Assessing External Validity- Challenges in Generalizing Research Findings Across Populations and Settings

Assessing External Validity- Challenges in Generalizing Research Findings Across Populations and Settings

Replication is when a study can be repeated, achieving the same results (Stevens, 2017). The objective of exact replication is to conduct previously conducted research in the same way and ensure everything remains the same as the initial research (Stangor, 2015). However, this may not necessarily be the case since new participants may have to be used. The research may also occur in a setting with different researchers. The original experiment may be that “ hypnosis is effective in helping middle-aged smokers to quit smoking. An exact replication will be conducted in the same study with middle-aged smokers.

In conceptual replication, the experimenters test the same hypothesis utilizing different methods of measuring the variables(Stangor, 2015). An example of original research would be to test the effect of action movies on physical aggression. The conceptual replication would involve testing the effect of action movies on verbal aggression. Do you need help with your assignment ? Get in touch with us at eminencepapers.com.

Constructive replication involves testing the same hypothesis but with the addition of new concepts (Stangor, 2015). This replication aims to rule out alternative explanations. An example of an original study would be the effect of patient education on quitting smoking. Conceptual replication would involve adding a new condition, such as a financial incentive.

In participant replication, the experiment is repeated with different participants from the original study (Stangor, 2015). It is used when it is believed that behavior observed in one population may not be similar in another population. An example is to test the effectiveness of individual therapy to treat depression in middle-aged adults. The new study participants in participant replication would be teenagers.

Replication is critical for external validity since if a study cannot be replicated, it is difficult to know if the results are true. If the results can be replicated in different settings and populations, they can be generalized to the larger population.

References

Stangor, C. (2015). Research methods for the behavioral sciences (5th ed.). Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning.

Stevens, J. R. (2017). Replicability and reproducibility in comparative psychology. Frontiers in Psychology, 8. https://doi.org/10.3389/

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In the Discussion for this week, you addressed one of the threats to the internal validity of a study, that is, confounding variables. This Application Assignment will challenge you to consider possible threats to external validity. Generalization is the extent to which relationships among variables in research studies can be demonstrated among various people and across different settings. When the results of a research study are generalizable to additional populations and settings, the study demonstrates external validity. However, if a research study is only valid for the particular sample used in the study, then it is not very helpful to the study of psychology.

Assessing External Validity- Challenges in Generalizing Research Findings Across Populations and Settings

In the example provided in the Discussion introduction, two online student groups used different study strategies. Now imagine a human resource (HR) manager at a corporation struggling with the concept of reading comprehension among employees in the workplace setting who wanted to try the new study strategy that the online course instructor had researched. Assume that the online college course instructor had resolved possible issues relating to internal validity and found that the new study strategy was effective at improving reading comprehension. The HR manager presumes that the results of the study with online college students will generalize to her training course at work. However, the replication of the study revealed that, although the new strategy was found to work well for online students, the results did not generalize to the training course in the work setting. Therefore, the original study lacks external validity.

Replications of studies, such as the one in this example, are essential to demonstrate generalization and external validity. This week, you will learn about four types of replication procedures, and you will develop original examples of each procedure with the goal of demonstrating generalization and external validity.