Cross-Cultural ResearchMethods

Chapter 2

Outline

Cross-cultural comparisons

Ecological-level studies

Cultural studies

Linkage studies

Summarizing across the different methods ofcross-cultural research

Importance of Understanding Cross-CulturalResearch Methods

CROSS-CULTURALCOMPARISONS

Cross-Cultural Comparisons

Studies comparing cultures on psychologicalvariable

Backbone of and most common type of cross-cultural study

Phase I studies in cross-cultural psychology

Methodological concerns withCross-cultural comparisons

Equivalence

Response Bias

Interpreting and Analyzing Data

Equivalence

• Similarity in conceptual meaning and empiricalmethod between cultures that allows comparisonsto be meaningful

• Lack of equivalence = bias

Equivalence

Linguistic : Semantic equivalence of researchprotocols across various languages

Measurement: Degree to which measures indifferent cultures are equally valid and reliable

• Cross-Cultural validation

Sampling: Degree to which samples arerepresentative of their culture and equivalent onnoncultural demographic variables

Equivalence

Procedural: Equivalence in procedures used tocollect data in different cultures

Theoretical: Equivalence in meaning of overalltheoretical framework being tested and specifichypotheses being addressed

Response Bias

Systematic tendency to respond in a certainway to items or scales

Types of response bias

• Socially desirable responding• Acquiescence bias• Extreme response bias• Reference group effect

Response Bias

Socially Desirable Responding : tendency togive answers that make self look good

Acquiescence bias : tendency to agree to items

Extreme response bias: tendency to use ends ofa scale

Reference Group Effect: tendency to implicitlycompare themselves to others in their group

Interpreting and Analyzing Data

Effect size analysis

Cause-effect versus correlationalinterpretation

Cultural Attribution Fallacies

Researcher bias

Dealing with nonequivalent data

Interpreting and Analyzing Data

Effect size analysis: statistical procedure todetermine degree to which differences in meanvalues reflect meaningful differences amongindividuals

Cause-effect versus correlationalinterpretation: cultural groups cannot bemanipulated or randomly assigned; thereforeresearchers cannot make causal inference thatculture caused differences in psychologicalvariable

Interpreting and Analyzing Data

Cultural Attribution Fallacy: attributing cause ofbetween-group differences as cultural withoutempirical justification

Researcher Bias: researchers' interpretation ofdata biased by researchers' cultural filters

Dealing with nonequivalent data: all cross-cultural studies are nonequivalent

• preclude comparison, reduce nonequivafence in data,interpret nonequivalence, ignore nonequivalence

ECOLOGICAL-LEVELSTUDIES

Ecological-Level Studies

Studies using countries or cultures as unit ofanalysis

Data obtained from individuals in differentcultures then averaged for each culture andthese averages are used as data points foreach culture

Phase II studies in cross-cultural psychology

Ecological-Level Studies

Individual-Level StudyLevel ofanalysis

Participant1

Participant2

Participant3

Participant4

Self-Esteem

P1'sscoresonSE

P2'sscoresonSE

P3'sscoresonSE

P4'sscoresonSE

AcademicPerformance

P1's score onAcademe

Performance

P2's score onAcademic

Performance

P3's score onAcademic

Performance

P4's score onAcademic

Performance

Ecological-Level StudyLevel ofanalysis

Country 1

Country 2

Country 3

Country 4

Self-Esteem

C1'sscoresonSE

C2'sscoresonSE

C3'sscoresonSE

C4'sscoresonSE

AcademicPerformance

C1's score onAcademic

Performance

C2's score onAcademic

Performance

C3's score onAcademic

Performance

C4's score onAcademic

Performance

Ecological-Level Studies

Identification of ecological-level dimensionsimportant because

• they were used as theoretical framework topredict and explain cultural differences

• Researchers could examine relationshipbetween different ecological-level data

CULTURAL STUDIES

Cultural Studies

Studies with rich descriptions of complextheoretical models of culture that predict andexplain differences

• Individualism versus Collectivism

Phase III studies in cross-cultural psychology

LINKAGE STUDIES

Linkage Studies

Studies establishing linkages between contentsof culture and psychological variables ofinterest

Phase IV studies in cross-cultural psychology

Types of linkage studies

• Unpackaging studies

• Experiments

Unpackaging Studies

Cross-Cultural comparisons with inclusion ofmeasurement of variable that assesses the contents ofculture hypothesized to produce differences

Culture as an unspecified variable is replaced withcontext variables (specific variables that explaincultural differences)

Context variables should be measured and degree towhich they account for cultural differences should bestatistically tested

Unpackaging Studies

Examples of context variables

• Individual-level measures of culture:operationalization of cultural dimensions onindividual level

• Self-construal scales: measurement ofindependence and interdependence onindividual level

• Personality

• Cultural practices

Experiments

Studies in which researchers create conditionsto establish cause-effect relationships

Types of experiments in cross-culturalpsychology

• Priming• Behavioral

Experiments

Priming

experimentally manipulates mindsets related toculture and examines whether behavior differentas function of primed mindset

If participants behave differently, then can inferprimed cultural mindset caused observeddifferences in behavior

• Priming Experiment (Trarmaw, iriandis, & Goto, 1991)

"For the next two minutes, you will not need towrite anything..

a Condition 1 (private):Please think of what makes you different from yourfamily and friends."

Q Condition 2 (collective):

Please think of what you have in common with yourfamily and friends. What do they expect you to do?

Amount of Individually-Oriented (I-O) and Group-Oriented (6-0) Responses for Americans and

Chinese in TrafimowetaL (1991)

American (-0 Chinese K) American &0 Chinese G-0Responses Response Response Response

D PrivatePrime

• CollectivePrime

Experiments

Behavioral Studies

Examines whether experimental manipulationsof environment causes changes in participants'behavior

SUMMARIZING ACROSS THEDIFFERENT METHODS OF CROSS-

CULTURAL RESEARCH

Cross-Cultural Comparisons

Research Question: Are the cultures different onthe psychological variable of interest?

Method: Participants in two or more culturesmeasured on psychological variable and theirresponses compared

Results: Demonstrates that people of differentcultures differ on psychological variable

Limitations: Cannot be sure what aspect ofculture, if any, produced differences

Ecological-Level Studies

Research Question: 1) What are culturaldimensions that exist on ecological level? 2) How arecultural dimensions related to psychological variableson ecological level?

Method: Data for cultures (averaged responses frommembers of culture or data associated with culture)compared

Results: Demonstrates that cultural means on onpsychological variable related to cultural dimensionson cultural level

Limitations: Cultural level findings not applicable onindividual level

Cultural Studies

Research Question: What aspect of culture arerelated to psychological processes?

Method: Participants in two or more culturesmeasured on psychological variable and theirresponses compared. This is done within theoreticalframework of why differences may occur

Results: Demonstrates that people of differentcultures differ on psychological variable

Limitations: Cannot be sure cultural processesassociated with theoretical framework is whataccounts for differences

Linkage Studies

Research Question: How are specific and measurableaspects of culture empirically related to psychologicalprocesses?

Method: Specific aspects of culture measured ormanipulated, then empirically related to psychologicalvariable

Results: Demonstrates that specific aspects of cultureare empirically related and thus accounts for culturaldifferences on psychological variable

Limitations: Cannot be sure what other specificaspects of culture may be better explanations ofdifferences or that the culture is causing the differences

THE IMPORTANCE OFUNDERSTANDING CROSS-

CULTURAL RESEARCH METHODS

Methods associated with each phase of cross-cultural research not mutually exclusive

Limitations of linkage studies (Phase IV)

Cross-cultural research in future shouldincorporate ecological-level data, culturaltheories, and linkage variables, at differentlevels of analysis, to try to explain differencesand similarities, in mental processes andbehaviors

CONCLUSION

Need to examine methods of studies todetermine whether results can be trusted

Despite the difficulties of cross-cultural methods,cross-cultural research offers exciting andinteresting opportunities not available withtraditional research approaches