Steve Tippins Ph.D.Helping doctoral students get their dissertation accepted, succeed in their careers, & change the world | Academic Career Advisor | Dissertation Chair & Founder, Beyond PhD Coaching | 35 + years of experience.

Core Concepts of Internal and External Validity

20 Feb 2026 · 1 min

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In this brief monologue, the speaker explains the concepts of internal and external validity in research. They emphasize that internal validity concerns whether a study was set up correctly, while external validity concerns the extent to which findings can be transferred beyond the specific study context. The speaker notes that qualitative studies often have limited external validity due to small sample sizes, but they can still open avenues for future research. They advise researchers to consider both forms of validity early in the research process to avoid later complications, and they conclude with a call to action inviting viewers to request a link to a free dissertation help community.

Chapters

Internal validity? Did you do it right? Did you set it up right? External validity? So what? What does it mean externally? Can it be transferred outside of what I have done now, I haven't mentioned this. Qualitative studies have limited external validity because their samples are small, but it does open up the field for future research. A little bit of time thinking about validity, both internal and external, at the beginning or very near the beginning of your work is going to save you a lot of headaches and a lot of time doing your research. Drop the word help in the comments and I'll send you a link to my free dissertation help community.