Studies show that findings from college samples often don't replicate in community samples, and Western findings frequently don't hold in other cultures - yet most psychology theories are presented as universal truths.
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