Introduction
Cross-cultural psychology forms a good basis for understanding multicultural issues in research since culture is integrated in research. The multicultural and traditional research methodology approaches various research variables such as cultural norms and sampling in ways that not only are similar in some aspects but also differ in some other aspects.
Moreover, researchers in multicultural psychology experience various challenges when they tackle the variables using the multicultural and traditional methodology. This paper discusses the similarities and differences in norms and sampling as research variables used in multicultural and traditional research methodology. In addition, the paper focuses on the problems that a researcher is likely to come across in the quest of putting these variables into application in a cross cultural environment.
Multicultural Psychology
In cross-cultural psychology, researchers are involved with applying the scientific method to give an explanation to the ensuing differences when one study’s the behavior of individuals who have different cultural origins (Olatundun, 2009). The social and cultural practices experienced by individuals play a vital role in defining the behavior of such individuals hence calling for attention when conducting research involving different cultures.
Sampling in Multicultural Psychology
When exploring the question of sampling under the multicultural and traditional research methodology, getting a representative sample is always a major challenge. The fact that there exist differences in geographical location of different cultures not to mention the different cultural norms is bound to bring difficulties in selecting a representative sample. It is not uncommon to have some subjects not being available during sampling thus leading to less representative sample.
Moreover, cultural differences may influence the willingness of individuals to take part in a study thus affecting the representativeness of the sample. Samples for cross-cultural research have to be as representative as possible. This involves having a sample that represents the behaviors of as many cultures as are affected or have an impact on the study. Failure to select a representative sample, for instance, by measuring intelligence via timed tasks only introduces a stimulus bias (Nelson, n.d).
Cultural norms in multicultural psychology research
A researcher may be forced to bias against a certain culture when sampling due to difficulties in communication that may exist between the researcher and the subjects. This is a common problem that affects sampling in cross-cultural research. Even in cases where the researcher may utilize back translation as a solution to this problem, one cannot be absolutely sure that the same results would be obtained if there was no back translation.
This problem is further exacerbated if the translator translates word to word and is not knowledgeable on the culture of the subjects. When researchers foresee the problem of misinterpretation due to translation, they may tend to introduce bias in sampling.
An ethical issue that usually comes up when conducting cross-cultural research is the issue of the researcher tending to impose his/her own values to the participants or the entire process of research such that the researcher ends up judging the subjects based on his cultural standards (Olatundun, 2009).
For instance, healthy functioning may defer according to cultures thus requiring a researcher to take into account the different meanings of various terms. A researcher is therefore supposed to ensure that the sample takes into consideration these differences in meaning as understood in different cultures. This is important in helping to make unbiased and meaningful observations.
Understanding the various norms that a certain community/culture upholds is an important aspect of multicultural research. This is so because different cultures view different aspects and process of research very differently such that assuming anything in the research process may bring about difficulties and lack of acceptability by participants.
For instance, informed consent may have different meaning among different cultures with some cultures attaching a lot of importance in it while others may not take it very seriously. As such, a researcher may be forced to seek informed consent in almost every step of the research process if he or she is in a culture that does not underestimate informed consent.
This has an implication on the sampling process among other research processes. Moreover, some groups of people may not understand the standard form of informed consent, written consent, thus requiring the researcher to look for alternative means of obtaining informed consent. Of course this implies that the researcher may have to seek for extra resources to facilitate this, thus portraying cross-cultural research as sometimes an expensive approach.
Challenges in sampling in cross-cultural research
Cultural sensitivity is a principle thing that cross-cultural researcher must always have in mind, regardless of the stage at which the research is. For the researcher to be successful in the study, it becomes imperative to familiarize oneself with the norms of the culture. This should be coupled with continuous respect between the researcher and the subjects as well as continuous communication, involving consultation from knowledgeable informants, to ensure that accurate information is collected.
The implication of this is that the researcher has to determine the best likely participants to involve in the study; otherwise it may prove very difficult to obtain meaningful observation/results if the participants are not knowledgeable. Conducting cross-cultural research calls for community control where the community members are given an opportunity to exercise autonomy.
One of the major hurdles facing cross-cultural research is the possibility of going against cultural values and norms, which mainly emanates from lack of informed consent. Going against the belief systems of a community implies that the researcher is not only unacceptable before the community, but he/she has minimal chances of obtaining any meaningful information from the subjects.
To counter these challenges and ensure a partnership is created between the subjects and the researcher, it is paramount for the researcher to select participants without bias and assign the selected sample randomly in addition to seeking informed consent (Hall & Barongan, 2002).
Problems associated with cultural norms in multicultural research
It is sometimes difficult to deal with the issue of minorities, whether in terms of race, religion or gender when conducting cross-cultural research. This often comes up if the sample was not representative enough. It is therefore often difficult to generalize findings/interpretations across many cultures by just studying one major culture. This still narrows down to selection of a representative sample and respect/recognition of different cultural norms.
It is for instance a grave mistake to study a dominant culture which holds to a derogatory cultural perspective and then generalize the findings to other cultures since this is obviously culturally inaccurate (Hall & Barongan, 2002). It is therefore essential to co-work with the community in order to derive culture-specific conclusions from a study, failure to which cultural norms are infringed.
Conclusion
Norms and sampling as variables used in multicultural and traditional research methodology have great impact on cross-cultural research. By understanding the different cultural norms that are upheld by a given community, a researcher is able to identify and select the best sample that ensures representativeness and minimizes biasness. Cultural norms will determine the willingness of individuals to participate in a study and this may be very challenging for the researcher.
It is therefore important for the researcher to be well acquainted with the community under study and to ensure that he or she familiarizes with the community he is going to select subjects from.
Informed consent is therefore a good means of circumventing the problems of lack of acceptability from the community that is likely to be faced by a cross-cultural researcher. The likely problem of generalizing findings across communities/cultures, based on findings from a dominant culture should be avoided since the findings are mainly culturally inaccurate.
References
Hall, G. C. N. and Barongan, C. (2002). Multicultural psychology. United Kingdom: Pearson Higher Education.
Nelson, J. M. Cross-cultural psychology qualitative research approaches. Web.
Olatundun, I. O. (2009). What is cross-cultural research? International Journal of Psychological Studies, 1(2): 82-96.