METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES IN ETIC AND EMIC RESEARCH

PSYC 338

ETIC APPROACHES

* Culture general

* Comparative

* Seeks to explore universals

* Uses culture as an IV

EMICS

* Culture specific

* Limited

* Structure uncovered rather than imposed

* Understood in culture’s own terms

STEPS IN MAKING COMPARISONS (Campbell, 1970)

Study 1: Study a phenomenon in culture A (emic)!

Study 2: Study to culture B (etic)!

Consider validity of comparison!

Study 3: Researcher from culture B studies his own culture.

Study 4: Second researcher studies culture A.

Cost, time and effort

METHODS AND DESIGN IN CROSS-CULTURAL RESEARCH

• Systematic, multiple observations within one community

• Comparisons across cultures

• The Controlled Comparison

• The Cross-cultural Method

A Taxonomy of Cross-cultural Studies

1. Generalizability studies

2. Theory-driven studies

3. Psychological differences studies

4. External validation studies

Limitations of Western Made Instruments

Do the participants share basic assumptions about

• Values: Does the response have the same merit in every culture?

• Knowledge: Are people in the various cultures are equally likely to know something?

• Communication: Does the context of the test item have the same meaning in all the cultures?

CRITICAL ISSUE IN ETIC METHODOLOGY: EQUIVALENCE• Conceptual (construct)

• Linguistic

• Stimuli

• Functional

• Metric

Cultural differences may be due to

Different definitions of intelligence in two culturesDifferent understanding of instructionsDifferent level of motivationKnowledge of to whom scores will be comparedDifferent reactions to experimenter and test situationDifferent response setsDifferent sampling of people, stimuli and responseDifferent ethical acceptability

CONCEPTUAL EQUIVALENCE:

The meaning or essence of a construct is the same or equivalent.

Particularly, the dependent variables must be meaningfully re-identified across cultures.

CULTURAL CONCEPTIONS OF INTELLIGENCE

• Nzelu (Zambia)- wisdom• Obugezi (Uganda)-stable, cautious,

friendly• Gnom (Kipsigis)- readiness to carry out

tasks in the service of the community

LINGUISTIC EQUIVALENCE

* Appropriate translation of materials to ensure equivalence of meaning

* Relates to both stimuli and conceptual equivalence

TRANSLATION METHODS

* Individual translation

* Team translation

* Back translation

* Test bilinguals in both languages

EXAMPLES OF TRANSLATIONS

Outside a Hong Kong tailor shop…..

In a Thai dry cleaners…

In a Greek hotel…

Ladies may have a fit upstairs

Drop your trousers here for best results

Visitors are expected to complain at the office between the hours of 9 and 11 am daily

EXAMPLES OF TRANSLATIONS

At an Italian physician’s office….

Detour sign in Japan…

In a Greek tailor shop…

Lederer (1987)

Specialist in women and other diseases

Stop! Drive sideways

Order your suits here; because of big rush we will execute customers in strict rotation

STIMULI EQUIVALENCEAppropriateness of stimuli/test materials; equivalent familiarity (or unfamiliarity) withtest materials across cultural groups

THE CHITLIN TEST

By Adrian Dove

WHICH WORD IS MOST OUT OF PLACE?

A) Splib

B) Blood

C) Gray

D) Spook

E) Black

HOW LONG DO YOU HAVE TO COOK CHITLINS SO THAT THEY WILL NOT BE RUBBERY?

• One hour• 15 minutes• 6 hours• 24 hours• One week

FUNCTIONAL EQUIVALENCE:

Exists when behaviours or processescompared serve the same or very similar functions across cultures.

EXAMPLES OF FUNCTIONAL INEQUIVALENCE

* Nonverbal behaviours such as gaze, proxemics, gestures

* Agreements with statements such as “I like myself a lot”

METRIC EQUIVALENCE:

The same coherent psychometric properties found in two or more sets of data from different cultural groups.

Subsystem validation requires that the statistical relationships remain constant among independent and dependent variables.

Scalar equivalence: Statistical relationships among dependent variables should be similarly patterned in diverse cultural groups.

Methodologial and Statistical Innovations

* Item Response Theory

* Structural Equation Modeling

* Multilevel Modeling

EMIC APPROACHES

* Culture specific

* Seeks to understand culture in its own terms

* May unfold as indigenous or cultural psychology

CRITICAL ISSUE IN EMIC RESEARCH

* A sensitive and appropriate methodology for the specific cultural context

AN EXAMPLE FROM THE PHILIPPINES

Background:

indigenization from within

pakapa-kapa (inductive approach)

interdisciplinary perspectives

Method: Pagtatanong-tanong

CHARACTERISTICS OF PAGTATATANONG-TANONG

• “Asking questions”

• Participatory

• Equal status

• Adaptable, flexible

• Can be integrated with other methods

• Ethical concerns

PROCESS OF PAGTATATANONG-TANONG

• Preparation

• Selection of convenient and comfortable time and place

• Researcher and participant get to know each other

• “Asking questions” goes both ways

• Smooth ending

LEVELS OF INTERACTION

A. Ibang-tao (Outsider category)

1. Pakikitungo (civility)

2. Pakikisalamuha (interaction with)

3. Pakikilahok (participation with)

4. Pakikibagay (in accord with)

5. Pakikisama (being along with)

LEVELS OF INTERACTION

B. Hindi Ibang-tao (One of us category)

6. Pakikpagpalagayang- loob (mutual

trust)

7. Pakikisangkot (active involvement)

8. Pakikiisa (being one with)

CONCLUDING CONCERNS

• Power sharing• Ethical issues: treatment and dissemination of

data • Benefits for community

RECOMMENDATIONS

• Triangulation of methods (e.g. monotrait-multimethod design)

• Combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods

• Longitudinal studies• Interdisciplinary, international research

projects

QUESTIONS:

• What are the critical methodological standards for emic and etic approaches?

• Can and do we meet these standards on our research?

• How would you use the information on methodologies to evaluate research on culture and psychology?