lesson 2 Flashcards
Why talk about research methods in psych and culture?
- To better understand cross-cultural studies
- To evaluate the quality of those studies
- To run cross-cultural studies
5 Types of cross-cultural research
- Cross-cultural comparison studies
- Unpacking studies
- Ecological-level studies
- Cross-cultural validation studies
- Ethnographies
Neumonic: a world unpacking people of different ethnicities, asking each for validation, comparing them
Cross-cultural comparison studies
Compares two or more cultures on a set of variables
ex) language use, child rearing etc
Unpacking Studies
- goes one step further than a (and is a type of ) cross-cultural comparison
- examines why cultural differences occur
- the number of these studies are small
extra: includes the measurement of a variable that assesses a cultural factor considered to produce differences on the variable being compared across cultures
Ecological-level studies
- Rather than analyzing people it examines whole countries or cultures
(ecological-level vs individual-level studies. most studies are individual-level)
Cross-cultural validation studies
Examine whether a measure of psychological construct (scale, test, measure) generated in one culture is applicable to another
Ethnographies
Observations and field work (common in anthropology)
types of issues in cross-cultural studies
- equivalence
- theoretical issues
- methodological issues/bias
- data analysis issues
Neumonic- equal sign singing I have a theory, method acting with a dead rat named Data from startrek
Equivalence
- issue in cross-cultural comparisons
- a state/condition of similarity in conceptul meaning and empirical method between cultures that allows comparisons to be meaningful
My words: the methods and concepts being used to compare the cultures are useful and meaningful
examples of equivalence issues in cross-cultural stude
ex) statements in a personality inventory:
- I know what I want and I usually end up getting it (can be interpreted as different personality traits in other cultures)
- I enjoy working on “mind-twister” type puzzles (other cultures don’t have that name for it or those games)
ex) different settings in sampling participants
- Urban vs rural areas in different cultures (extra layer of differences, not attributable to culture but to setting)
Theoretical issues (in cross-cultural studies)
problems in hypothesis testing:
- When researchers decide what hypotheses to test based on some theoretical model, it’s important to remember that theories can be culturally bound and influenced by the cultural framework of the theorist
ex) drawing two dimensional theories of behavior on paper is popular in US and Western Europe, while other cultures are not used to that kind of presentation of principles
extra- conceptual bias: Whether the theory or hypotheses mean the same thing across the cultures being tested
types of methodological Issues/bias:
- sampling adequecy/bias
- validity
- language and translation
- research environment, setting, and procedures
Neumonic: baby sample being held up, told he is valid in multiple languages, and taken to a different setting
sampling adequecy (sampling bias)
Are the participants of the study a good representation of the culture
ex) 100 Americans (from NYC or from Omaha?)
Researchers should be able to randomly sample participants from a population based on some known characteristics ( eg sex, age, SES, etc)
methodological issues/ bias in cross-cultural studies
Validity of the operationalization of the conceptual variables
Degree to which a measure is measuring/ representing what it’s supposed to
In cross-cultural studies-
- Cannot assume a scale/measure that is valid in one culture will be valid in another - need to be equivalent
- Cross-cultural validation studies are used to figure this out
ex) Cross-cultural comparisons of intelligence- in American culture, verbal and analytical skills might represent intelligence, while in other cultures creativity or social relationships might mark intelligence
methodological issues/ bias in cross-cultural studies
Language and translation issues
If multiple languages are involved, researchers need to establish linguistic equivalence protocols
- Translation and back translation
methodological issues/ bias in cross-cultural studies