Understanding the concept of external validity A way to bridge the gap between research and practice?

Abstract

The increasing demand for evidence-based practice has put focus on the gap between research and practice. The overall aim of this study is to contribute to enhanced research relevance by increasing the understanding of the concept of external validity. This thesis analyses scientific articles that discusses the concept of external validity, through the lens of ANT and its concept translation of scientific facts. The study shows that there are several definitions of external validity expressed in the scientific literature. External validity is defined as both generalisability and as a question of relevance. When problems and solutions are in focus external validity is addressed in terms of research’s lack of relevance. The results of this study indicate that a way to make research more useful in practice is to give the question of external validity greater attention, in terms of methodology as well as epistemology. While further epistemological investigations is necessary for deepening the understanding of the phenomena, methodological development could possibly focus on how to incorporate more practice relevant properties early in the research process, the purpose being to create more and stronger links between the attributes of internal and external validity.