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A review of generalization methods used in empirical social work literature
Author(s) -
Lalayants Marina,
Tripodi Tony
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
international journal of social welfare
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.664
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1468-2397
pISSN - 1369-6866
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-2397.2008.00634.x
Subject(s) - generalizability theory , generalization , sample (material) , replication (statistics) , empirical research , social work , psychology , management science , statistics , epistemology , political science , mathematics , developmental psychology , philosophy , economics , chemistry , chromatography , law
This article reviews methods currently used for generalization of findings, based on a review of a representative sample of empirical research studies drawn from three major social work research journals: Social Work Research , Journal of Social Service Research , and Research on Social Work Practice , over a 10‐year period (1996–2005). Findings revealed a greater discussion of generalizability limitations in comparison with the past, and other types of generalization methods such as conceptual generalizations and qualitative comparisons of study results with those of other studies. Relatively low usage of quantitative comparisons of sample to population and replication procedures was detected. Implications of these trends are discussed and approaches for improvements are explored.