Parachuting Measures into Other Cultures Posted on January 7, 2008 Kenneth H. Rubin (bio) explains one reason for non-replication of findings in cross-cultural research.

We’re doing, I think, a really lousy job of introducing diversity, introducing culture, and introducing cross-cultural work. So what we do is we take what’s called an etic approach, and it’s E-T-I-C, and what that is, is we do the simple thing. We take our measures, and we just parachute them into other cultures, and it’s not the right thing to do, because first of all, it creates confusion because then you don’t replicate your findings and you have to find some sort of reason or rationale for why it is that you haven't replicated.

And what was a quick draw for me to start doing international research was when I was giving a set of lectures in China and very young graduate students would tell me what work they were doing, research they were doing. I’d say, “How’s it going?” This was in 1987 at one of the first international meetings post-cultural revolution. And the students were saying, “I must be doing something wrong, because I’m not getting the same results.”

But the only books that were available to them were written in English, and they were a very Westernized version of what development was all about. So I had a eureka moment when I realized that what they’re reading is what we would expect for our children, and what they were finding is what they should be finding for their children.

And unless you have that sort of eureka experience personally, I don’t think you end up tending to do cross-cultural work very well.

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