Cross Cultural Research
Psychology: AQA A Level, topic 8.1.5
Social Implications of Cultural Bias
If studies are culturally biased, then the theories from the studies will also be culturally biased. People reading these studies and broader society could be affected.
Implications of cultural bias
- Psychology studies and theories have broader implications in society.
- This can be especially problematic when the theories affect psychological practice and therapies.
Cochrane and Sashidharan
- Cochrane and Sashidharan examined diagnosis rates of schizophrenia in the UK.
- They compared the rates in people of African-Caribbean origin to the rest of the population.
- They found that those of African-Caribbean origin were seven times more likely to be diagnosed.
Cochrane and Sashidharan conclusions
- From this, people could draw the conclusion that people of African-Caribbean origin may have a higher genetic predisposition towards it.
- But by looking at the rates of schizophrenia in the Caribbean, they are no higher than the UK.
- So people could have a misconception about schizophrenia rates in African-Caribbean’s.
Littlewood and Lipsedge (1989)
- Littlewood and Lipsedge (1989) found that African-Caribbean patients were more likely to be prescribed stronger doses of medication.
- The symptoms could be exactly the same as patients of other ethnicities and they would still be prescribed higher doses.
- This suggests that doctors were interpreting the symptoms as being much more severe.
Issues with Cross-Cultural Research
Cross-cultural research, while crucial to a broader understanding of all human behaviour, does have its challenges. In addition, cultural bias can be prevalent but can be ameliorated.
Main issues with cross-cultural research
- There are two main issues with cross-cultural research:
- Difficulty in interpretation.
- Difficulty in replicability. This causes the results to be less valid.
Difficulty in interpretation
- Communication between two different languages is challenging, even with a translator.
- Subtle subtext, proverbs, beliefs, customs and colloquialisms can be difficult to translate or understand.
- So findings and data can be misinterpreted.
- This can result in ethnocentric bias because the researchers are judging behaviours against their own cultural norms.
Difficulty in replicability
- The ability to replicate studies is the hallmark of scientific research.
- Replication increases validity.
- But cross-cultural studies can be difficult to replicate because of a decreased ability to properly translate procedures.
Example - six cultures and six languages
- If a study is going to be conducted across six different cultures with six different languages, the detailed minutiae of the procedures may get 'lost in translation'.
- Smith and Bond (1988) argued that perfect replications are impossible because of this.
Reducing Cultural Bias
There are three ways of reducing cultural bias. It is important to note that cultural bias may not be intentional, but is still important to minimise.
Cultural relativism
- Cultural relativism is the idea that there is no universal standard to behaviour.
- Psychological research should take into account the culture that it is being conducted in, i.e. they must observe cultural relativism.
Representative sampling
- Secondly, all sub-groups within a larger group should be represented.
- Sampling should be representative of all sub-groups from which you want to draw conclusions.
- This will allow for generalisability of results.
Sampling example - Margaret Mead (1935)
- For example, Margaret Mead (1935) studied three tribes of Papua New Guinea when examining gender roles.
- To be truly representative and generalisable, all tribes should have been taken into account.
Context
- Finally, research should be conducted in meaningful contexts and use researchers local to the culture being studied (Berry, 1969).
- This allows for issues of imposed etic to be reduced.
Test yourself on Cross Cultural Research
Who investigated medicine dosage given to Afro-Caribbean people?
Which of these is NOT an example of something difficult to translate between languages and cultures?
What are the two main difficulties in cross-cultural research?
What are the three main ways of reducing cultural bias?