Cross cultural research
Human society has different beliefs, practices, social roles, forms of organization and conflicts (political, economic, religious, artistic, etc) that demonstrates diverse kinds of connectedness as well as cleaving inside communities. This connectedness and cleaving are strongly related with various historical experiences, physical and social surroundings in which people live. Neighboring and interacting group can be interrelated by similar historical experience, common origin, common participating in historical civilizations and languages. Conflicts, marginality and cleaving are inalienable parts of cultural phenomenon. Individuals or communities can have many sorts of relationships. (Markus 1991) The brightest examples of interaction come from common dwelling, similar experience and communication in a common language or system of signs. These patterns are comparatively well linked. Other examples of similarities come from processes of dispersion: migration, diaspora, trajectory of movements, social mobility, distinguishing histories and careers. Interactions are not limited by area; it is connected with trajectory of inhabitants who move inside and outside local territory. (Goldberg 1998)
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Culture includes combined constructions that derive from social interactions of group of people living on overlapping territories. Cross-cultural research examines complex problems of asking such as connectedness in the practices, social roles, beliefs and conflicts in human communities and their interrelation with common history and language. Cultural bias is also the subject of cross-cultural research. To resist sensed bias some researchers have tried to develop methods and theories to compensate for cultural bias. It is maintained by some people that cultural bias is important force in the natural sciences. For instance Luce Irigavay considers that physic has been created by patriarchal culture. However, only small sect of postmodernists accepts this point of view seriously. Critics of postmodern ideology often ridicule this quote. (Goldberg 1998)
Some people assert that cultural bias appears when people make a supposition about customs, language, proof and evidence. They are blamed of making errors in these suppositions for law of logic and nature. However the most wide-spread point of view among philosophers and researchers is that laws of logic and nature are universal. (Goldberg 1998)
Multitudinous biases can be found in different aspects such as cultural norms for color, location of body parts, concept of justice etc. a bias against women can be supported by a culture debasing women. This sort of bias could be accomplished by several people against an individual or by individual against a group. (Markus 1991)
Reading English sources people could notice that it is wide-spread to look through a visual space from top to bottom and from left to right. For example the United States are on the “top” position while United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia are on the “bottom”.
Cross-cultural research comes across various methodological, moral and ethical challenges. Speaking about comparative methodic cross-cultural research it is necessary to mention three basic problems. One of them is choice of basis for cross-cultural research of values. Another problem is selection of basic method of researching. One more important problem is connected with providing appropriate transmission of sense dealing with people in different cultures. Each of these problems is worth to be discussed. (Markus 1991)
In order to discover what the difference between values of various cultures is, it is very important to understand what points will be compared. Many researchers suppose that all cultures can be differenced by crucial values’ dilemmas. These dilemmas are basis of comparing and they should be universal, invariant categories. They have to be similarly understood and applied in different cultures. (Markus 1991)
It should be mentioned that in most cases cross-cultural researches show insignificant differences and notice more similarities than differences in values of diverse cultures.
It is important to remember for a scholar practitioner that people can understand words differently in other cultures that is why it is necessary to pay enough attention to proper translation.
Sources
Goldberg, L.R., Sweeney, D. & Hughes, J.E. (1998)’Demographic Variables and Personality: The Effects of Gender, Age, Education, and Ethnic/ Racial Status on Self-Descriptions of Personality Attributes’. Personality and Individual Difference 24: 393-403
Markus. H.R. & Kitayama, S. (1991) ‘Culture and the Self: Implications for Cognition, Emotion and Motivation’. Psychological Review 98: 224-253
