Willie van Peer

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Willie van Peer

• Research Approaches in Intercultural Studies
• University of Munich
• w_vp_at_yahoo.com
• http//vanpeer.redes.de

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Replication

• basic method of intercultural research
• Study X in Culture A is repeated in culture B
• Hope results will inform us about differences
  between cultures A and B
• However, on basis of one such replication, it is
  dangerous to generalize
• Therefore better to have multiple replications
• and then carry out a meta-analysis

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Meta-analysis

• Effect sizes are compared across replications
• Score Experimental Group - Score Control Group
• __________________________________________
• Standard deviation of Control Group
• Effect sizes are averaged across different
  studies if sample of studies is large enough
• influences of geographical situation, time,
  traditions, etc. on effect size can be estimated

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Examples

• Within social psychology study most replicated
  is Asch (1951) on conformity
• and Milgrams (1974) study of obedience

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Aschs experiments on social conformity

• Participant is requested to say which of three
  lines is equal in length to a given line
• in a group of people

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Unknown to participant

• Is that other members of group are assistants in
  the experiment
• who regularly (all) point to a false line
• question
• Do (real) participants conform to group pressure?

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Results

• People do sometimes give in to group pressure
• especially if the group size increases to 30

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Different outcomes

• Effect sizes considerably larger outside Western
  cultures
• Conclusion Conformity effects stronger in
  non-Western cultures
• Reason conformity has negative overtones in
  Western cultures
• However third variable causation not excluded
• Hence, internal validity of claim is undermined
• or at least threatened

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Alternative explanation

• In non-Western cultures, people questioned may
  prefer to give incorrect judgments
• in order to avoid embarrassment with peers
• and this feeling of embarrassment may override
  the giving of correct information
• In other words ...

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Meaning of words

• May be different in various contexts
• conformity may mean something very different in
  different cultures
• E.g. in non-Western societies we may not be
  dealing so much with conformity
• but rather with tact, sensitivity, shame,
• So
• AVOID ethnocentricity

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Ethnocentricity

• Poses a real and serious problem in intercultural
  studies
• because nearly ALL concepts, theories, and
  insights in psychology come from research carried
  out in Western cultures
• without controlling for the influence of culture
• Hence threatening the internal validity of these
  concepts, theories and insights for any
  universalistic psychology

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Conformity

• Moreover
• The Ash experiments are invariably described as
  studies in conformity
• with increasing trend emphasizing this in
  textbooks
• While Ash himself saw the results as proof of
  non-conformism
• Data 37 conformed, 63 did not !
• Hence, INTERPRETATION of data is highly important
  and desirable!

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Interpretation

• But
• is 37 non-conformity high or low?
• Hard to say on its own
• Lack of clear rules to interpret effect sizes
• However, through cross-cultural comparison
• the question becomes more meaningful
• and allows more focus in discussing

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Interpretation

• Presumably, in a society that highly values
  independence as high as most Westerns societies
  do
• any evidence of conformity is bound to be
  interpreted negatively
• Thus, cross-cultural studies alert us to the fact
  many of the concepts that we use to interpret the
  world are strongly influenced by the culture we
  live in

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A second example of widely replicated study

• Milgrams famous (1963) study of obedience
• investigated whether people are disposed to obey
  an authority figure
• even when giving unreasonable demands
• without providing good grounds

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Set-up

• Participant is requested to administer electrical
  shocks (mild to severe) to someone making erros
  in a learning task

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Initial results

• Found 65 of participants in the experiment
  obedient
• no differences male / female

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However ...

• Slight differences in the actual execution of the
  original experiment
• E.g. victim in Milgramsexperiment was a man
  in a business suit
• in Australia, a long-haired young man / a woman

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In addition

• Considerable variation within each culture
• In Milgrams experiment variation from 0 to 92
• Strongest variation when further accomplices were
  involved
• e.g. when accomplice administers shock obedience
  jumps up to 92
• in Australia up to 68 for males, up to 40
  for females
• when 2 accomplices refused obedience goes down
  to 10
• when Ss were informed explicitly that they were
  themselves responsible for their own actions,
  maximum shocks went down to zero

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Conclusion

• Now draw some lessons from this
• (1) Replication is usually MUCH more difficult
  than at first sight
• - does not guarantee that we are observing
  cultural differences
• - may not exlude alternative explanations
  (threatening internal validity)
• In intercultural research, this can be extremely
  difficult!

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Research tradition

• (2) Observed differences may even be explained
  away by different research traditions, e.g.
• - in US rigor of methodology
• - in Europe such rigor distorts phenomena,
  and makes conclusions invalid
• Conclusion may sound discouraging

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Give up replications?

• Because of high of failure
• By NO means!!
• Because replications provide us with clues of
  additional variables that are at work
• thereby increasing the validity of future studies
• However, if so, then also some requirements arise
  out of these conclusions

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Requirements

• Employ same / highly similar materials, methods,
  participants, instructions, etc. in replications
• the larger het number of replications, the
  better
• to detect elements that may be of a universal
  nature
• make it easier to understand why the results are
  as such
• Samples of participants must be equal in all
  respects, except for their culture

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Difficulty

• Which may be difficult, or even impossible
• or tricky (hard to notice that they are not
  equivalent)
• E.g. Paul Sopcaks research American and German
  students
• German students on average some 5 years older
  than American ones
• Thus important to consider how age may be
  relevant to the variable under study!!

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Further difficulties

• Due to potential sources of inequivalences
• 1. Language
• 2. Manipulating variables
• 3. Participants
• 4. Scale usage
• 5. Research tradition

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1. Language

• All linguistic elements used in the replication,
  such as texts, instructions, questionnaires, etc.
  should be equivalent
• Hence translation is coming in in most cases
• And even when same language can be used
• German West-, East-Germany, Austria,
  Switzerlang, Rumania democracy
• USA / Canada / Britain, freedom
• method of back-translation
• by someone independent of study!

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2. Manipulating variables

• E.g. rewrite text, so that now protagonist loses
  face
• But this is perceived stronger in cultures in
  which face is very important (e.g. Oriental
  cultures)
• Or augment (or diminish) the degree of FG in
  text
• But effect is going to depend on the degree to
  which literary tradition is held in high esteem
• Solution carefully consult with culturally
  knowledgeable collaborators to establish
  functional similarity of manipulations

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3. Participants

• May be tricky e.g. in some cultures university
  entrance is prone to highly competitative
  entrance exams, in others access is less
  restricted (e.g. Brazils state university /
  private universities / German universities)
• solution
• look beyond labels, and compare key variables
  rather than culture
• study variables less affected by non-cultural
  differences, e.g. perception, cognition, emotion,
  rather than social or organzational processes

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4. Scale usage

• May be confounded by cultural differences
• e.g. generalized acquiescence
• or moderation tendencies
• Solution
• reduce number of points on scale
• eliminate mid-point on scale
• within-subject standardization (each score
  expressed relative to that persons ratings on
  all the other scales)

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5. Research tradition

• Differences between cultures where political
  polls, consumer surveys, telephone interviews, or
  questionnaires are common and cultures where they
  are not
• guarantee that confidentiality and anonymity
  will be guaranteed
• compared to cultures where empirical social
  science is hardly practised (or politicized)
• In such cultures requires much more explanation
  of procedures and guarantees

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Conclusion

• Paradox
• On the one hand, doing intercultural research is
  one of the most difficult form of research in the
  cultural sciences
• On the other, it is one of the most needed forms
  if we are to transcend beyond the one-sided
  entrenched categories and perspectives of our
  individual cultures
• So lets start DOING it!

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Some further reading

• R. Brislin et al. Cross-cultural Research
  Methods. New York Wiley
• F. van de Vijver K. Leung Methods and Data
  Analysis for Cross-Cultural Research. Thousand
  Oaks, CA Sage
• Peter B. Smith Michael Harris Bond Social
  Psychology Across Cultures. Boston / London
  Allyn and Bacon, 1999.