Research methods in Cross-cultural Psychology LECTURE 2

Introduction  CCPsychology research is conducted within its own set of parameter (ruang lingkup kajian)  Limitations in research should be referred to research parameter.  3 types of CC research:  Method Validation studies  Indigenous cultural studies  Cross-cultural comparisons

Method validation studies  Issues of reliability and validity of measurement  Validity – if scale, test, measure  accurately measure what it is supposed to measure  Reliability  whether it measure consistently.  The issue of using measurement tool of which validity is done in a particular culture  comparable across cultures?

Indigenous cultural studies  Psychological processes and behaviours can only be understood within the culture milleau within which it occurs  requires in-depth analysis of cultural system that support these psychological processes and behaviours.  E.g. the self-construal identity  of collectivistic background  individual would be “soft- hearted”; not driven much by achievement

Cross-cultural comparisons  Compare cultures on some psychological variable of interest.  The most popular and the backbone of cross- cultural research  4 types of cross-cultural research : exploratory vs. Hypothesis testing, Presence or Absence contextual factors, structure vs. level oriented, individual vs. ecological level

Types of cross-cultural research  Exploratory vs. Hypothesis testing  Exploratory studies are designed to examine existence of cross-cultural similarities and differences  Hypothesis –testing are designed to examine why cultural differences may exist  Strength – broad idea of similarities and differences between cultures in psychological phenomena; more contribution to the theory in explicit way.  Weakness – limited capability to address the causes of observed differences

Presence or Absence of Contextual Factors  Contextual – characteristics of participants/ demographic factors or their cultures (e.g. economis development, religious institution)  Contextual factors may explain partly or fully cross-cultural differences.

Structure vs. level oriented  Structure oriented studies – focsussing on associations among variables and aim at finding similarities and differences in these relations across cultures (adakah elemen2 satu2 fenomena psy itu dialami sama spt individu dari lain budaya?  Level orientation studies – ask whether people of different cultures have different mean levels of different variables (tahap )

Individual vs. Ecological (cultural) level  Individual-level – typical in psychological research. Human being who are participants are unit of analysis.  Ecological-level - use countries or cultures as unit of analysis; data normally averaged from data of multiple groups of people in a country.  Country data may come from various sources: population statistics, average temperature or rainfall (rujuk m/s 38)

 E.g. 1: Hofstede (1980, 1984)  studies work values on on IBM workers – 40 countries involved + 13 more countries  Dimension of values – Power Distance, Uncertainty avoidance, Masculinity vs. Femininity, Individualism- Collectivism  E.g.2: Schwartz Value Theory (1992) – 10 universal values Individual vs. Ecological (cultural) level

Designing cross-cultural comparative research  The right research question  Designs – linking culture and indivudal mental processes and behaviors

Bias in research  Conceptual bias  Method bias  Measurement bias  Response bias  Intepretational bias