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Cross-Cultural Communication pp 1–19 Cite as

What is Cross-Cultural Communication?

  • Brian J. Hurn 3 &
  • Barry Tomalin 4  

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This first chapter looks at the influence of other disciplines on cultural studies. It examines different definitions of ‘culture’ and ‘communication’ and looks at key areas of cultural diversity in visible behaviour and underlying values. It analyses strategies for optimizing successful communication with people of other cultures and overcoming the barriers to cross-cultural communication.

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Trompenaars, F. (2000) Riding the Waves of Culture , 2nd edn (London: Nicholas Brealey Publishing).

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Further reading

Axtell, R. (1993) Do’s and Taboos Around the World, A Guide to International Behaviour (New York: John Wiley & Sons).

Bragg, M. (2003) The Adventure of English (London: Hodder & Stoughton).

Crystal, D. (2003) How Language Works (London: Penguin).

Harrison, B. (ed.) (1990) Culture and the Language Classroom (Oxford: Modern English Publications).

Mehrabian, A. (1981) Silent Messages: Implicit Communication of Emotions and Attitudes (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth).

Morris, D. (1977) Manwatching: A Field Guide to Human Behaviour (London: Jonathan Cape).

Morris, D. (1979) Gestures: Their Origins and Distribution (London: Book Club Associates).

Pease, A. and Pease, B. (2004) The Definitive Book of Body Language (London: Orion Books).

Spencer-Oatey, H. (2000) Culturally Speaking: Managing Rapport through Talk Across Cultures (London: Continuum).

Trompenaars, F. and Hampden-Turner, C. (2000) Building Cross-Cultural Competence (London: Nicholas Brealey Publishing).

Whorf, B. (1998) Science and Linguistics — Basic Concepts of Communication: Selected Readings (Maine: Intercultural Press).

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Hurn, B.J., Tomalin, B. (2013). What is Cross-Cultural Communication?. In: Cross-Cultural Communication. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230391147_1

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4.2: Cross-Cultural Communication

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  • Daniel Usera & contributing authors
  • Austin Community College

LEARNING OUTCOMES

  • Practice cross-cultural communication through communication competence.
  • Understand how to learn about cultures.
  • Discuss international cultures co-existing within communities.
  • Analyze problems within cross-cultural communication.
  • Understand cultural issues and perception within multiple types of relationships.
  • Understand the effect of age, generation, race, gender, and disability in cultural communication.

CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION

Communicating across cultures

When people from different cultures communicate, this is cross-cultural communication. This can be people from different families, different occupations, different races, ages, and genders. It can also be cross-cultural communication when two people are from different countries.

What is needed in cross-cultural communication is competence, and this comes partially from having an open mind. Critical thinking is necessary to ascertain what these differences are, and how to get the point across in a different way, or at least be able to explain the why. Chung notes the rapidly changing demographics in the United States, saying, “what was once a homogeneous community, we may now find more diversity and cultural values in flux” and that we learn more from people who are different than people who are similar (2019, p. 376). There’s value in diversity.

An example of cross-cultural communication is when a couple comes together and they are from different cultures, i.e. a person from Houston, Texas, gets together with another person from near Houston, Texas, but who is originally from Lima, Peru, by way of Brazil. There may be a nuanced language barrier, or a difference in food expectations, and a difference in expected dinner times. These partners may have the same religion, and so there is that in common.

But, families communicate differently, so they must negotiate their norms nonverbally and verbally. For instance, the Peruvian hugs and has more communication through touch. There may be differences in expectations for how to raise children, household chores, and who works and who doesn’t. There may also be questions if there is a lack of competence of one or both of the people involved. The initial attraction may be physical, but there would be a lot of interpretation going on in actions.

Competence and cultural learning

How we learn about other cultures may improve our competence level. Many people will simply begin to ask questions, or may do research on the particular culture of the person. Knowing that the research is about a group of people should be telling, as all people from within a culture will not be the same. However, reaching out shows outreach.

Food is a great way to find out about a culture, and the treatment of food. Many families in the United States rarely have dinner together, and instead fend for themselves, while other families insist upon a family dinner at one table with no electronics every night. Some people will want everyone to eat all the food, where some people will want some food to be left on the plate. This is something that must be learned.

Within communities, there may be many people from different countries, and there is a need to learn the norms. Consider a real estate agent who is a white woman from Texas and who is invited to a client’s baby shower. The client is from Nigeria, and the real estate agent budgeted only 45 minutes of time for the shower. The real estate agent showed up at the designated time, was there for almost two hours. The client showed up right as she was leaving. The real estate agent was confused, but hadn’t researched the culture. Time is viewed differently within the Nigerian culture, but the agent didn’t realize that would apply in the United States. However, with many Nigerian people at the party, the time standard was not typical U.S. time orientation.

Knowing our audience is important, so we become more competent. The best intercultural communicators are people who are genuinely interested in other cultures.

Problems in cross-cultural communication

Problems in cross-cultural communication can be stereotyping, ethnocentrism, prejudice, discrimination, and racism. Stereotyping , according to Hall, is “attributions that cover up individual differences and ascribe certain characteristics to an entire group of people” (2005, p. 192). An example might be that Asians are good at math. While this may be a positive stereotype, it’s still not correct to use, whether it’s positive or negative.

Ethnocentrism is “assuming that one’s group is the center of the world” and feelings of superiority (Hall, 2005, p. 198). Though ethnocentrism may not be meant to be negative, it shows a lack of critical thinking, and thinking outside the culture. The real estate agent from our earlier example who attended her Nigerian friend’s baby shower could have made the mistake of telling her friend that it’s better to have an exact start time for an event, but instead, the agent went along with the uncertainty even if it made the agent feel a bit out of her comfort zone.

Prejudice is “a rigid attitude that’s (1) based on group membership and (2) predisposes an individual to feel, think, or act in a negative way toward another person or group of persons.” (Hall, 2005, p. 202). Prejudice is always negative. Discrimination is acting negatively based on prejudice, while racism is discrimination or prejudice directed at someone of a different race because of the notion that one’s own race is superior. These get progressively more negative and harmful.

Rockson (2019) writes a primer on how to connect with others through cross-cultural communication, and suggests that people need to be aware of their own values and biases, as that helps prevent missteps and bad relationships. Rockson’s (2019) book suggests the solution is to educate, don’t perpetuate, and instead, communicate.

Relationships

On the positive side, cross-cultural relationships often develop. Relationships have many variations: strangers, acquaintances, friends, romantic partners, and family. The way all these relationships are valued varies between cultures. For instance, the elderly population of some cultures is treated differently than in other cultures, like Japan versus the United States. In Japan, 58% of elderly people are likely to live with one of their children, while in the United States, 15% of elderly people live with someone else, and Japanese elders are seen to have more wisdom and are listened to with reverence and seen as relevant (Karasawa, 2011).

Family relationships tend to be nuclear in the United States, though the saying “blood is thicker than water” has been heard in the country. This saying means that family relationships are more valued than other relationships. Within families, relationships within collectivist countries like Japan tend toward family members sticking with extended family members, even to the point of living in the same households.

When people immigrate to the United States, the tradition of extended family living together often carries over. For instance, Indian families often have multiple generations living together, as do Hispanic families from collectivist cultures. As economies change, these things may tend to change as well.

Within the United States, the culture of friendliness with strangers varies. In Southern states, there tends to be an air of friendliness, and strangers will help each other out, and go out of their way to do nice things, whereas in northern states, or larger cities, like New York City, people are not as conversational, and may not consider others as much. Neither is good or bad, they just are.

Acquaintances within cross-cultural relationships often co-exist, like one street in Houston, where there was a large Catholic family with five children, next door to a lesbian couple with two children, a black family with children, a couple with no children, an Indian family, and an Asian family. This particular community touted itself as the most international community in the world, and everyone coexisted, but no one seemed to truly involve themselves in each other’s lives.

With cross-cultural friends, more of an effort is made to reach out and maintain. With cross-cultural relationships, there may be a more difficult time understanding each other’s world views, but the variations in ethnicities, race, religion, and more can make things more interesting. An example would be a friendship in which one friend is an atheist, whereas the other is an evangelical Christian, or a friendship where one person is Catholic and the other person is Hindu. Even with that religious difference, it can be a learning opportunity.

Romantic partners may have the hardest time of all of these within cross-cultural relationships. Romantic partners of different backgrounds may need the goodwill or acceptance of their extended families, and sometimes may not receive it. For instance, an Indian-American Hindu woman marrying a Bangladeshi-born American Muslim man might encounter resistance from their families, but might persist. Or, the families could intervene and question them.

The video Working with Cross-Cultural Couples (2018) includes an example of an African American woman who married a West African Muslim man, and found that she had more in common with a white man from Colorado than she did with her own husband, though she and her husband both had similar skin tone. She experienced being called a “black white wife” by her husband’s family, as she is American. The video noted that the couple stayed married despite these issues.

The earlier Peruvian-American who married the several-generation Texan didn’t encounter reservations from family, but both encountered some need to be mindful about their respective families and expectations. For instance, the Peruvian mother-in-law moved to the house on the next street over, but maintained some distance instead of moving right into the couple’s house. The white Texan man learned to be more physically affectionate with the Peruvian in-laws, as is the norm.

Affection may be experienced differently within cross-cultural couples, and decisions need to be made about language and children, religion, and naming, and all of these things that may be negotiated along the way.

Improving cross-cultural relationships

When it comes to improving cross-cultural relationships, think about differences and similarities, and how those may cause both people within a relationship to react. Age and generational differences show up in family relationships, as an example, teenage children and their parents or grandparents may have differences of opinion.

They may place importance on different notions as well. Note, the “OK, Boomer” phenomenon from 2019. This phrase is used whenever younger people want to ignore or dismiss something a person of an older generation says. In current U.S. culture, there are several generations, starting with Generation Z, people who are currently very young up to about age 19 or so. These are people who have grown up with technology, unless their parents forbade it. Millennials, or Generation Y, are currently the young adults, on up to the late 30s. While they didn’t start out with technology, they’ve used it most of their lives, and it’s permeated their view of the world.

Generation X, or what was known as they were coming of age as the ‘Slacker Generation,’ is the generation in their 40s to early 50s currently. They are at the peak of their careers, and have learned to integrate technology into their lives. The Boomer generation is currently in their later 50s to early 70s, and they are retiring or continuing to work. The generation known as the Greatest Generation is aging, and definitely did not grow up with technology, but they are living longer than the generations before them. Age can be a factor in relating to people interpersonally, so think about topics of conversation and examples that are used, as those will vary greatly between generations.

People who are older will have different wording for dating, such as calling someone a beau or boyfriend, or will say, “are you going with someone?” or they may use the word “courting.” Teens will say, “I’m dating someone” or if it’s not “official” then “talking to someone.”

Racial differences also play a part of communication. What is important to think about with race relations is that race is still a big factor in many people’s minds, and it’s been in the news a lot lately. Sometimes people don’t communicate with people of different races because they haven’t experienced such friendships before, and so there is uncertainty.

Talk with people from different backgrounds, and ask about experiences. With people who are of different backgrounds, listen and then believe their experience, and understand privilege. Even things as simple as the emoji for a thumbs up tends to be first in a white skin tone, but brown skin tone emojis exist as well.

When you are within a culture, sometimes you may not notice these things, but take a look around. Seek out experience, and learn. Know that bias can creep into conversations, but understand that, apologize for it, and make a commitment to change behaviors.

Gender roles in different cultures may be unknown, and may be more pronounced, as discussed earlier in the masculine and feminine culture section. Think critically about the gender roles, and what you may see in others. Just because a woman takes on more traditionally feminine roles in a relationship doesn’t mean it’s bad, unless she doesn’t want to do those roles. An example is a new heterosexual couple watching a romantic movie for the first time together, and the male cries and the female doesn’t. Is this outside of what is seen as the norm? Perhaps, but is it wrong? Nope. Self-expression can come in different modes for people.

Disability as a factor in relationships can affect interpersonal communication. People with disabilities should be addressed as you would address anyone else. If someone has cerebral palsy, and uses a wheelchair and has an attendant with them to help facilitate communication, when you converse with the person, make eye contact with the person with the disability, not the attendant.

When someone with Down syndrome is ordering food at a restaurant, ask them what they want, not the other people they are with. Expect people with a disability to be able to function independently, until they ask for help. One time, a 10-year-old boy with Down syndrome surprised his parents by climbing out a window to go sit on the roof. They realized what he’d done, and knew to mitigate for that in the future, but learned that he could figure out how to do things they never imagined.

When someone who is blind is walking down the hall, don’t grab their arm to guide them. Rather, if it appears they could need help, ask if they need help. With a deaf person, make lots of eye contact, and feel free to write something down on paper if other ways of communicating aren’t working. Sign language interpreters often help in larger-group situations. If you know the person, try to learn American Sign Language (if that is what the person uses).

There are many different types of disabilities, including physical, developmental, intellectual, and learning disabilities. Sometimes people have a combination of these disabilities. People appreciate effort to communicate with them, and relationships with people with disabilities can be extremely rewarding for all involved. Chances are, all people have encountered someone with a disability in their educational journey.

LEARNING ACTIVITIES

Activity 1: Ethnocentrism and Mobility

Read the article “The Inevitability of Ethnocentrism Revisited: Ethnocentrism Diminishes As Mobility Increases,” located at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4672305/ . What does the article say about in-group and out-groups? How does mobility reduce out-group hostility? Does traveling help reduce ethnocentrism?

Activity 2: American Dream Quiz

A recent quiz was created about privilege to determine how many roadblocks people have encountered on their search for the American Dream. Do the quiz, located at https://movingupusa.com/calc/ . What was your score, and were you surprised? How many of the things that you consider roadblocks have been within your control?

Chung, L. (2019). Crossing boundaries: Cross-cultural communication. In K. D. Keith (Ed.), Cross-cultural psychology: Contemporary themes and perspectives (pp. 400-420). Wiley.

Hall, E. T. (1976). Beyond Culture. Garden City, NY: Anchor Books/Doubleday.

Karasawa, M., Curhan, K. B., Markus, H. R., Kitayama, S. S., Love, G. D., Radler, B. T. & Ruff, C. D. (2011). Cultural perspectives on aging and well-being: A comparison of Japan and the U.S. Int J Aging Hum Dev . 73(1): Pp. 73–98.

Rockson, T. (2019). Use your difference to make a difference: How to connect and communicate in a cross-cultural world . Wiley.

Working with cross-cultural couples: Unexplored issues in therapy [Video file]. (2018). Retrieved February 8, 2020, from https://fod.infobase.com/PortalPlayl...55&xtid=183978

Discrimination: Treating someone differently because of characteristics such as race, age, or sex

Ethnocentrism: Thinking one’s own way of thinking or being is superior, without considering that it is negative, because of the difficulty of getting out of one’s own culture

Prejudice: Being negatively biased against someone because of characteristics such as race, age, or sex

Racism: Prejudice based on the belief that a person’s own race is superior

Stereotyping: Attributing generalized characteristics to an entire group of people

Multimedia 1: An intercultural couple discusses how they negotiate cultural differences. Particularly, a Japanese man and a white U.S. American woman discuss their differences.

What we argue about | Japanese/American marriage https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0reQCDL968

Multimedia 2: Comedian and news anchor Trevor Noah discusses trying a taco for the first time. More importantly, look at the misunderstanding that happens in the use of language in the clip. Think about whether you may have had misunderstandings like these with friends from other cultures.

Trevor Noah: That’s Racist - Tacos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDk5ajNDgZc&list=TLPQMTEwMTIwMjBTkibtm_xuXQ&index=2

Multimedia 3: Biracial actresses from Sister, Sister discuss their marriages. One of the twins is married to an African American man, and the other is married to a white man. Think about your own experience with interracial couples, or even your own experience being part of an interracial couple. How do you react when you hear such things? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngwvHYqYGS0

Multimedia 4: Observe the following clip to see how different cultures view cultural appropriation. How will you react differently, if at all, to costumes in the future?

My Culture is NOT a Costume: Cultural Appropriation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6Y5cARFJw8

Human Relations Area Files

Cultural information for education and research, basic guide to cross-cultural research.

Carol R. Ember and Melvin Ember

This brief guide takes you through the basic steps of a cross-cultural study using the HRAF Collection of Ethnography– on paper, fiche, or online ( eHRAF World Cultures ).

After reviewing the history of the HRAF Collection of Ethnography, we start with a discussion of the kinds of questions cross-cultural researchers investigate, and why they want to investigate them. Then we discuss how to choose a sample, how to develop measures, and how to analyze results.

Introduction

The growing concern of students, scholars, and the general public to understand ethnic conflict, cultural diversity, and global problems has generated a demand for educational and research programs emphasizing the worldwide, comparative study of human behavior and society. The development of cross-cultural and area studies requires a large mass of readily available, organized cultural information; conventional sources of such information are widely scattered and often inaccessible, and often too expensive to assemble and utilize effectively. The HRAF Collections are designed to overcome this traditional barrier to research.

The HRAF Collection of Ethnography is a unique source of information on the cultures of the world, and as of April 2008 the complete collection contained over a million pages of indexed information on about 400 different cultural, ethnic, religious, and national groups around the world. The collection was developed by the Human Relations Area Files, Inc. (HRAF), a non-profit research organization based at Yale University. For almost fifty years, HRAF has served the educational community and contributed to an understanding of world cultures by assembling, indexing, and providing access to primary research materials relevant to the social sciences, and by stimulating and facilitating training and research in these fields.

Development of the HRAF Collections began with the belief that enduring generalizations about human behavior and culture will emerge from a wealth of knowledge about the ways in which the different peoples of the world live. In 1937 at the Institute of Human Relations, Yale University, under the direction of the Institute’s Director, Mark A. May, and Professor George Peter Murdock, a small group of researchers attempted to design a system by means of which the cultural, behavioral, and background information on a society might be organized. A fundamental part of that system was a universal topical classification scheme, the Outline of Cultural Materials–OCM (Murdock et al. 2008), which is still integral to the work HRAF does today.

In 1949, the Human Relations Area Files was incorporated in the State of Connecticut, with Harvard University, the University of Oklahoma, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Washington, and Yale University as its founding member institutions. These five were joined within the year by the University of Chicago, the University of North Carolina, and the University of Southern California. Today, hundreds of colleges, universities, libraries, museums, and research institutions in the United States and other countries have full or partial access to the HRAF Collection of Ethnography. (See the member list for institutions that are active members of the online version, eHRAF World Cultures.)

The HRAF Collection of Ethnography contains mostly primary source materials – mainly published books and articles, but including some unpublished manuscripts and dissertations – on selected cultures or societies representing all major regions of the world. The materials are organized and indexed by a unique method designed for rapid and accurate retrieval of specific data on given cultures and topics. HRAF’s system of organization and classification of source material presents information in a manner that significantly increases the usefulness of original source materials. Researchers can use the Collection of Ethnography in four different media: the original paper files, fiche, and on the World Wide Web. Until 1958, the HRAF Collection was produced and distributed as paper files: source materials were manually reproduced on 5″ x 8″ paper slips called File pages, and then filed by subject (OCM) category and by culture. Wider distribution of the collection was facilitated in 1958 with the development of the HRAF Microfiles Program. Materials from the paper files were processed into microfiche and issued in annual installments to participating institutions; Installment 42 was the last microfiche series issued to members.

In the 1980’s, HRAF began developing an electronic publishing program with the intention of distributing the HRAF Collection of Ethnography exclusively through electronic means. The Cross-Cultural CDs were the first result of this effort, providing researchers with ten collections on such topics as old age, marriage, religion, and human sexuality, excerpted from HRAF’s 60-Culture Probability Sample Files (PSF). In 1993, the first installment of the full-text HRAF Collection of Ethnography on CD-ROM (eHRAF) was issued to members with the plan of converting the entire 60-Culture PSF, plus new files covering North American immigrant groups, by the year 1999. Additional installments are added annually. As of April 2008, there were 165 cultures online .

Using eHRAF is a relatively straightforward process. Mechanics of use and research techniques are similar in many respects to standard library practices; searching follows the same principles and techniques, such as Boolean logic, that are used for other electronic educational collections.

Organization and Classification

In the paper and fiche versions of the HRAF Collection of Ethnography all documents that contain information about a particular culture are grouped together in a collection for that culture. Each culture collection is identified by a unique alphanumeric code according to the Outline of World Cultures–OWC (Murdock 1983) . In the OWC all the cultures are classified according to geographical regions:

A – Asia E – Europe F – Africa M – Middle East N – North America O – Oceania R – Eurasia (cultures located in the former Soviet Union and Russia) S – South America

There is one exception to this system: Muslim societies in Africa are classified as being in the Middle East. In its recent literature, HRAF has begun to organize those Muslim cultures under Africa, although they retain the same OWC code.

All the cultures in the paper and microfiche version of the HRAF Collection of Ethnography are grouped into these eight regions. Thus, all the documents pertaining to African cultures are grouped together and their OWC begins with “F.” Each of the major regions is then subdivided, usually on a political basis, into sub-regions designated by the addition of a second letter: “FF” designates the country of Nigeria and its component cultural units, while “SC” indicates that the culture described is in the South American country of Colombia. Finally, within each sub-region, more specific units are defined and assigned a number; these may be country entities, such as “RD01” for Ukraine, or “cultural” units such as “FL12” for the Maasai. Each culture is therefore listed in its regional, political, and cultural context within the Collection.

In eHRAF World Cultures, the OWC number is de-emphasized and cultures are ordered by major geographical regions arranged in alphabetical order: Africa, Asia, Europe, Middle America and the Caribbean, Middle East, North America, Oceania, and South America. The OWC number is listed in the Culture Profile (Browse/Cultures).

Selection of Cultures

Several thousand cultures are listed in the OWC, but not all the cultures on the list are included in the HRAF Collection of Ethnography. The cultures in the Collection are selected mainly on the basis of the following criteria:

(a) Maximum cultural diversity : the cultures should represent, as far as possible, the known range and variety of cultural types in terms of language, history, economy, and social organization.

(b) Maximum geographical dispersal : the cultures should be geographically representative of all major world areas and all major ecological settings.

(c) Adequacy of literature : within the scope of the two preceding criteria, the cultures should have a quantitatively and qualitatively adequate literature coverage.

(d) Special initiatives:  from time to time HRAF undertook to build special kinds of collections such as: immigrant and other subcultures within North America; cities; and country files.

Source Materials

Once the decision has been reached to build a collection on a particular culture, extensive bibliographic research is undertaken to identify as thoroughly as possible all of the significant literature on that culture. HRAF also solicits the advice and expertise of specialists. As always, researchers are encouraged to inform HRAF of any salient material which might have escaped notice.

The materials processed for the Collection of Ethnography are largely descriptive rather than theoretical, with the great majority being primary documents resulting from field observation. The ideal document is one which consists of a detailed description of a culture, or of a particular community or region within that culture, written on the basis of prolonged residence among the people documented by a professional social scientist. Many documents which do not meet all the criteria are included in the Collection of Ethnography because they are still important pieces of information; in fact, it is likely that they may be the only sources available for particular time periods, regions, or subjects. Thus the collection for each culture may contain documents written by travelers, missionaries, colonial officials, traders, etc. The Collection of Ethnography provides researchers with a comprehensive picture of life in one or more communities and in one or more time periods.

Classification

Every page in each document is indexed and assigned any number of appropriate subject category codes according to the classification scheme in the Outline of Cultural Materials (OCM) (Murdock et al. 2008; online versions); the subject codes are sometimes referred to as OCMs. The OCM consists of 710 subject categories plus a category numbered “000” for unclassified materials. The 710 categories are grouped into seventy-nine major subject divisions, each assigned a three-digit code ranging from 100 (Orientation) to 880 (Adolescence, Adulthood, and Old Age). Within each major subject division, up to nine more specific categories are defined. For example, the (Family (590) division is subdivided into seven more specific subject categories as follows: Residence (591), Household (592), Family Relationships (593), Nuclear Family (594), Polygamy (595), Extended Families (596), and Adoption (597).

Each category in the OCM includes a brief descriptive statement, indicating the range of information which may be classified under that category. Beneath this statement is usually a list of cross-references to other categories under which related information may be classified.

The OCM contains a detailed index which directs the researcher to OCM numbers relevant for their search. The OCM subjects are clearly defined in the OCM, but a few are essential to effective use of the HRAF Collection of Ethnography and bear mentioning here.

Every document page has at least one OCM assigned to it. If there are no pertinent subject categories, “000” indicating non-classified data is applied. In the paper and microfiche, the OCMs are written in roughly where the subject starts. Sometimes an OCM will apply to a particular sentence, although most OCMs apply to at least a section of a paragraph. For eHRAF all OCMs are located at the paragraph level. If five consecutive paragraphs discuss categories 585, 578, and 602, all three OCMs will appear at the beginning of each of the five paragraphs until the subject changes.

What’s the Question?

Cross-cultural (worldwide comparative) researchers ask four kinds of questions. The first is descriptive and deals with the prevalence or frequency of a trait: What percentage of the world’s societies practice polygyny? Which is the most important subsistence activity among food collectors – gathering, hunting, or fishing? How common is female infanticide? A second kind of question considers the causes of a trait or custom. Questions: Why is polygyny permitted in most societies known to anthropology? Why do women (as opposed to men) do most of the agricultural work in some societies? Why is the extended family the customary form of household in many societies? The third kind of question explores the consequences or effects of a particular trait or custom. What are the effects on infant care of high involvement of women in subsistence activities? Does punitive childtraining affect the frequency of warfare? The fourth question, which is not significantly different from the second and third, is a relational question. Rather than postulating causes or consequences, a researcher may simply ask how a particular aspect of culture may be associated with some other aspect(s). For example: Is there an association between most important subsistence activity and level of political complexity?

Of these four questions, the causal question is the most challenging because it does not completely specify what the researcher needs to do. The descriptive question tells the researcher what to count. The “consequence” and “relational” questions both specify two sets of phenomena that may be related. But the causal question does not tell the researcher where to look for causes. It only specifies what scientists call the dependent variable (the thing to be explained).

Think of the causal question as analogous to the format of a detective story. After a murder is committed the detective may know a lot about the crime, but not “whodunit” or why. Finding the solution usually entails hypothesizing about suspects and their possible motives and opportunities, eliminating the implausible possibilities, and concluding who is probably the culprit.

Similarly, in science, the pursuit of causes involves the testing of alternative explanations or theories which purport to say why something is the way it is. The researcher who chooses a causal question needs to identify plausible explanations or theories to test and to decide on a strategy (for collecting and analyzing data) that could falsify or disconfirm explanations. If all theories fail, researchers must come up with new theories. Although these requirements may suggest that the researcher who searches for causes may need to act differently from other researchers, this is really not the case, as we shall see.

The basic strategy for examining relationships in cross-cultural research is the same, whether the relationship involves presumed causes, consequences, or just hypothesized association. To illustrate that strategy, let us turn to an example of a test of a causal explanation.

In the first study we did together (M. Ember and C.R. Ember 1971), our question was: Why do some societies practice matrilocal residence and others patrilocal residence? We started where most people start – with explanations found in the literature. One of the most common was the idea that the division of labor based on gender in primary subsistence activities would largely determine residence after marriage (Lippert 1931: 237; Linton 1936: 168-69; Murdock 1949: 203ff.) In other words, female dominance in subsistence should produce matrilocality; male dominance should produce patrilocality. What makes this a causal explanation are the words “determine” and “should produce,” which are equivalent to using the word “cause.” But, as philosophers of science tell us, causes cannot be directly verified. Even if we can be sure that presumed causes preceded the presumed effects, we cannot rule out the possibility that something else is the real cause.

So how do we test such a causal explanation? The simplest way is to examine a relationship that should be true if the theory is correct, and then make a statistical test to see if the predicted relationship actually occurs significantly more often than would be expected by chance. In our own study of matrilocal versus patrilocal residence, we derived the following prediction from the “division of labor” theory: if females did relatively more work than males, residence would tend to be matrilocal; if males did relatively more subsistence work, residence would tend to be patrilocal. Notice that although the prediction (or more formally the hypothesis) has almost the same form as the theory we stated above, it differs in a fundamental way: the hypothesis simply predicts an association between two variables and says nothing about causality. Still, if two things are causally related, they should be statistically associated.

In our case, when we examined the association between division of labor and residence in a worldwide sample of societies, the predicted association was not found . This led us (and later Divale [1974]) to reject the theory that division of labor largely determines residence. After rejecting the “division of labor” explanation (at least as a major cause) we went on to test other explanations. Eventually we ended up developing a new theory that internal warfare (warfare within the society) would produce partilocal residence, and purely external warfare (particularly if women do a great deal of subsistence work) would produce matrilocal residence. Note that division of labor remains a partial cause in our explanations. Note too that even if a predicted relationship is supported, it may still be open to different interpretations. Indeed, Divale (1974) offers a vary different explanation for the obtained relationship between type of warfare and residence.

The study we just discussed illustrates the fundamental assumption of worldwide cross-cultural (or holocultural) research; if a theory has merit, the presumed causes and effect should generally be associated synchronically (see J. W. M. Whiting 1954; K. F. Otterbein 1969; R. Naroll, Michik, and F. Naroll 1976). A synchronic association is one that involves data (for each sample case) from more or less the same point in time, as if we were examining a large number of “ethnographic snapshots,” each one capturing a society at a single point in time. The cross-cultural method therefore provides a way of eliminating theories that have no predictive value. Theories that postulate causes, consequences, or relationships are tested in the same way; that is, by looking to see if predicted associations obtain.

Cross-cultural researchers must decide what societies to examine. No one can examine all cultures; even if one could, the labor and time costs involved would not justify doing so. The most important operating principles in a scientific test of a hypothesis are: 1) to choose a sample that is representative of some universe of societies the researcher wants to generalize the results to; and 2) to use a large enough sample such that the results are likely to be true for the larger universe of cases. As yet, there is no complete list of the world’s cultures to sample from, so researchers cannot do what is ideal, which is to sample randomly from a complete list. Instead, cross-cultural researchers usually sample from one of a number of published cross-cultural samples. (These lists can be thought of as “sampling frames.”) The most commonly used are (from larger to smaller): the Ethnographic Atlas (Murdock 1962 ff.); the “summary” Ethnographic Atlas (Murdock 1967); the Atlas of World Cultures (Murdock 1981); the Human Relations Area Files (HRAF) Collection of Ethnography (annually distributed by the Human Relations Area Files); the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample (Murdock and White 1969); and the HRAF Probability Sample Files (Naroll 1967; Lagace 1979), which is a subset of the entire HRAF Collection of Ethnography. While none of these samples is perfect, the important point about all of these lists is that they were not designed to support any researcher’s pet idea or theory. In contrast, a set of cases chosen from a researcher’s own personal library would be scientifically suspect.

Why use the HRAF Collection of Ethnography?

Most of the samples mentioned above contain bibliography (or pointers to bibliography) and at least some coded information on traits of interest to a variety of researchers. The HRAF Collection of Ethnography is different in that it contains no precoded data, but full texts indexed by subject matter and grouped by culture for the rapid retrieval of particular kinds of information. If you want to read about a particular aspect of culture and make your own coding decisions on a sample of societies, the HRAF collection is ideal because you do not have to collect all the books and articles on each of the cultures and then search for a particular subject through all the texts. HRAF’s subject index, the Outline of Cultural Materials (Murdock et al., 2008; online version ), can be used to identify particular subject categories to look at to find the information of interest to you.

If you are working from the print version of the Outline of Cultural Materials (OCM for short), the easiest way to find a subject category is by using the extensive index in the back of the OCM. This index will point you toward a number of possible numbered subject categories. When you read about these subjects in more detail, you will find out if the subject categories are appropriate. The OCM system is mostly hierarchical in that the first two digits usually reflect the major subject category. So, for example, all the “59s” (591-597) refer to the major subject labelled “Family.” The last digit is a subcategory (e.g., 596 is “extended families”).

If you are working on eHRAF, the A-Z Index can be found under either under Browse/Subjects or in Advanced Search when you press “Add Subjects.” There is also a list of OCMs organized by Major Subject and a list in OCM or numerical order. The A-Z list has a filter so that if you start typing a word it will try to find it. If you are in Advanced Search you can execute your search once you have chosen a subject category. Often researchers will need to search for more than one subject category to ensure that they will find what they are looking for. Keep in mind that not all ethnographers discuss all topics, so some categories will be empty for some cultures. It takes trial-and-error to find what you need and tailor a search to your needs.

Sampling within the HRAF Collection

It is rarely necessary to use the entire HRAF collection for comparative studies. The only reason it might be necessary to examine all the cases is if some trait or custom occurs rarely or is only rarely described. In that case, researchers might have to scan all the societies to find enough cases of a particular type. Examples of relatively rare traits are age-set systems, cannibalism, and woman-woman marriages.

Researchers use a variety of strategies to sample the collection. If researchers want to use some already coded data (coded previously by themselves or other researchers) for their study, they usually choose to limit themselves to those sample cases for which the desired precoded data are available. Some researchers find that the HRAF Collection of Ethnography speeds up their data retrieval so much that they use it for as many cultures as they can and then look up books and articles for the remaining cultures. Others choose the overlap between the HRAF sample and another sample. The important thing to keep in mind in using information from two different samples is that the information in the different samples may pertain to different time periods and different communities. Since cultures change over time and vary from community to community, it is extremely important to make sure that the same-named cases in the overlapping samples actually are the same in time and place. Otherwise, the researcher is introducing error.

For example, suppose one is examining the possible relationship between male mortality rates in warfare and frequency of polygyny (see M. Ember 1974 for a test of the hypothesis that high male mortality in warfare should be associated with appreciable polygyny). For information on a given society with regard to male mortality in warfare, one would look in categories Mortality (165), Instigation of War (721), and Aftermath of Combat (727) and might find ethnographic material from 1890 indicating that many men died in warfare. For information on extent of polygyny (category 595) the researcher may find the best information to be from 1950. If you used these two pieces of information (one from 1890 and the other from 1950) you might very well have a case that looks like it does not support your hypothesis. This would be an error if the society had appreciable polygyny in 1890 but did not have much in 1950. Pacification by external authorities might have eliminated war, thus evening out the sex-ratio, and thereby lessening polygyny. In this instance, the data from either 1890 or 1950 might support the hypothesis (high male mortality/high polygyny or low male mortality/low polygyny), but mixing data from different time periods would have created an “error.”

The online HRAF Cross-Cultural Concordance (first published as the Computerized Cross-Cultural Concordance –see C. R. Ember 1992) was developed to help researchers see if times and places match across different samples. One of the most useful aspects of this concordance is that it gives the researcher the appropriate sources to look at in the HRAF Collection of Ethnography (in paper, microfiche or now online as eHRAF World Cultures ) to see if she or he wants to match cases in another sample. HRAF processes an extensive set of sources for each society included in the archive. Usually there are multiple time and place foci, so it is important that a researcher attend to the need to choose exactly the right focus. Researchers who want to use data already available from other samples commonly use the Ethnographic Atlas (EA–in its full form or the summary form (Murdock 1962-1971; Murdock 1967) or the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample (SCCS–Murdock and White 1969) The codes for the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample (published by many different authors) have appeared in two journals ( Ethnology and Cross-Cultural Research [formerly Behavior Science Research ] ). Many have been reprinted in Barry and Schegel’s (1980) Cross-Cultural Codes and Samples , and have been put into computer format for the World Cultures electronic journal. The codes for the Ethnographic Atlas can now be found online in D-PLACE (https://d-place.org/). A discussion of the matches between HRAF or eHRAF and the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample and the Ethnographic Atlas can be found in C. R. Ember (2007). In eHRAF you can now find the matches to the SCCS sample  and the matches to the EA sample ; we also display the lists of cases for the SCCS and the EA on our home page. However, if you want to match two or more samples and find the appropriate sources you can also use the filter function in the HRAF Cross-Cultural Concordance .  For example, if you want the documents that are in eHRAF World Cultures that are also in the SCCS and the full EA, you can click all three. A file can also be exported of the entire set of matches.

If the researcher does not need information from outside HRAF, sampling from the HRAF Collection of Ethnography can proceed differently. The HRAF Collection itself can be used as a sampling frame (a list to sample from) and researchers can randomly choose cases from that list by using a table of random numbers. (Your library might not have the complete collection. Check with your librarian for the cultures found in your library.)

We would however urge caution in using the HRAF collection as a whole because it has a mixture of unit types. As explained earlier, due to some special programs, not all collections would be considered “anthropological societies.” For example, the collection on Cuban Americans should best be compared with other North American subgroups rather than as a society. A better choice would be to use one of the subsets of eHRAF designed to be representative.

There are three samples within HRAF that can be considered representative. They are: The Probability Sample Files, the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample,  and a Simple Random Sample.

Probability Sample Files

The subset of HRAF known as the Probability Sample Files (PSF) is a special kind of random sample called a stratified random sample. The world was divided into 60 culture areas (strata) and one case from each area was randomly chosen from a list of societies that met certain criteria (such as whether one of the ethnographers stayed for more than a year; having more than 1,000 pages of ethnography). It is important to note that modern, industrialized societies were excluded, as were political empires, societies that were only described in prehistory or history, and societies that did not include specific information about the people and their culture. See Naroll (1967) for the rules used in selecting the sample cases. When you are using eHRAF World Cultures you can, after executing a search, narrow your search to the PSF.

Standard Cross-Cultural Sample

The SCCS sample, developed by Murdock and White (1969) is also a stratified sample, but it was based on dividing the world into 200 culture areas (strata). The authors tried to find one well-described society in each of 200 areas, but ended up with 186 societies. For those culture areas with multiple cases within a culture area, the authors used their judgment about what case to include. Unlike the PSF, which has multiple time periods and multilple subcultues represented, the creators chose a specific time and place focus for each society. They usually opted for the earliest time frame that had comprehensive coverage.

Simple Random Sample

The Simple Random Sample (SRS) is in the process of being built. It was drawn by choosing from C. Ember’s (1992) concordance of cross-cultural samples. The only criteria was that there had to be at least the equivalent of one ethnography. Because cultures are added randomly, the cultures in that sample can be considered  representative sample of a fairly large list of cultures around the world (from about 8 different cross-cultural samples. Since as of the present there are less than 30 cultures, most researchers would not consider this a large enough sample. However, these cultures could be added to the PSF sample.

Size of Sample

What is a large enough sample? Statisticians have worked out formulas for calculating the size of the representative (random) sample that is needed to obtain a significant result (one likely to be true). The samples needed are usually much smaller than you might imagine. If a relationship is strong, a random sample of 20-30 is sufficient. (Weak associations can be significant only in large samples.) By using the random sampling strategy, researchers can always add cases randomly to increase sample size. Random sampling also enables researchers to estimate whether a phenomenon of interest occurs frequently enough to be studied and whether the measures adopted are usable on the available data.

While most people assume that “bigger is better,” bigger samples require much more time and effort and expense. And they may not yield much more information or accuracy than a smaller random sample. Political opinion polls are a case in point. Samples of a few hundred to a few thousand people in the entire United States can often yield quite accurate predictions of elections.

The concepts in a predicted association (hypothesis) can be fairly specific, such as whether or not a culture has a ceremony for naming a newborn child, or they may be quite abstract, such as whether the community is harmonious. But whether the concept is fairly specific or not, no concept is ever measured directly. This is true in physical as well as in the social sciences. We are so used to a thermometer measuring heat that we may forget that heat is an abstract concept that refers to the energy generated when molecules are moving. A thermometer reflects the principle that as molecules move more, a substance in a confined space (alcohol, mercury) will expand. We do not see heat; we see the movement of the substance in the confined space.

The three most important principles in designing a measure are:

  •  try to be as specific as possible in deciding how to measure the concept;
  •  try to measure the concept as directly as possible;
  •  if possible, try to measure the concept in a number of different ways.

The first principle recognizes that science depends upon replication; it is essential for other researchers to try to duplicate the findings of previous researchers, so researchers have to be quite explicit about what they mean and exactly how they measure the concept. The second recognizes that although all measurement is indirect, some measures are more direct than others. If you want to know how “rainy” an area is, you could count the number of days that it rains during December, but a better measure would be the number of rainy days on average over a number of years. The third principle is that since no measure exactly measures what it is supposed to measure, it is better, if possible, to have more than one way to tap the concept of interest.

Measures have to be specified for each variable in the hypothesis. Devising a measure involves at least four steps; 1) theoretically defining the variable of interest (in words or mathematically); 2) operationally defining the variable, which means spelling out the “scale” that the researcher has devised for measuring it; 3) telling the coder where to find the required information (in the case of research using the HRAF Collection of Ethnography, this means specifying which subject categories (OCMs) the coder should look at; in the electronic version one can also specify what words or combinations of words to look for and 4) pre-testing the measure to see if it can be applied generally to most cases. Designing a measure requires some trial-and-error. If the scale is too confusing or too hard to apply (because the required information is lacking), the measure needs to be rethought.

To illustrate the procedure, let us consider a variable that seems rather straightforward: the degree to which a society has extended family households. Although this concept may appear straightforward, it still needs to be defined. The researcher needs to state what an extended family means, what a household means, and how she or he will decide the “degree” to which a sample society has extended family households. The first thing would be to decide on what is meant by an “extended family.” The researcher may choose to define a family as a social and economic unit consisting minimally of at least one or more parents and their children; an extended family as consisting of two or more constituent families united by a blood tie; and an extended family household as an extended family living co-residentially; in one house, neighboring apartments, or in a separate compound. Having defined the concepts, the researcher must now specify how to measure the degree to which a society has extended family households.

Definitions are not so hard to arrive at. What requires work is evaluating whether an operational definition is useful or easily applied. For example, suppose by “degree” (of extended familyness) we operationally mean the percentage of households in a focal community that contain extended families. The range of possible scale scores is from 0 to 100 percent. Suppose further that we instruct our coders to rate a case only if the ethnographer specifies a percentage or we can calculate a percentage from a household census. If we are also using information from another study, we tell our coders to look at the Household (592) and Extended Family (596) for the same community specified in the other study and at the time specified in the other study (same time). (If we are not taking data from another study, we can ask our coders to pick a community and a time which is most thoroughly described with regard to household form.) If we did a pretest, we would find out that very few ethnographers tell us the percentage of extended family households. Rather they usually say things like, “Extended family households are the norm.” Or, “Extended families are typical, but younger people are beginning to live in independent households.” So our operational definition of percentage of extended family households, although perfectly worthy, may not be that useful if we cannot find enough societies with household censuses.

What can we do? There are three choices. We can stick to our insistence on the best measure and study only those societies for which a percentage is given. We may have to expand our search (enlarge our sample) to find enough cases that have such precise information. Or, we can redesign our measure to incorporate descriptions merely in words (no census material is available). Or, we can choose not to do the study because we can’t measure the concept exactly how we want to. Faced with these three choices, most cross-cultural researchers opt to redesign the measure so as to incorporate word descriptions. Word descriptions do convey information about degree, but not as precisely. If an ethnographer says “extended family households are typical,” we do not know if that means 50% or 100%, but we are very confident it does not mean 0-40%. And we can be fairly sure it does not mean 40-49%. If the relative frequency of extended families is related to something else, we should be able to see the relationship whether we measure in percentages or words.

A newly designed measure might read something like this : Code extended family households as

4) Very high in frequency if the ethnographer describes this type of household as the norm or typical in the absence of any indication of another common type of household. Phrases like “almost all households are extended” are clear indicators. Do not use discussions of the “ideal” household to measure relative frequency, unless there are indications that the ideal is also practiced. If there is a developmental cycle, such as the household splitting up when the third generation reaches a certain age, do not use this category. Use category #3 if the extended family household remains together for a substantial portion of the life-cycle and #2 if the household remains together briefly.

3) Moderately high in frequency if the ethnographer describes another fairly frequent household pattern but indicates that extended family households are still the most common.

2) Moderately low in frequency if the ethnographer describes extended family households as alternative or a second choice (another form of household is said to be typical).

1) Infrequent or Rare if another form of household is the only form of household mentioned and if the extended family form is mentioned as absent or an unusual choice. Do not infer absence of extended families from the absence of any discussion of family and household type.

don’t know if there is no information in the appropriate subject categories, or there is contradictory information for the same time and place from different sources.

The next step is to pre-test this measure. It may turn out that four distinctions are too difficult to apply, so a researcher might want to collapse the scale a little. If we decide to use the scale described above, what do we do when we do get numbers or percentages from the ethnographers for some cases? Most of the time, we can fit those numbers into the word scale. So, for instance, if 70% of the households have extended families, and 30% are independent, we would choose scale position 3. But we might decide to use two scales: a precise one based on numerical measurement (percentages), the second a vaguer one based on words (C. Ember et al. 1991 recommend that we use both types of scale when we can). The advantage of using two scales is that the more precise (quantitative scale) should be more strongly related to other variables than the less precise scale, which result would increase confidence in the relationships found.

Measuring a concept like the degree to which a society has extended families may not be easy. But it is not that difficult either, because ethnographers usually attend to basic economic, social, and political features of a society. We can think of these things as “standard cultural observables.” Of course, there are concepts which are much more difficult to operationalize using ethnographic data, because ethnographers do not conventionally attend to these subjects. For instance, few ethnographies contain information that would allow construction of an indicator of rainfall variability, pH of the soil, or number of minutes per day adults spend in housework. For these types of information, researchers may decide to alter their operational definitions to make use of the data that are available. A better research strategy may be to use other kinds of data outside of the HRAF Collection of Ethnography. Some libraries have worldwide climate records. This information can often be linked to ethnography by looking up the nearest weather station (in subject category Research and Development, 654) or longitude and latitude in subject category Location (131) of the society.

Concepts may be difficult to operationalize for other reasons. They may be quite abstract, like the concepts of community solidarity or the relative status of women. These two are not only abstract, but they deal with information which is not usually discussed in conventional ethnographic topics. Information relevant to status might be found under discussions of kin group decisions, political decision-making, relationships of people within the household, sexual rights and obligations, how marriages are arranged, etc.

Research by Martin Whyte (1978b) suggests that it is preferable to avoid rating very abstract variables such as “the status of women.” Rather researchers should probably confine ratings to more specific variables, as Whyte himself did. Whyte chose 52 very specific variables to assess the status of women. These variables included the degree to which women had political roles, the importance of female gods, how easily women could get divorced, etc. Whyte found that the various aspects of status did not relate to each other. He concluded that if a researcher wants to discuss status it would be preferable to discuss at least 10 different (and independent) dimensions of status. Furthermore, when he tested for the possible bias in reporting by male versus female ethnographers (Whyte 1978a), he found that whatever bias may exist is more likely to be found in the reporting of more abstract (versus more specific) matters. This suggests that codes should be designed to tap very specific aspects of a phenomenon.

Researchers can always use a variety of scaling procedures to make specific measures into combined or more general measures, as many have done to measure degree of cultural complexity (combining ratings of specific features such as type of subsistence, average size of communities, level of political integration, etc.)

Analysis of Results

When the researcher has measured the variables of interest for all sample cases, he or she is ready to see if the predicted relationship actually exists in the data. After all, there are likely to be exceptions to the predicted relationship. Do the exceptions invalidate the prediction? How many exceptions would compel a rejection of the hypothesis? It is precisely here that cross-cultural researchers usually resort to statistical tests of significance.

Statisticians have devised various tests that tell us how “perfect” a result has to be for us to believe that there is probably an association between the variables of interest, that one variable generally predicts the other. Essentially, every statistical result is evaluated in the same objective way. The question is asked: What is the chance that this result is purely accidental, that there is really no association at all between the two variables? Although some of the mathematical ways of answering this question are rather complicated, the answer always involves a probability value (or p-value), the likelihood that the observed result or a stronger one could have occurred by chance. So, if a result has a p-value of less than .01, this indicates that there is less than one chance in one hundred that the relationship observed is purely accidental. A p-value of less than .01 is a fairly low probability; most social scientists conventionally agree to call any result with a p-value of .05 or less (five or fewer chances in one hundred) a statistically significant or probably true result.

In a study we did with Burton Pasternak on extended family households (Pasternak, C.R. Ember and M. Ember 1976), we tested the hypothesis that incompatibility of activity requirements would generally explain why people may choose to live in extended family households. By incompatability of activity requirements we meant that an adult in the household was required to perform two activities in different places at the same time. A common example for women is childtending and agricultural work in the fields. An example for men is working away from home for wages and having to plow the fields. If the household includes two or more families, i.e., if there is an extended family household, there will likely be two adults of each gender to perform the required tasks. We decided to read and code ethnography to measure incompatibility requirements first, before we knew what the household form was, and then we subsequently looked up previously published coded data on the presence or absence of extended family households. We decided not to code both variables (incompatibility of activity requirements and extended family households) ourselves because we did not want our hypothesis to influence our judgments. The sample investigated was chosen by randomly sampling 60 cultures from the overlap between the HRAF Collection of Ethnography and the Ethnographic Atlas (Murdock 1967). Even though we were only able to code 23 of the sample societies, the statistical test of the relationship between incompatibility of activity requirements and extended family households was statistically significant. The p value was .003, which meant that the result was likely to occur by chance just 3 out of 1000 times. We were able to predict 11 out of 13 of the societies with extended family households and 8 of the 10 of the societies with independent family households.

Why should a probably true relationship have any exceptions? If a theory or hypothesis is really correct, one would presume that all the cases fit. There are many reasons that one cannot ever expect a perfect result. First, even if a theory is correct about a major cause of what one is attempting to explain, there may still be other causes that have not been investigated. Exceptions to the predicted relationship might also occur because of what has been called “cultural lag.” Cultural lag occurs when change in one aspect of culture takes time to produce change in another aspect. A sample society might be an exception to the predicted relationship, but it might fit the theory if the variables could be measured for a later time period. Measurement inaccuracy is another source of exceptions, because measurement error is usually random error and random error usually weakens statistical relationships. For example, if some cases in a straight-line relationship are inaccurately measured (either too high or too low) on even just one variable, those cases will not be located on the line of the relationship.

In addition to its statistical significance, a cross-cultural relationship should also be evaluated with regard to its strength, or the degree to which the dependent variable is predicted statistically. After all, the goal in research is to find strong predictors, not just statistically significant ones.

If confidence in an explanation is required, a single cross-cultural test is not enough. Replications by other researchers using other samples, tests against alternative explanations, and tests using other research strategies are also needed. This may seem tiresome, but good research always gives a cherished theory many chances to fail.

More Advanced Reading

For more advanced treatments of these topics, the reader is urged to peruse the articles in “Cross-Cultural and Comparative Research: Theory and Method. Special issue,” 1991. Behavior Science Research 25:1-270; and Carol R. Ember and Melvin Ember, Cross-Cultural Research Methods , 2nd eidtion.  AltaMira Press, 2009.

Barry, Herbert III, and Alice Schlegel. 1980. Cross-Cultural Samples and Codes. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.

Divale, William T. 1974. “Migration, External Warfare, and Matrilocal Residence.” Behavior Science Research 9:75-133.

Ember, Carol R. 2007.  Using the HRAF Collection of Ethnography in Conjunction With the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample and the Ethnographic Atlas .  Cross-Cultural Research 41:  396-427.

Ember, Carol R. with the assistance of Hugh Page, Jr., Timothy O’Leary, and M. Marlene Martin. 1992. Computerized Concordance of Cross-cultural Samples. New Haven: Human Relations Area Files.

Ember, Carol R. and Melvin Ember. 2009. Cross-Cultural Research Methods, 2nd edition. AltaMira Press.

Ember, Carol R., Marc Howard Ross, Michael Burton, and Candice Bradley. 1991. “Problems of Measurement in Cross-Cultural Research Using Secondary Data.” Behavior Science Research 25:187-216.

Ember, Melvin. 1974. “Warfare, Sex Ratio, and Polygyny.” Ethnology 13:197-206. Reprinted with afterthoughts in Marriage, Family, and Kinship: Comparative Studies of Social Organization. Melvin Ember and Carol R. Ember. 1983. New Haven: HRAF Press, pp. 109-124.

Ember, Melvin, and Carol R. Ember. 1971. “The Conditions Favoring Matrilocal Versus Patrilocal Residence.” American Anthropologist 73:571-94. Reprinted with afterthoughts in Marriage, Family, and Kinship: Comparative Studies of Social Organization. Melvin Ember and Carol R. Ember. 1983. New Haven: HRAF Press, pp. 151-198.

Lagace, Robert O. 1979. The HRAF Probability Sample: Retrospect and Prospect. Behavior Science Research, 14:211-229.

Linton, Ralph. 1936. The Study of Man. New York: Appleton-Century.

Lippert, Julius. 1931. The Evolution of Culture. George P. Murdock, trans. and ed. New York: Macmillan.

Murdock, George P. 1949. Social Structure. New York: Macmillan.

Murdock, George P. 1962-1971. Ethnographic Atlas, Installments I-XXVII, Ethnology 1-10.

Murdock, George P. 1967. Ethnographic Atlas: A Summary. University of Pittsburgh Press. Also Ethnology 6:109-236.

Murdock, George P. 1981. Atlas of World Cultures. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.

Murdock, George P. 1983. Outline of World Cultures, 6th ed. New Haven: Human Relations Area Files.

Murdock, George P., Clellan S. Ford, Alfred E. Hudson, Raymond Kennedy, Leo W. Simmons, John W. M. Whiting. 6th revised edition with modifications 2008. Outline of Cultural Materials. New Haven: Human Relations Area Files.

Murdock, George P., and Douglas R. White. 1969. “Standard Cross-Cultural Sample.” Ethnology 8:329-369.

Naroll, Raoul. 1967. “The Proposed HRAF Probability Sample.” Behavior Science Notes 2:70-80.

Naroll, Raoul, Gary Michik, and Frada Naroll. 1976. Worldwide Theory Testing. New Haven: Human Relations Area Files.

Otterbein, Keith F. 1969. “Basic Steps in Conducting a Cross-Cultural Study.” Behavior Science Notes 4:221-236.

Pasternak, Burton, Carol R. Ember, and Melvin Ember. 1976. On the Conditions Favoring Extended Family Households. Journal of Anthropological Research 32: 109-23. Reprinted with afterthoughts in Marriage, Family, and Kinship: Comparative Studies of Social Organization. Melvin Ember and Carol R. Ember, 1983. New Haven: HRAF Press, pp. 109-124.

Whiting, John W. M. (1954) “The Cross-Cultural Method.” In Handbook of Social Psychology, Vol. 1. Gardner Lindzey, ed. Cambridge, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, pp. 523-31. Reprinted in Readings in Cross-Cultural Methodology. Frank W. Moore, ed. New Haven: HRAF Press, pp. 287-300.

Whyte, Martin K. 1978a. “Cross-Cultural Studies of Women and the Male Bias Problem.” Behavior Science Research 13:65-80.

Whyte, Martin K. 1978b. The Status of Women in Pre-industrial Societies. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

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Cross-Cultural Business Communication Research: Find a Great Topic

  • Find a Great Topic
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A Topic Development Strategy

Occasionally, brilliant topic ideas for research will spontaneously fly into the head of a student. More often, however, you need a strategy to guide your thinking and generate more choices. Try the following:

Step 1: Identify the broad, core concepts of your research. If you are researching cross-cultural business communication, these might be culture , business , and communication .

Step 2: Create a table where each core concept has its own column, and add rows down the side for 'who, what, when, where, why, how' questions to get you going.

Step 3: Begin brainstorming the dimensions of each cell to generate sub-topics and areas of focus. Whose culture might we be interested in? What business? When is the communication taking place? Go until you run out of ideas.

Step 4: Combine the dimensions that interest you most by drawing a line through them, and formulate full-sentence questions as possible research topics.

Possible questions resulting from initial brainstorm:

  • How might culture affect the way that older Qataris communicate with and manage younger Qataris in the local workforce?
  • How much cultural awareness or training do typical CEOs working in the Middle East have?
  • How might cultural norms around non-verbal communication and body language affect Americans doing business in Southeast Asia?
  • How did traders from the far east and the middle east communicate with each other in the spice route or pearling days? What has changed, and what has stayed the same?

Background Research

There are a variety of sources for background research on a topic like cross-cultural business communication which can help you brainstorm ideas to fill out a chart like the one to the left, and come up with options for narrowing or choosing a topic.

General sources of background research usually do not need to be cited in your final report. You do not use them to gather information, document facts or build arguments - you just use them to generate ideas and keywords for your topic.

Some suggested sources include:

Books The table of contents in a book can provide a number of ideas or themes for narrowing your topic. Try your course textbook or browse for books about culture, communication and/or business in the library. You can also check the references list at the end of a book for ideas on further reading and resources.

General Encyclopedias An encyclopedic reference, such as Wikipedia or Britannica Online can give you an overview of the many sub-topics in an area, and often you don't have to go much further than the article outline/table of contents.

Business Encyclopedias A business encyclopedia might address culture and communication topics from a business angle. Check out this article on cross-cultural management from Wiley's Encyclopedia of Management, for example.

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Communication and Glocalization: Media, Culture, and Society in the 21st Century

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The advent of the 21st century ICT revolution has been felt in numerous arenas of social life. One of the main issues in the social sciences concerns the relationship between media-driven globalization and culture or cultures across the world. In cross-cultural communication, sociology, anthropology, and ...

Keywords : culture, glocalization, globalization, digital, media

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Cross-Cultural Research Methodology In Psychology

Saul Mcleod, PhD

Editor-in-Chief for Simply Psychology

BSc (Hons) Psychology, MRes, PhD, University of Manchester

Saul Mcleod, Ph.D., is a qualified psychology teacher with over 18 years experience of working in further and higher education. He has been published in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Clinical Psychology.

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Olivia Guy-Evans, MSc

Associate Editor for Simply Psychology

BSc (Hons) Psychology, MSc Psychology of Education

Olivia Guy-Evans is a writer and associate editor for Simply Psychology. She has previously worked in healthcare and educational sectors.

On This Page:

Cross-cultural research allows you to identify important similarities and differences across cultures. This research approach involves comparing two or more cultural groups on psychological variables of interest to understand the links between culture and psychology better.

As Matsumoto and van de Vijver (2021) explain, cross-cultural comparisons test the boundaries of knowledge in psychology. Findings from these studies promote international cooperation and contribute to theories accommodating both cultural and individual variation.

However, there are also risks involved. Flawed methodology can produce incorrect cultural knowledge. Thus, cross-cultural scientists must address methodological issues beyond those faced in single-culture studies.

Methodology

Cross-cultural comparative research utilizes quasi-experimental designs comparing groups on target variables.

Cross-cultural research takes an etic outsider view, testing theories and standardized measurements often derived elsewhere. 

  • Studies can be exploratory , aimed at increasing understanding of cultural similarities and differences by staying close to the data.
  • In contrast, hypothesis-testing studies derive from pre-established frameworks predicting specific cultural differences. They substantially inform theory but may overlook unexpected findings outside researcher expectations (Matsumoto & van de Vijver, 2021).

Each approach has tradeoffs. Exploratory studies broadly uncover differences but have limited explanatory power. While good for revealing novel patterns, exploratory studies cannot address the reasons behind cross-cultural variations.

Hypothesis testing studies substantially inform theory but may overlook unexpected findings. Optimally, cross-cultural research should combine elements of both approaches.

Ideal cross-cultural research combines elements of exploratory work to uncover new phenomena and targeted hypothesis testing to isolate cultural drivers of observed differences (Matsumoto & van de Vijver, 2021).

Cross-cultural scientists should strategically intersect exploratory and theory-driven analysis while considering issues of equivalence and ecological validity.

Other distinctions include: comparing psychological structures versus absolute score levels; analysis at the individual versus cultural levels; and combining individual-level data with country indicators in multilevel modeling (Lun & Bond, 2016; Santos et al., 2017)

Methodological Considerations

Cross-cultural research brings unique methodological considerations beyond single-culture studies. Matsumoto and van de Vijver (2021) explain two key interconnected concepts – bias and equivalence.

Bias refers to systematic differences in meaning or methodology across cultures that threaten the validity of cross-cultural comparisons.

Bias signals a lack of equivalence, meaning score differences do not accurately reflect true psychological construct differences across groups.

There are three main types of bias:

  • Construct bias stems from differences in the conceptual meaning of psychological concepts across cultures. This can occur due to incomplete overlap in behaviors related to the construct or differential appropriateness of certain behaviors in different cultures.
  • Method bias arises from cross-cultural differences in data collection methods. This encompasses sample bias (differences in sample characteristics), administration bias (differences in procedures), and instrument bias (differences in meaning of specific test items across cultures).
  • Item bias refers to specific test items functioning differently across cultural groups, even for people with the same standing on the underlying construct. This can result from issues like poor translation, item ambiguity, or differential familiarity or relevance of content.

Techniques to identify and minimize bias focus on achieving equivalence across cultures. This involves similar conceptualization, data collection methods, measurement properties, scale units and origins, and more.

Careful study design, measurement validation, data analysis, and interpretation help strengthen equivalence and reduce bias.

Equivalence

Equivalence refers to cross-cultural similarity that enables valid comparisons. There are multiple interrelated types of equivalence that researchers aim to establish:

  • Conceptual/Construct Equivalence : Researchers evaluate whether the same theoretical construct is being measured across all cultural groups. This can involve literature reviews, focus groups, and pilot studies to assess construct relevance in each culture. Claims of inequivalence argue concepts can’t exist or be understood outside cultural contexts, precluding comparison.
  • Functional Equivalence : Researchers test for identical patterns of correlations between the target instrument and other conceptually related and unrelated constructs across cultures. This helps evaluate whether the measure relates to other variables similarly in all groups.
  • Structural Equivalence : Statistical techniques like exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis are used to check that underlying dimensions of multi-item instruments have the same structure across cultures.
  • Measurement Unit Equivalence : Researchers determine if instruments have identical scale properties and meaning of quantitative score differences within and across cultural groups. This can be checked via methods like differential item functioning analysis.

Multifaceted assessment of equivalence is key for valid interpretation of score differences reflecting actual psychological variability across cultures.

Establishing equivalence requires careful translation and measurement validation using techniques like differential item functioning analysis, assessing response biases, and examining practical significance. Adaptation of instruments or procedures may be warranted to improve relevance for certain groups.

Building equivalence into the research process reduces non-equivalence biases. This avoids incorrect attribution of score differences to cultural divergence, when differences may alternatively reflect methodological inconsistencies.

Procedures to Deal With Bias

Researchers can take steps before data collection (a priori procedures) and after (a posteriori procedures) to deal with bias and equivalence threats. Using both types of procedures is optimal (Matsumoto & van de Vijver, 2021).

Designing cross-cultural studies (a priori procedure)

Simply documenting cultural differences has limited scientific value today, as differences are relatively easy to obtain between distant groups. The critical challenge facing contemporary cross-cultural researchers is isolating the cultural sources of observed differences (Matsumoto & Yoo, 2006).

This involves first defining what constitutes a cultural (vs. noncultural) explanatory variable. Studies should incorporate empirical measures of hypothesized cultural drivers of differences, not just vaguely attribute variations to overall “culture.”

Both top-down and bottom-up models of mutual influence between culture and psychology are plausible. Research designs should align with the theorized causal directionality.

Individual-level cultural factors must also be distinguished conceptually and statistically from noncultural individual differences like personality traits. Not all self-report measures automatically concern “culture.” Extensive cultural rationale is required.

Multi-level modeling can integrate data across individual, cultural, and ecological levels. However, no single study can examine all facets of culture and psychology simultaneously.

Pursuing a narrow, clearly conceptualized scope often yields greater returns than superficial breadth (Matsumoto & van de Vijver, 2021). By tackling small pieces thoroughly, researchers collectively construct an interlocking picture of how culture shapes human psychology.

Sampling (a priori procedure)

Unlike typical American psychology research drawing from student participant pools, cross-cultural work often cannot access similar convenience samples .

Groups compared across cultures frequently diverge substantially in background characteristics beyond the cultural differences of research interest (Matsumoto & van de Vijver, 2021).

Demographic variables like educational level easily become confounds making it difficult to interpret whether cultural or sampling factors drive observed differences in psychological outcomes. Boehnke et al. (2011) note samples of greater cultural distance often have more confounding influences .

Guidelines exist to promote adequate within-culture representativeness and cross-cultural matching on key demographics that cannot be dismissed as irrelevant to the research hypotheses. This allows empirically isolating effects of cultural variables over and above sample characteristics threatening equivalence.

Where perfect demographic matching is impossible across widely disparate groups, analysts should still measure and statistically control salient sample variables that may form rival explanations for group outcome differences. This unpacks whether valid cultural distinctions still exist after addressing sampling confounds.

In summary, sampling rigor in subject selection and representativeness support isolating genuine cultural differences apart from method factors, jeopardizing equivalence in cross-cultural research.

Designing questions and scales (a priori procedure)

Cross-cultural differences in response styles when using rating scales have posed persistent challenges. Once viewed as merely nuisance variables requiring statistical control, theory now conceptualizes styles like social desirability, acquiescence, and extremity as a meaningful individual and cultural variation in their own right (Smith, 2004).

For example, an agreeableness acquiescence tendency may be tracked with harmony values in East Asia. Efforts to simply “correct for” response style biases can thus discount substantive culture-linked variation in scale scores (Matsumoto & van de Vijver, 2021).

Guidelines help adapt item design, instructions, response options, scale polarity, and survey properties to mitigate certain biases and equivocal interpretations when comparing scores across groups.

It remains important to assess response biases empirically through statistical controls or secondary measures. This evaluates whether cultural score differences reflect intended psychological constructs above and beyond style artifacts.

Appropriately contextualizing different response tendencies allows judiciously retaining stylistic variation attributable to cultural factors while isolating bias-threatening equivalence. Interpreting response biases as culturally informative rather than merely as problematic noise affords richer analysis.

In summary, response styles exhibit differential prevalence across cultures and should be analyzed contextually through both control and embrace rather than simplistically dismissed as invalid nuisance factors.

A Posteriori Procedures to Deal With Bias

After data collection, analysts can evaluate measurement equivalence and probe biases threatening the validity of cross-cultural score comparisons (Matsumoto & van de Vijver, 2021).

For structure-oriented studies examining relationships among variables, techniques like exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and multidimensional scaling assess similarities in conceptual dimensions across groups. This establishes structural equivalence.

For comparing group mean scores, methods like differential item functioning, logistic regression, and standardization identify biases causing specific items or scales to function differently across cultures. Addressing biases promotes equivalence (Fischer & Fontaine, 2011; Sireci, 2011).

Multilevel modeling clarifies connections between culture-level ecological factors, individual psychological outcomes, and variables at other levels simultaneously. This leverages the nested nature of cross-cultural data (Matsumoto et al., 2007).

Supplementing statistical significance with effect sizes evaluates the real-world importance of score differences. Metrics like standardized mean differences and probability of superiority prevent overinterpreting minor absolute variations between groups (Matsumoto et al., 2001).

In summary, a posteriori analytic approach evaluates equivalence at structural and measurement levels and isolates biases interfering with valid score comparisons across cultures. Quantifying practical effects also aids replication and application.

Ethical Issues

Several ethical considerations span the research process when working across cultures. In design, conscious efforts must counteract subtle perpetuation of stereotypes through poorly constructed studies or ignorance of biases.

Extensive collaboration with cultural informants and members can alert researchers to pitfalls (Matsumoto & van de Vijver, 2021).

Recruiting participants ethically becomes more complex globally, as coercion risks increase without shared assumptions about voluntary participation rights.

Securing comprehensible, properly translated informed consent also grows more demanding, though remains an ethical priority even when local guidelines seem more lax. Confidentiality protections likewise prove more intricate across legal systems, requiring extra researcher care.

Studying sensitive topics like gender, sexuality, and human rights brings additional concerns in varying cultural contexts, necessitating localized ethical insight.

Analyzing and reporting data in a culturally conscious manner provides its own challenges, as both subtle biases and consciously overgeneralizing findings can spur harm.

Above all, ethical cross-cultural research requires recognizing communities as equal partners, not mere data sources. From first consultations to disseminating final analyses, maintaining indigenous rights and perspectives proves paramount to ethical engagement.

Berry, J. W., Poortinga, Y. H., Segall, M. H., & Dasen, P. R. (2002). Cross-cultural psychology: Research and applications (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press.

Bond, M. H., & van de Vijver, F. J. R. (2011). Making scientific sense of cultural differences in psychological outcomes: Unpackaging the magnum mysteriosum. In D. Matsumoto & F. J. R. van de Vijver (Eds.), Cross-cultural research methods in psychology (pp. 75–100). Cambridge University Press.

Fischer, R., & Fontaine, J. R. J. (2011). Methods for investigating structural equivalence. In D. Matsumoto & F. J. R. van de Vijver (Eds.), Cross-cultural research methods in psychology (pp. 179–215). Cambridge University Press.

Hambleton, R. K., & Zenisky, A. L. (2011). Translating and adapting tests for cross-cultural assessments. In D. Matsumoto & F. J. R. van de Vijver (Eds.), Cross-cultural research methods in psychology (pp. 46–74). Cambridge University Press.

Johnson, T., Shavitt, S., & Holbrook, A. (2011). Survey response styles across cultures. In D. Matsumoto & F. J. R. van de Vijver (Eds.), Cross-cultural research methods in psychology (pp. 130–176). Cambridge University Press.

Matsumoto, D., Grissom, R., & Dinnel, D. (2001). Do between-culture differences really mean that people are different? A look at some measures of cultural effect size. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 32 (4), 478–490. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022101032004007

Matsumoto, D., & Juang, L. P. (2023). Culture and psychology (7th ed.). Cengage Learning.

Matsumoto, D., & van de Vijver, F.J.R. (2021). Cross-cultural research methods in psychology. In H. Cooper (Ed.), APA handbook of research methods in psychology (Vol. 1, pp. 97-113). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000318-005

Matsumoto, D., & Yoo, S. H. (2006). Toward a new generation of cross cultural research. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 1 (3), 234-250. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-6916.2006.00014.x

Nezlek, J. (2011). Multilevel modeling. In D. Matsumoto & F. J. R. van de Vijver (Eds.), Cross-cultural research methods in psychology (pp. 299–347). Cambridge University Press.

Shweder, R. A. (1999). Why cultural psychology? Ethos, 27 (1), 62–73.

Sireci, S. G. (2011). Evaluating test and survey items for bias across languages and cultures. In D. Matsumoto & F. J. R. van de Vijver (Eds.), Cross-cultural research methods in psychology (pp. 216–243). Cambridge University Press.

Smith, P. B. (2004). Acquiescent response bias as an aspect of cultural communication style. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 35 (1), 50–61. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022103260380

van de Vijver, F. J. R. (2009). Types of cross-cultural studies in cross-cultural psychology. Online Readings in Psychology and Culture, 2 (2). https://doi.org/10.9707/2307-0919.1017

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The Darden Report

Professor Tatiana Batova: Uncovering Clues to Cross-Cultural Communication

Tatiana Batova was a young graduate student when she submitted her first research paper to the journal Technical Communication in 2010. It’s s uccess was immediate. Instead of simply being accepted for publication, h er examination of legal, linguistic and cultural issues in medical communications won the Frank R. Smith Outstanding Journal Article Award from Society for Technical Communication , establishing her reputation as an outstanding researcher in her field.  

As a professor at Arizona State University, Batova continued to thrive in her ongoing examination of language and technology in cross-cultural communications. Numerous awards followed, and she received tenure in 2019.  

But something was missing.  

“I started, way back in the day, wanting to be a teacher,” Batova says. “I really wanted to be in a place that values teaching more. I didn’t want to leave my research behind, but I wanted to have more interaction with students. Darden seemed to combine both. You can still do research, but teaching is elevated.”  

The move to Charlottesville to join the faculty in the Communication area, however, wasn’t easy.   

“I was one of the last two people to be offered jobs before the pandemic hit,” Batova remembers, and she had to remain in Arizona for an extra year with her “mind just kind of split between the two schools.” When she finally did start at Darden, she saw students — as well as faculty and staff colleagues — only on Zoom or in masks.   

As the School emerged from the restrictions of the pandemic, her vision of research and teaching complementing each other came to fruition. Finally seeing student faces clearly, she mastered teaching with the case method. She delivered core instruction in leadership communication and developed dynamic electives to help Darden students understand how to factor in linguistic and cultural factors into e-commerce, digital marketing and storytelling with data. “At Darden, teaching feeds into research, and research feeds back into teaching,” she says.   

The strength of Batova’s work comes from her ability to discover how unexamined assumptions and practices can undermine effective communication in a wide variety of situations. Context, especially linguistic and cultural context, is critically important. In an increasingly interconnected world, understanding these factors is a non-negotiable skill for business leaders.  

“A lot of what you translate doesn’t resonate with people because the concepts are different, and the frames of reference are different,” Batova says. “The way we talk about AI in the U.S., for example, is very different from the way people talk about AI in Germany. The frame of reference is different. The regulations are different. The mindset is different. There are two completely different discourses.”  

That’s important, for one, because how we talk about technology can influence whether we want to use it or not, as well as our work motivation, according to Batova. To better understand the “rhetoric of technology,” she combines quantitative user experience with exploratory qualitative methods.  

In her elective on storytelling with data visualization, her research plays a vital role in the classroom, making students partners in examining the implications of her findings. “I’ve been working on a project on cross-cultural data visualization because nobody has empirically tested a lot of assumptions,” she says. In the United States, for instance, users tend to look at the title of a chart first, which frames their understanding of the data. But in India, “everybody went straight to the chart and kind of wanted to draw their own conclusion. The title was secondary. So what does that mean for being persuasive?”   As she fields new studies in Serbia and China, she finds that “students want to talk about this. They’re asking about it. It’s really exciting to bring new research back into the classroom so we can discuss it.”   

For Batova, her research agenda and her love of teaching are inseparable, driving an exploration of how humans communicate using an ever-evolving set of tools in a rapidly changing world. Darden allows her to put both of those pieces of the puzzle together in a way that helps answer the key questions and make a practical impact.  

“The great thing about Darden is you can chart your own course.”  

The University of Virginia Darden School of Business prepares responsible global leaders through unparalleled transformational learning experiences. Darden’s graduate degree programs (MBA, MSBA and Ph.D.) and Executive Education & Lifelong Learning programs offered by the Darden School Foundation set the stage for a lifetime of career advancement and impact. Darden’s top-ranked faculty, renowned for teaching excellence, inspires and shapes modern business leadership worldwide through research, thought leadership and business publishing. Darden has Grounds in Charlottesville, Virginia, and the Washington, D.C., area and a global community that includes 18,000 alumni in 90 countries. Darden was established in 1955 at the University of Virginia, a top public university founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1819 in Charlottesville, Virginia.

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List of Interesting Cultural Research Paper Topics

Cultural Research Paper Topics

Cultural research paper topics allow students to explore people’s historical aspects, actions, ideas, and narratives that they have copied or altered over time. People express their cultures via various symbols and language. Additionally, different aspects of culture affect people’s mindsets.

When pursuing cultural students, students write research papers, essays, and articles on varied topics. However, most learners struggle to select the best titles for their papers. That’s because the topic that a student selects influences the path they take when completing this assignment. For this reason, we’ve come up with this guide with a list of interesting cultural research topics for learners to consider.

Discover a vast array of captivating cultural research paper topics with the expertise of our professional dissertation writers . Our dedicated team is ready to assist you in selecting compelling topics and crafting high-quality research papers that meet the highest academic standards.

How to Choose Cultural Research Topics

The internet is awash with cultural research ideas from which students can choose what to explore. However, not every topic you come across will be suitable for you. For that reason, consider the following aspects when choosing your cultural topic for research.

  • Select a topic that meets your writing assignment requirements
  • Settle on a topic you find interesting
  • Pick a topic that meets the scope of your assignment

In addition to these criteria, check the available research to select a topic you will find sufficient information for before you start writing your paper. Also, brainstorm concepts and create a research question around the topic. Here are different categories of cultural research paper topics from which you can choose your favorite title.

Cultural Anthropology Research Topics

If you find cultural anthropology interesting, pick your topic from the following ideas.

  • How traditional food can reflect a nation’s history
  • Analysis of the refugees’ impact on the cultures of the European countries
  • How Christian traditions differ from one culture to another
  • How countries in the Soviet Union moved from communism
  • Effects of liberalism on the education system
  • Analysis of a communistic nation’s cultural values
  • Causes of political division in the United States
  • Why most people in the Netherlands love cycling
  • How people view the death concept in Africa
  • How the English language influences the American culture as the common language

Cultural Diversity Research Paper Topics

Perhaps, you’re interested in cultural diversity. In that case, consider these ideas for your research paper.

  • Analysis of cultural diversity’s role in schools
  • How cultural diversity influences modern society
  • How significant is cultural diversity in this century?
  • How multiculturalism and pluralism affect the American citizens’ lives
  • Psychological counseling associations to cultural diversity
  • How cultural diversity affects the medical industry
  • How migration affects cultural diversity of the Asian land
  • How cultural diversity affects people’s interactions
  • Demonstrating critical thinking with special attention to diversity and multicultural issues
  • Cultural diversity as a reason for not tolerating racism

Cross-Cultural Communication Research Topics

Cross-cultural communication is among fields with excellent topics for cultural research. Here are some of the best ideas in this field.

  • Approaches to cross-cultural information exchange
  • Practical cross-cultural dialogue strategies
  • Intercultural dialogue and translation
  • Teaching cross-cultural communication and culture
  • Cross-cultural information exchange artifacts
  • Factors enhancing cross-cultural dialogue competence
  • Cultural and health-related issues between ethnic minorities and healthcare providers
  • The adaptation of international students to American campuses
  • Low-context cultures versus high-context cultures- Cross-cultural perspective
  • Assessing cross-cultural effectiveness

Cultural Psychology Research Topics

If interested in cultural psychology research, consider these ideas for your papers and essays.

  • How cultural psychology has evolved over the years
  • How cultural psychology affects diversity
  • Filial piety and personality among the British citizens
  • Impacts of famous artists on the global culture
  • Impacts of COVID-19 on the US political atmosphere
  • Comparing women’s emotions and gender stereotypes as exhibited by men’s superior thinking
  • Influences of cross-cultural psychology
  • Social and self behavior among the United States’ Red Indians
  • Analyzing the unemployed graduates’ experiences in the United Kingdom
  • How parenting stress relates to the stigma of a mother with an autistic child

Cross-Cultural Research Topics

Cross-cultural research paper topics cover psychological behavior and processes across different cultures. Here are topic samples in this category.

  • Communication styles among different cultures
  • How attitudes towards conflicts differ among cultures
  • How people from different cultures approach the same task differently
  • How different cultures approach knowing
  • Why humans should respect and work with people from different cultures
  • The attitudes of different cultures towards disclosure
  • How decision-making styles differ among cultures
  • How non-verbal communication promotes a culture
  • What determines business communication across cultures?
  • How history and social organization affect modern society

Cultural Studies Research Paper Topics

When pursuing cultural studies, writing research papers is unavoidable. Here are cultural research paper topics to consider for your papers and essays.

  • How stigma affects the efforts to prevent sexually transmitted diseases from spreading
  • Challenges encountered by people with social disorders and anxiety
  • How films influence the audiences’ cultures
  • How songs promote feminism
  • Coping mechanism for culturally different people
  • How cultural studies facilitate the promotion of brands in global markets
  • How people perceive the old and the youths in their cultures
  • How cultural studies can help in promoting businesses internationally
  • Cultural traits exhibition in exotic and indigenous animals
  • Influence of associating with a particular language on a person’s culture

Cultural Geography Research Topics

Cultural geography focuses on cultural changes in various geographical settings. Here are topics to explore in this category.

  • Explaining the cultural concept
  • Analyzing a culture area and the culture itself
  • Analysis of cultural landscapes
  • Cultural ecology and culture history
  • Focusing on the institutions
  • Understanding cultural geography
  • The history of cultural geography
  • Understanding feminist geography
  • Explain the evolution of urban geography
  • Analysis of the geography of space and sexuality

Chinese Cultural Research Topics

Are you interested in studying Chinese culture? If yes, this list has the best cultural topics for research paper that you can explore.

  • Evaluating Cultural Revolution in China
  • The Chinese government and Tibet
  • Culture-bound psychiatric syndromes in China
  • The Chinese culture and silk road
  • Cross-cultural competency in China
  • How culture influences the Chinese politics
  • Effects of Buddhism on the Chinese culture
  • Chinese medicine and culture
  • Childhood illness treatment in traditional China and religion
  • The cultural perspective of the human stomach in China

Research Topics on Community-Centered Cultural Adaptation

Are you interested in community-centered cultural adaptation research? If yes, here are topics to consider for your papers.

  • Stage-setting and professional consultations for cultural adaptation purposes
  • Preliminary cultural content adaptation
  • Iterative cultural content adaption with members of the community
  • Cultural adaptation with meetings and community feedback
  • Role of language during cultural adaptation
  • The concept of cultural adaptation
  • Factors that limit community-centered cultural adaptation
  • How conflict of interest can hinder community-centered cultural adaptation
  • How gender influences community-centered cultural adaptation
  • How to enhance community-centered cultural adaptation

Cultural Analysis Topics for Research

Perhaps, you’re interested in analyzing a cultural aspect or phenomenon. In that case, consider these ideas for your research paper.

  • Analysis of cultural phenomenon in your community
  • Analyzing the influence of TikTok on local culture
  • Analysis of “the dab” popularity
  • Analyzing the effects of bandwagon on the culture
  • Analysis of the normalization of the holocaust in some cultures
  • Analyzing religious beliefs as a cultural phenomenon
  • Analyzing the popularity of sitcoms
  • Analyze the fan base of your favorite celebrity
  • Analysis of social media as a cultural phenomena
  • Analyzing cross-cultural fashion trends

Cultural Analysis Essay Topics

If interested in analyzing the culture, pick the idea to write about in this list.

  • Analyzing drug use by sportspeople
  • Analyzing homelessness in America
  • Communication differences between males and females
  • Analyzing obesity trends across age brackets
  • How sports influence culture
  • Analyzing multicultural identity
  • Analysis of modeling and body size aspects of a culture
  • Effects of multicultural families on the involved parties
  • Analysis of gender role changes over time
  • How being raised by a single parent affects a child- A cultural perspective

Unique Cultural Analysis Paper Topics

Are you looking for a unique topic for cultural research? If yes, this section has a good idea for you.

  • Why are cultural studies essential?
  • How society treats people based on their cultures
  • How the minorities cope in a different culture
  • How feminism affects the culture
  • How isolated communities can conserve their cultures
  • How religion influences culture- Use the Muslim community as a case study
  • Describe the cultural commonalities among human beings
  • Explain the correlation of sex and attitude as cultural tools
  • The influence of associating with a particular language on a person’s culture
  • How exotic and indigenous groups exhibit cultural differences

Pick your topics from this list and then take your time to develop them through research to come up with solid papers or essays that will earn you the top grades.

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  1. Cross-Cultural-Communication

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  4. Cross-Cultural Communication: What It Is, Why It Matters

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  5. Cross-Culture Questionnaire Students

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  6. 10 Cultural Competence Examples (2023)

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COMMENTS

  1. Methods for Intercultural Communication Research

    Social science research methods address questions related to both cross-cultural and intercultural communication. Much of the foundational work on intercultural communication research is based on comparisons of two or more cultures. ... Some conceptual and theoretical challenges for cross-cultural communication research in the 21st century ...

  2. 36 questions with answers in CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION

    Answer. Cultural competency is an OLD term amongst those beginning to working in cross cultural health care contexts - medicine in particular. As clearly noted by Tervalon and Murray-Garcia. One ...

  3. Cross-Cultural Interaction: What We Know and What We Need to Know

    Pervasive forms of worldwide communication now connect us instantly and constantly, and yet we all too often fail to understand each other. Rather than benefiting from our globally interconnected reality, the world continues to fall back on divisiveness, a widening schism exacerbated by some of the most pronounced divisions in history along lines of wealth, culture, religion, ideology, class ...

  4. Cross-Cultural Communication Theory and Research, Overview

    Cross-cultural research compares and contrasts people's communication across diverse cultures and explains the consequences of these differences. This entry covers primary definitions of domain items included in the cross-cultural theory and research area including concepts such as individualism, collectivism, high- or low-context communication ...

  5. Intercultural communication: Where we've been, where we're going

    While this approach to research is controversial, with many seeing the push toward biological indicators as unwarranted, we believe intercultural communication researchers will increasingly explore the validity of the communibiological approach to better understand cultural difference, particularly in cross-cultural communication studies ...

  6. Navigating cross-cultural research: methodological and ethical

    1. Introduction. The acknowledgement that most research in psychology and other adjacent fields is overwhelmingly based on so-called WEIRD (Western, educated, industrialized, rich and democratic) populations [] has given way to intensified research funding, publication and visibility of collaborative cross-cultural studies across the social sciences that expand the geographical range of study ...

  7. PDF Research Topics in Intercultural Interaction

    In this chapter, we outline some key research topics, and sample studies, associated with the various issues explored in Parts 1 and 2. In the next chapter, we explore the steps involved in carrying out a ... (2004), who used the Cross-Cultural Communication Competence (CCC) questionnaire, which was based on previous work by Matveev, Rao and ...

  8. Metatheme Analysis: A Qualitative Method for Cross-Cultural Research

    In recent years, there has been a florescence of cross-cultural research using ethnographic data. This cutting-edge work confronts a range of significant methodological challenges in undertaking cross-cultural ethnography (Bollig et al., 2020; Falzon, 2016; Hirsch et al., 2020; Pacheco-Vega, 2020; Schnegg & Lowe, 2020).While this new methodological scholarship is rapidly and significantly ...

  9. Cross-cultural management research: Topics, paradigms, and methods—A

    Cross-cultural management (CCM) research comprises a variety of disciplines with different the-matic, paradigmatic, and methodological assumptions. ... topics in CCM are intercultural communication (Adler and Gunderson, 2008; Gudykunst et al., 1988; Kittler et al., 2011), negotiated meanings and identities (Primecz et al., 2011; Ting-Toomey,

  10. Language and communication in international students' adaptation: a

    This article systematically reviews the literature (313 articles) on language and communication in international students' cross-cultural adaptation in institutions of higher education for 1994-2021. We used bibliometric analysis to identify the most impactful journals and articles, and the intellectual structure of the field. We used content analysis to synthesize the results within each ...

  11. Cross-cultural management research: Topics, paradigms, and methods—A

    To answer these questions, we conducted a quantitative and qualitative analysis based on 777 articles published in two leading journals of CCM research—the International Journal of Cross Cultural Management (IJCCM) and Cross Cultural and Strategic Management (CCSM).

  12. (PDF) Understanding cross-cultural communication

    Abstract. The need for cross-cultural communication skills arises whenever people from different languages and cultures come into contact. With increased tourism, international business, students ...

  13. PDF What is Cross- Cultural Communication?

    2 Cross-Cultural Communication Cross- cultural communication is a multifaceted subject which has elements from a number of disciplines: anthropology; linguistics; philosophy; psychology. Cross- cultural communication is about the way people from different cul-tures communicate when they deal with each other either at a distance or face to face.

  14. 4.2: Cross-Cultural Communication

    Problems in cross-cultural communication can be stereotyping, ethnocentrism, prejudice, discrimination, and racism. Stereotyping, according to Hall, is "attributions that cover up individual differences and ascribe certain characteristics to an entire group of people" (2005, p. 192). An example might be that Asians are good at math.

  15. Basic Guide to Cross-Cultural Research

    The Cross-Cultural CDs were the first result of this effort, providing researchers with ten collections on such topics as old age, marriage, religion, and human sexuality, excerpted from HRAF's 60-Culture Probability Sample Files (PSF). In 1993, the first installment of the full-text HRAF Collection of Ethnography on CD-ROM (eHRAF) was issued ...

  16. Find a Great Topic

    Step 1: Identify the broad, core concepts of your research. If you are researching cross-cultural business communication, these might be culture, business, and communication. Step 2: Create a table where each core concept has its own column, and add rows down the side for 'who, what, when, where, why, how' questions to get you going.

  17. Communication and Glocalization: Media, Culture, and Society in the

    The advent of the 21st century ICT revolution has been felt in numerous arenas of social life. One of the main issues in the social sciences concerns the relationship between media-driven globalization and culture or cultures across the world. In cross-cultural communication, sociology, anthropology, and related disciplines, the relationship between globalization and the media has been the ...

  18. Cross-cultural measurement validation: an analysis of dissent

    Research into communication behaviors, traits, and attitudes is increasingly being conducted outside of the United States. Therefore, it is common for researchers to adapt measures developed in the U.S. for testing in non-U.S. settings (Croucher & Kelly, Citation 2019).With such modification comes questions of translation, measurement invariance, equivalence, reliability, etc. (Croucher et al ...

  19. Cross-Cultural Research: Sage Journals

    Cross-Cultural Research (CCR) publishes peer-reviewed articles that describe cross-cultural and comparative studies in all human sciences. Each issue, published quarterly, examines topics that span societies, nations and cultures, providing … | View full journal description. This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

  20. Cross-Cultural Research Methodology In Psychology

    Cross-cultural research allows you to identify important similarities and differences across cultures. ... jeopardizing equivalence in cross-cultural research. Designing questions and scales ... P. B. (2004). Acquiescent response bias as an aspect of cultural communication style. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 35(1), 50-61. https://doi ...

  21. Professor Tatiana Batova: Uncovering Clues to Cross-Cultural Communication

    Tatiana Batova was a young graduate student when she submitted her first research paper to the journal Technical Communication in 2010. It's s uccess was immediate. Instead of simply being accepted for publication, h er examination of legal, linguistic and cultural issues in medical communications won the Frank R. Smith Outstanding Journal Article Award from Society for Technical ...

  22. Top 120 Cultural Research Paper Topics

    Cross-cultural research paper topics cover psychological behavior and processes across different cultures. Here are topic samples in this category. Communication styles among different cultures. How attitudes towards conflicts differ among cultures. How people from different cultures approach the same task differently.

  23. What Is Cross-cultural Communication? Here's Why It Matters

    Since cross-cultural communication is how people belonging to different cultures communicate with each other, there are bound to be clashes between different cultures. One tactic to reduce these clashes is prioritizing diversity when hiring. When people from differing cultures work toward a common goal, the risk of offensive misunderstandings ...

  24. Assessing the impact of cross-cultural communication competence on

    This study investigated the impact of cross-cultural communication competence (CCC) on expatriates' work outcomes in emerging economies. Using a convergent parallel design methodology of data collection comprising an in-depth face-to-face interview with 21 expatriate executives, and a quantitative survey of 204 expatriates in various subsidiaries in Ghana, a structural equation modeling and ...

  25. Exploring cultural differences in eyewitness accounts using a self

    In a globalised world, investigators often interact with witnesses from diverse cultural backgrounds. To date, there is a wealth of research on the use of evidence-based practices to facilitate recall and reporting in information elicitation contexts. However, research has been primarily conducted with participants from western (and typically individualistic) cultural contexts, ignoring the ...

  26. Counseling Across Cultures: A Half-Century Assessment

    The fifth edition reviewed the status of cross-cultural counseling research (Ponterotto et al., 2002). The futuristic orientation is open to new questions and developing hypotheses regarding the broadening field of cross-cultural research and practice. As Arredondo (2010, p.99) reviewed, "Counseling Across Cultures is not time-bound. Rather ...

  27. Call for Experts

    Issued on: 15 March 2024Deadline: 15 April 2024 The World Health Organization (WHO) is seeking experts to serve as members of the Strategic and Technical Advisory Group on Traditional, Complementary and Integrative Medicine (STAG). This "Call for experts" provides information about the advisory group in question, the expert profiles being sought, the process to express interest, and the ...