Research Issues in Cultural Psychology

Research methods are the elements used in a psychological investigation (experiment) to describe and explain psychological phenomena and constructs. Research methods can also be used to predict and control for methodological issues through the use of objective and systematic analysis. Information, sometimes called data, for psychological research can be collected from different sources like human participants (e.g., surveys, interviews), animal studies (e.g., learning and behavior) and archival sources (e.g, tweets, and social media posts). Research is done with the help of an experiment, through observation, analysis and comparison.

When conducting research within a culture (indigenous study) or across cultures (cross-cultural study) many things can go wrong that will make conducting, analyzing and interpreting data difficult. This section will review four common methodological issues in cultural research (He, 2010).

• Sampling Bias
• Procedural Bias
• Instrument Bias
• Interpretation Issues