Advantages and disadvantages of cross cultural research in psychology

Culture refers to the many characteristics of a group of people including attitudes, behaviors, custom and values that are transmitted from one generation to the next.

Cross-cultural research

is a scientific method of comparative research, which focuses on systematic comparisons that compares culture to culture and explicitly aims to answer questions about the incidence, distributions, and causes of cultural variation and complex problems across a wide domain, usually worldwide.

Cross-cultural studies, sometimes called holocultural studies or comparative studies, is a specialization in anthropology that uses field data from many societies to examine the scope of human behavior and test hypotheses about human behavior and culture (Ratner, C. 2011) .

There are several types of cross-cultural research. The first of which is Regional comparative cross-cultural research which is well represented by the works of Kroeber and Driver. Second small-scale regional comparison advocated by Fred Eggan (1954) who called it “controlled comparisons” on the assumption that it may make it easier to rule out possible effects of similarity in history, geography, and language. Third large-scale within-region research (using data on all or most of the cultural traits in the region) which generally tries to arrive at classifications of cultures in order to make inferences about processes of diffusion and historical ancestry.  Four coding which implies that data can be collected in two ways.

Therefore, cross-cultural research is the branch of psychology that looks at how cultural factors influence human behavior.

The following are advantages of the cross-cultural research in psychology.

The statistical conclusions drawn from a worldwide comparison of all type of society are probably applicable to the entire ethnographic record, assuming that the sample is more or less free of bias. That is to most if not all regions and all types of societies in the ethnographic record. Thus other thing being equal, the worldwide type of cross-cultural comparison has a better chance than other types of comparison of coming close to the goal of knowing that a finding or an observed relationship has nearly universal validity, which is consistent with the general scientific goal of more and more comprehensive explanation.

It maximizes the amount or range of variation in the variable investigated thereby making a difference between a useful and a useless study. Without variation, it is impossible to see a relationship between variables. If for instance a researcher uses data from a single society; a single region, or even from the recent historical record for nation-states, there may be little or no variation to relate to other things. Hence, one may assume that a relationship is positive or negative, because that is all one observe in the region or in one type of society, but the relationship may be curvilinear in the world. Hence, a worldwide cross-cultural comparison is needed to be sure about the nature or shape of a relationship. A worldwide cross-cultural sample represents the maximum range of variation in the ethnographic record.

It helps in Inter Culture awareness. Every culture more to say every religion has its own custom of doing thing. As culture is group of religions performing the similar activity of their own away. In that sense, one group may have domination and other may not. Domination religion has power of judgments that was followed by other too. So knowing of cultural activity of a particular or all in whole it will be easy to act like inter cultural person. That make the person or a group to adjust and it is one of the best way to avoid cultural shock.

It helps in separating variable. Cross-cultural research it allows the separation of the effects of variables that may be confronting within the culture. That means a research try to show how one variable from one culture affect the other variable in the particular culture. Example the having phones and the effects of academic performance.

It highlights implicit assumptions.  This allows a researcher to examine the influence of his or her own beliefs or assumption of research. Therefore, in order to remove these beliefs, a researcher should conduct a research to know the truth for the correction of the previous assumption.

It helps in avoiding bias in a research. Cross cultural research in psychology help to avoid bias that would happen without apparent reason. This can be seen when a researcher decide to conduct a research by visiting the particular area or culture that has to be studied hence the conclusion will be drawn from what has been collected in the research area.

It helps to separate behavior from the context or environment. Cross-cultural research is the source of separating one behavior of an individual from one culture to another. Example a researcher’s culture may differ from others’ culture. Therefore in separating this, a researcher has to make investigation so that to understand the reality about his or her behavior versus others’ behavior.

It extends the range of variables. Due to cross cultural research, a researcher will be in position of understanding different cultures or tribes because a researcher touches different cultural aspects from the different country of the world. This helps a researcher instead of studying one tribe or culture, he or she can study different culture at the same time. In addition to that, a researcher must range variables and concept that can be investigated or explored.

It helps in testing and verifying theories. There different theories that have been produced by different people in the world, in order to examine these theories if are working, the scholars start now to test in different part of the world so that verify them by looking its applicable and relevance to the behavior of the people and its norms, values, culture and attitudes.

The following are disadvantages of the cross-cultural research.

The Study might be unsuccessful and the researcher could be stuck. A researcher is unlikely to know much about individual societies when comparing many societies from different parts of the world. If a tested explanation turns out to be supported, the lack of detailed knowledge about the sample cases is not much of a problem. If, however the cross-cultural test is disconfirming, it may be difficult to come up with an alternative explanation without knowing more about the particular cases.

It needs someone to be professional in conducting the research. This means that someone has to have been studied cross-cultural studies; this will help the researcher to have knowledge on how to conduct the research. When a researcher will not be a professional of this studies conduction will end up with undesired conclusion of the research. In addition, he or she can cause conflict over the studied studies due to poor methodology that has been used.

Time consuming. In the conduction of cross-cultural research it need more time so as to collect enough data because you need know more about the different behavior activities and altitudes of the different societies and understanding more deeply. When the time will be accurate it will help the researcher to make a good analysis of the data and hence provide the desired conclusion.

It is very expensive to manage it. Cross-cultural research in psychology is like other science research that needs more money in order to accomplish it. Therefore Cross-cultural research it is very cost full in terms of money and resources which require when a researcher collect data. Example to take a research to the field where he or she supposed to be. Also money is needed to fulfill the needs of study.

It is difficult to reach a conclusion. In cross cultural research in psychology it is very much difficult to reach conclusion, this is because  have various culture across the world have different norms, traditions ,behaviors, attitudes and activities differ from one society to another society, hence difficult in concluding.

Therefore , cross cultural research in psychology has great importance as it can unite almost many different cultures around the world through it , researchers and other people have an advantage in understanding the behaviors and practices from the particular culture and hence brings about peaceful atmosphere

REFERENCES.

Ratner, C. (2011). Macro cultural psychology: A political philosophy of mind. New York:

Oxford University Press.

Berry, J.W. (1980). Introduction to methodology. In H.C. Triandis & J.W. Berry (Eds.)

Handbook of cross-cultural psychology: Vol. 2 Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon

Burton, Michael L. & White, Douglas R. (1991). Regional Comparisons, Replications, and

Historical Network Analysis. Cross-Cultural Research, Vol. 25,

Lim, R. (2006).Clinical manual of cultural psychiatry. Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric

Publishers

Driver, Harold E. (1956). An Integration of Functional, Evolutionary, and Historical Theory by

Means of Correlations. Bloomington: Indiana University Publication in Anthropology and Linguistics