Question

Under what circumstances would external validity not be a concern for a researcher?

Answer 1

If the researcher is carrying out the study for a specific case (for instance, evaluating if an infrastructure project has been able to meet certain performance outcomes) or specialized group (for instance, understanding the narratives of the survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki attack), then he/she would not be very concerned with external validity. This is because the main aim of the research would then be to just gather knowledge and understanding of a particular interest area, without having the intention to generalize it to other related areas.