Why Generalisability is not Generalisable

In the United States there is an increasing tendency to view the only educational research worthy of federal funding as that which is designed as an experiment using randomised controls. One of the foundational assumptions underlying this research design is that the results of such research are meant to be generalisable beyond any particular research study. The purpose of this paper is to historicise the assumption of generalisability by explaining the ways in which it is a particularly modern research project. By historicising generalisability, I show the ways in which the current research standards are products of culturally specific historical circumstances. In other words, generalisability is a local phenomenon and not generalisable to other times and places.