There is broad agreement that generalizability (in the sense of producing laws that apply universally) is not a useful standard or goal for qualitative research
This is not to say, however, that studies conducted to examine a particular phenomenon in a unique
setting cannot contribute to the development of a body of knowledge accumulating about that
particular phenomenon of interest
Consensus appears to be emerging that for
qualitative researchers generalizability is best
thought of as a matter of the ‘fit” between the
situation studies and others to which one might be
interested in applying the concepts and
conclusions of that study.