Assessing external validity

Hao Bo and Sebastian Galiani

Research in Economics, 2021, vol. 75, issue 3, 274-285

Abstract: In designing any causal study, steps must be taken to address both internal and external threats to its validity. Researchers tend to focus primarily on dealing with threats to internal validity. However, once they have conducted an internally valid analysis, that analysis yields an established set of findings for the specific case in question. As for the future usefulness of that result, however, what matters is its degree of external validity. In this paper we provide a formal, general exploration of the question of external validity and propose a simple and generally applicable method for evaluating the external validity of randomized controlled trials. Although our method applies only to RCTs, the issue of external validity is general and not restricted to RCTs, as shown in our formal analysis.

Keywords: Internal validity; External validity; Randomized controlled trials (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Working Paper: Assessing External Validity (2019)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:reecon:v:75:y:2021:i:3:p:274-285

DOI: 10.1016/j.rie.2021.06.005

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