Generalization and Hume's Problem of Induction: Misconceptions and Clarifications
In Generalizing Generalizability in Information Systems Research Lee and Baskerville (2003) attempt to clarify generalization and distinguish four types of generalization. Although this is a useful objective, what they call generalization is often not generalization at all in the proper sense of the...
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Format: | text |
Language: | English |
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Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University
2007
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Online Access: | https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/184 |
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Institution: | Singapore Management University |
Language: | English |
Summary: | In Generalizing Generalizability in Information Systems Research Lee and Baskerville (2003) attempt to clarify generalization and distinguish four types of generalization. Although this is a useful objective, what they call generalization is often not generalization at all in the proper sense of the word. We elucidate generalization by locating their major errors. A main source of these is their failure to understand the depth of Hume’s problem of induction. We give a thorough explication of the problem and then give a solution. Lastly, we propose an alternative taxonomy of generalization: theoretical, within-population, cross-population, contextual, and temporal. |
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