A researcher knew findings would only generalize to patients at her private clinic. What is the external validity?

• A. High External Validity
• B. Low External Validity
• C. Moderate External Validity
• D. External Validity Unknown

Answer: (B)

The main idea here is generalizability across settings and populations. If findings would only generalize to patients at her private clinic, the sample is restricted to a very specific group and context. External validity asks whether results would hold true outside that exact setting. Because the study’s conclusions are likely tied to the particular clinic’s patients, care environment, and perhaps local factors, they may not transfer to other clinics, regions, or broader patient groups. So the generalizability is limited, which means external validity is low. To improve it, researchers would include diverse sites and participants and consider replication in different contexts.