Cross Cultural Studies - Science topic

الألمام باللغة وبقواعد الترجمة ضروية كي تتمكني من ذلك

if u mean by "automatic' google translator-- that is the worst-- bad for anyone so absolutely not for research--if by "automatic translator" means something else pray tell what? however as an interpreter and translator i can say any automatic has to be very poor; context is so important in communication anytime, more so in intercultural and much more so for research (and any scientific purpose.

Thank you for your comment. I agree with the point that it differs from country to country and that it is less complicated when the languages belong to the same linguistic grouping. Although bilingualism in schools and families is a successful reality in many countries and cultures, it is important to consider the different aspects of bilingual education. It should also be pointed out that a bilingual education is not the same as a multicultural education. The point of reflection in this discussion is to understand how multilingualism is a component of the strategies embedded in national educational policies. Although the subject has already been well studied, I think that there are still many gaps which are reflected in a poverty of learning such as the one mentioned in the last World Bank report [https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/education/brief/what-is-learning-poverty].

Thanks, Kamil Janowicz ! That's a good reason to do this kind of research. I'm looking forward to see your study!

Theo

Unless you have a priori hypotheses about specific paths that would be expected to be non-invariant, I would think that the omnibus chi-square difference approach (comparing the fully constrained vs. unconstrained models globally) is the more appropriate approach. This is somewhat similar to what you would do in ANOVA. You look at the omnibus F test first. You run post hoc tests (pairwise comparisons) only if you obtain a significant F statistic. Otherwise you run into the risk of type-1 error inflation.

In your case with a non-significant overall chi-square difference, you would not compare individual paths.

All depends on the purpose of the study. However, just because you have access to data from that country is also a valid justification, in some cases.

Kindly visit..

You may look at these;

1. Adu-Poku, S. (2001). Envisioning (black) male feminism: A cross-cultural perspective. Journal of Gender Studies, 10(2), 157-167.

2. Rosaldo, M. Z. (1980). The use and abuse of anthropology: reflections on feminism and cross-cultural understanding. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 5(3), 389-417.

3. Harper-Dorton, K. V., & Lantz, J. (2007). Cross-cultural practice: Social work with diverse populations. Lyceum Books.

4.Schueller, M. J. (2011). Cross-cultural identification, neoliberal feminism, and Afghan women. Genders, (53).

5.Chen, C. N., Lai, M., & Tarn, D. D. (1999). Feminism orientation, product attributes and husband-wife decision dominance: A Taiwan-Japan cross-cultural study. Journal of Global Marketing, 12(3), 23-39.

Extensive training

Hope this helps

The measure is more about how people see their culture and how they identify their cultural identity. This is what we are measuring.

Hi Gulnaz, I think this could help you more:

Nusbbaum, M. (2000). Women and Human Development: The Capabilities Approach, Cambridge, NY: Cambridge University Press.

Hope you do well!

Here are some studies that may help guide you to the answer:

J. Stewart Black and Mark Mendenhall, 1990: Cross-Cultural Training Effectiveness: A Review and a Theoretical Framework for Future Research. AMR, 15, 113–136,https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.1990.11591834

Daniel J. Kealey, David R. Protheroe, The effectiveness of cross-cultural training for expatriates: An assessment of the literature on the issue, International Journal of Intercultural Relations, Volume 20, Issue 2, 1996, Pages 141-165, ISSN 0147-1767, https://doi.org/10.1016/0147-1767(96)00001-6.

To expand on Jochen Wilhelm 's point.

If you do not have any prediction or model that incorporates "country" then you simply want to account for the variance on your estimates that it may produce. This is the same as when we account for the auto-correlational nature of data from the same person (i.e. more similar) than between persons (i.e. more different) by using a person random-effect in our model.

Thus, you can code the variable country (e.g, just have a nominal variable with each country name). And then when you run a mixed-effects model on your data, you have Country as one of the random-effects.

Small note, the number of level of a random-effects variable should exceed the number of variables in your model and levels of your fixed-effects (e.g, if you only have data from 4 countries in the end, but your analysis is conducted on 5 factors, then it is not appropriate as there will not be enough data to make stable estimates).

It is on undertaking research across nations and cultures presents several unique challenges. Important substantive questions for researchers and managers include the following:

Are the constructs or theories investigated relevant in each research context? How should the instrument used to collect the data (for example, a questionnaire) be translated?

What samples should be selected?

How should the data be collected?

Are the measures used in the study invariant in each unit of analysis investigated?

The answers to these and other similar questions share a common denominator: the comparability or equivalence.

The main aim when conducting research across different cultures and/or countries is to establish comparability or equivalence at each stage of the research process, as so many critics believe.

Abu Bashar @

I agree that a power analysis may be a good approach but there are certain other aspects I would like to raise:

- it might be a good idea to look into the published literature. Depending on the methods you are planning to use different sample sizes may be deemed necessary or acceptable in the scientific sommunity. For instance if you use more in-depth or qualitative methods you generally need a smaller sample size. On the other hand some statistical methods require large sample sizes

- depending on the population/s you are working with, there might be limitations in the population size. Let's say you are looking at people with a cerrtain profession or disease. These might be very rare in one of your populations. If they are very relevant for your research question a small sample might be acceptable.

This is really interesting. I do photovoice research with non-binary young adults. I am currently preparing a study that will have small groups in various locations. Small groups will regularly connect with and report back to the larger collective group. We hope that this allows us to explore region specific issues, along with more broad ones. I'm definitely going to dig into your work!

Uno de mis ámbitos de trabajo es el pensamiento estratégico, estudio de casos en ecuador. Puedo estar interesado.

It would be advisable to do one for each country and then a general one with multi-group invariance to evaluate the differences.

Hi Faith Obioma ,

Your question starts by acknowledging a research gap in literature related to measurement of gender stereotypes on the African continent since Williams & Best (1990). From that statement, I'll assume that your "data collection" question refers to (1) "the data collection instrument" (i.e., a suitable measurement scale for gender stereotype to be included in your questionnaire), rather than (2) the logistics associated with sampling. I'll however try to provide some advice on both:

(1) The data collection instrument

If there is a gap in literature regarding a suitable measurement scale, you may either "develop" a new one, or "adapt" an existing one. Please note that the instrument you cited (Williams & Best, 1990) is nearly 30 years old. Hence, some dimensions might be outdated (e.g., the gender binary male-female classification is not considered inclusive today). In that case, I wouldn't recommend scale "adoption". Also, bear in mind that you need to validate the construct in the study area/context where you wish to apply it. [Please note: if you have a multidimensional scale, test for internal consistency (i.e., Cronbach alpha) at sub-scale level]. Since Africa is a culturally diverse continent, language alone might imply translations which don't distort the original meaning of the item.

(2) Sampling issues

I agree with the advice provided by Dennis Alvarez . You might want to pick a country whose perceptions may be generalized over an entire region. For instance, if you select Gabon as a country, you should know that the ethnic group (Fang) predominantly residing in the northern province of Gabon (Weuleu Ntem) is also found in Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea. They share the same culture and might be hypothesized to to share similar perceptions as far as gender stereotyping is concerned. The same scenario can take place with the Shangane ethnic group found in South Africa, Mozambic, and Zimbabwe; or even the Hausa people who are the second largest ethnic group in Africa. They can be found in about 14 African countries. The point is ethnicity is a trans-frontier construct which might improve your odds in generalizing your results.

If you seek a data collection company in South Africa, I would recommend the

Inter African Research Consultancy (IARC). Search for it on LinkedIn. It's flexible and cost effective. I used them for 3 rounds of data collection for my ongoing PhD dissertation.

I hope my answer was helpful.

All the best,

Kimo

Gladly! And I'll convey your questionnaire to my students as well.

Interesting questionnaire although quite long, but I hope your project will benefit from that.

I wish you good luck with your research!

i guess we can find this kind of book in traditional libraries especially in countries that has ancient civilization as Egypt , Iraq and so on

I'm glad my comments were useful. You will also find that if a question is shaped primarily by analytical concerns, you will likely not be able to translate the question into everyday language that will be easily understood. If we ask a survey question in any language, and we get a puzzled look, then we have failed to do our job. A good survey question is one for which you know in advance more or less what answers people will give; you just don't know how many will give which of the 3-5 likely answers.

Hi Lusine,

I am not sure it is still relevant for you, but I have published an ethnic fractionalization index that covers 162 countries annually for the time period 1945-2013. You can fin it on Harvard Dataverse here:

Hi,

Want to share my experience up to now.

I sent two requests to Qualtrics - weeks ago and a lot of weeks ago, but haven't received an answer yet. It seems that the only way to get in contact with them is through their online form which does not allow for many words to explain the study in the small box (upper limit up characters). Yet, they promise to get in touch with you... well...

I am in contact with Kantar (new name for Lightspeed). I can confirm that it is pricey. My only reference for high data quality is the message by Timo Mandler (see above), so I haven't decided yet.

I am moving forward with Prolific, see what they can offer.

Best,

Christine

Dear Razaz,

This is a good question. I suggest you that contemplate the possibility to apply the so calling multi-group invariance analyzes. This SEM approach can tell you if the model it's invariant across groups; and, if it's not, were are these noninvariant results. It is a very powerful but not usually applicated method.

If you decide to apply this, you have to considerer wich specifics statistical SEM methods it´s more valid and robust for your sample size and type of data. I recommend that you utilize R ore M-plus fos such propose.

Hello Faith! What an awesome and bold move you have made! I have a Ph.D. in Communication and Culture from Howard University. I like your topic. Would you be interested in doing something specifically with women--and black women maybe?? I currently teach at Princeton Theological Seminary in the USA. I teach Speech Communication and Intercultural Communication. Let me know what you think?

I have been doing research on social entrepreneurs, and among them very accomplished physicians. I found in those excellent medical doctors very strong soft skills like empathy, and also, a strong sense of willingness to understand and appreciate the patient's culture. There is a lot to be done in 1. Teaching Empathy , 2. Teaching cultural sensitivity.

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 cannot be competent in all ~ and 1 or 2 is insufficient in a multicultural world. In addition, competence seems to reinforce a one way hierarchy. Other, more process focused and INTERPERSONAL terms are: cultural literacy, intercultural competence or, another I use, is cross-culturally, informed or responsive. BOTH descriptors lend at least an essential two way process - and where one is on the process is determined through listening and the acknowledgement by all parties of the need to learn about each other. I and a team of researchers defined culture for health research ~ a suggested read re: the complexity that is lost in the concept of "cultural competence" ( ). Lawrence Kirmayer wrote an article in 2012 in Transcultural Psychiatry outlining underlying power dynamics of the use of the concept of cultural competency from a social political stance. "Rethinking Cultural Competence"

Hi Ryan,

that's a difficult question. Most importantly would be to consider/evaluate whether the original set of questions truely imply a true common factor structure. Most questionnaires are either developed by using a principal component analysis which is simply computing a variance-remaining summative composite. A factor model implies that the factor represents an existing entity which is the cause of the item reponses. The essential testable implication of the factor model is conditional independence of the items given the factor (local independence). Most scales violate these assumptions - hence you do not know whether the reason is only some slight and unimportant violations or a fundamental problem with the structure (which is a problem for its validity).

IF the model holds it has some advantages when undertaking cross cultural research as you can test for "measurement invariance". I post some papers for your interest.

The other possibility is that the set of items simply form a "collective set" - which means that each/ or some items measure different things but the the "construct" is simply a set of these things (like an index or umbrella term). Actually, I do not know how to evaluate cross-cultural equivalence of such a composite. I could imagine, placing the set of items in a network together with validation criteria. The problem is how to evaluate the overall match. A topic for future research :)

Best,

Holger

References about invariance testing:

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Schaffer, B. S., & Riordan, C. M. (2003). A Review of cross-cultural methodologies for organizational research: A best-practices approach. Organizational Research Methods, 6, 169-215. doi:10.1177/1094428103251542

Taras, V., Rowney, J., & Steel, P. (2009). Half a century of measuring culture: Review of approaches, challenges, and limitations based on the analysis of 121 instruments for quantifying culture. Journal of International Management, 15(4), 357-373. doi:10.1016/j.intman.2008.08.005

Steenkamp, J.-B. E. M., & Baumgartner, H. (1998). Assessing measurement invariance in cross-national consumer research. Journal of Consumer Research, 25, 78-90.

Vandenberg, R. J. (2002). Toward a further understanding of and improvement in measurement invariance methods and procedures. Organizational Research Methods, 5(2), 139-158.

References about forms of constructs

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Edwards, J. R. (2001). Multidimensional constructs in organizational behavior research: Towards an integrative and analytical framework. Organizational Research Methods, 4(2), 144-192.

Edwards, J. R. (2011). The fallacy of formative measurement. Organizational Research Methods, 14(2), 370-388.

Edwards, J. R., & Bagozzi, R. P. (2000). On the nature and direction of relationships between constructs and measures. Psychological Methods, 5(2), 155-174.

And the difference between factor models and composites

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Podsakoff, P. M., MacKenzie, S. B., Podsakoff, N. P., & Lee, J.-Y. (2003). The mismeasure of man(agement) and its implications for leadership research. The Leadership Quarterly, 14, 615-656.

Bandalos, D. L., & Boehm-Kaufman, M. R. (2009). Four common misconceptions in exploratory factor analysis. In C. E. Lance & R. J. Vandenberg (Eds.), (pp. 61-87). New York: Routledge.

Fabrigar, L. R., Wegener, D. T., MacCallum, R. C., Strahan, E. J., MacCllum, R., & Strahan, E. J. (1999). Evaluating the use of exploratory factor analysis in psychological research. Psychological Methods, 4(3), 272-299. doi:10.1037/1082-989X.4.3.272

I teach English and language awareness i.e., not only one English but Englishes especially the varieties they speak and/or need to learn, so not necessarily British or American English but International English, the one spoken and understood by the nonnative speakers (EFL/ESL). World Englishes proponents & supporters respect all varieties.

I guess that the following three could constitute basic principles for multiculturalism:

1. Mutual respect for any difference in colour, ethnicity, religion, language and sexual orientation

2. Secular education

3 Cultivation of universal human rights.

For more details see Education in a Multicultural Cyprus

Dear Tobias, Many thanks for your reaction. This is indeed a very puzzling aspect which I am not sure how to treat. Originating from Belgium (the north of the country is monolingual Dutch, hence more influenced by the Dutch culture, while the south of the country is monolingual French, hence more influenced by the French culture), I am myself convinced that country boundaries might not always offer the best delineation for cultural groups. I guess that we need to start with some sort of clustering, hence some sort of "(over)generalisation" to be able to unveil broad, ''gross'' patterns (with a quantitative approach), which can then be refined in future research (probably with a more qualitative approach or by looking quantitatively at smaller geographical areas). If you know of any names of researchers which might help further my reflection on this, I would be glad to hear it. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this, Pernelle

It sounds interesting. I'd love to hear more details.

Hi,

Maybe this article will interest you.

Article Costly Superstitious Beliefs: Experimental Evidence

Best regards,

Ya'akov B

I DID IT ALREADY

A couple of comments. With the PVQ-RR, there are 3 items per value for 19 values. When used to measure the 10 values, there are from 3 to 6 and 9 for universalism. The PVQ-RR has shown quite good reliability for all or almost all 19 and 10 values in every country studied thus far (30). It is available in 46 languages. The average time for completion is approximately 6-8 minutes. Reducing the number of items has very little effect on the time required because it takes about 3-4 minutes to respond to 20 items because respondents take more time until they get used to the format.

Whenever possible, I recommend measuring all values. Some reasons are:

1. Attitudes and behaviors are influenced by the trade-off between opposing values. Measuring only those values expected to either promote or to inhibit an attitude or behavior is likely to miss a significant part of the causal/explanatory association.

2. The scales are all balanced so that values expected to receive similar ratings are separated to reduce automatic responding. Changing the order by dropping items can affect the levels of response to the other items.

3. Value responses are quite sensitive to framing by other questions. The full value scales cover the full range (circle) of motivational goals so they have little or no biasing effect on other questions. Hence it is desirable to administer the value scales first. However, if values not of interest to the researcher are drop from a value scale, that scale may bias subsequent responses.

Contrary to what Dante ... writes above, in my article on Basic Personal Values and the Meaning of Left‐Right , values were good predictors of political orientations. As we and some later work have found, the meaning of left-right in former communist countries differed from its meaning in the West. For some respondents in those countries, the meaning of this distinction is reversed, for others it is ambiguous. Consequently, value orientations do not predict left-right because it is not a meaningfully clear concept.

Extremely interesting question, and it’s a shame that I hav noticed earlier: it might be that the thread is now closed. Anyhow, historical intercultural research has been part of my academic interest, and I would be grateful, John, if you could further elaborate on this. It seems to me that historical and cross-|intercultural research are very close, in thar they both serve as testing grounds for more general theories, and also in the sense that they can be used to cross-test each other. But then my uptake on this reflect my background as a linguist, and it might be that the original question referred to another area?

cheers,

Daniel

Hello,

It is an old source that you have used. You can find a copy of the original article here: https://www0.gsb.columbia.edu/faculty/bkogut/files/1988_JIBS_Kogut_Singh.pdf

There were using the data for a different purpose and their procedure probably would not be applicable now as there are now six dimensions. Look at page 12 of the link I just pasted. It briefly explains how they used their formula.

Good luck you!

When human begins live together, as a society, in a particular area, they form several key habits and norms by which they live their life. Culture is the knowledge, language, values, customs, belief, food, attitudes, religion, morals that are passed from person to person and one generation to the next. Dominant culture consists of several sub cultures. Each sub culture provides its members with a different set of values and expectations. They share these norms with one another and collectively, this is called a culture. Culture is a collective phenomenon. Culture is a way of acting, a way of behaving; It is continually changing and dynamic. Culture is not inherited, it is learned

As regards the relatonship between translation and censorship, you could take a look, first, at the discussion in Translation Studies in 2011 and 2012. The discussion started with the article ‘‘Translation and Censorship’’, by Piotr Kuhiwczak, Translation Studies

4, 2011, no. 3, and was commented on by Brian James Baer, Beate Müller and Paul St-Pierre & Cormac Ó Cuilleanáin in 2012 (attached).

Secondly, you might wish to read Samantha Sherry's (2012) PhD dissertation Censorship in Translation in the Soviet Union in the Stalin and Khrushchev Eras (attached) especially for its references section even if the topic itself is outside your sphere of interests..

Finally, as regards text selection for purposes of translation, you might wish to read a few articles on retranslation as such texts often discuss the issue of selecting texts for (re)translation. See e.g. Paloposki, Outi, and Kaisa Koskinen. "A thousand and one translations: Revisiting retranslation." BENJAMINS TRANSLATION LIBRARY 50 (2004): 27-38, available at http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.468.4623&rep=rep1&type=pdf#page=42.

Hope the above references will help you move forward...

Thank you very much dear David. I will consider your suggestion.

Hi

Dear Midori

I am researcher entrepreneurship action on Iran and i am studying experiences of Iranian entrepreneurial at present and i will be happy that you corporate to me.

Best Regards

We have several cross-cultural  research projects some ongoing, and other in the planning phase. If you are interested to collaborate,  e-mail me directly  kiraaref@aol.com or send me your e-mail

Dear Jimmy,

I'm going to offer some thoughts on why measuring cultural differences in your chosen domains is very difficult. I'll consider spatial confounds first.

Firstly, if we accept that there are individual differences between people's spatial abilities by virtue of the degree of hemispheric lateralisation and that this lateralisation may be influenced profoundly antenatally (for example, by exogenous androgens or estrogens like DES, potentially though environmental contamination or contraceptive practices), then it would be impossible to control for differential effects of the environment between cultures.

Secondly, I was fortunate to attend a guest lecture by Dr Markus Hausmann, associate professor at the Centre for Vision and Visual Cognition in Durham, UK, who explained that the differences in female cognition at different stages of the menstrual cycle measured through neuroimaging are confounds that only become distinct through a small effect size (Cohen's d >0.3 and <0.5) if the participants' cycles are monitored very precisely and experiments are synchronised accordingly. This makes spatial cognitive experiments involving females very effortful and is why many are conducted only with males. It would appear to set a very high barrier for controlling for such effects across cultures where gender may be very relevant.

I could go on, but I think the disappearance of small cultural differences amid many uncontrollable confounding variables is almost inevitable: too small a signal amid too much noise.

Now I'll consider cultural confounds.

Firstly, if we accept that experience shapes cognition, as is evident from language acquisition and the evidence that unfamiliar phonemes cannot be discerned or reproduced after early infancy, then it is impossible to control for the effects of language - namely differences in precise meaning between terms that we use to operationalise experiments, between cultures. Classically, what is "attractiveness"?

Secondly, with specific reference to "individualism versus collectivism", cultural variations in symbiosis and enmeshment will be confounded by variations in attachment style when measured with the Experiences in Close Relationships-Revised (ECR-R) Adult Attachment Questionnaire, for example. How could the effects of patriarchy on attachment style be controlled for to reveal individualist versus collectivist differences?

Again I could go on, but I think that the small cultural effects would be overwhelmed by the scale of normal individual differences.

Thus, in summary, I think that spatial and cognitive differences across cultures don't lend themselves well to the quantitative analyses implied by the domain. On the other hand, articles like this one on colour perception show that qualitative analyses could reveal striking differences.

Thank you, Prof. Nikhilesh Dholakia

These can include:

Dear Mirna, please find the article attached. It contains valuable info on the comparison of the results compiled based on the Hofstede database, contrasted with the results of Varga, a Hungarian researcher. It shows some remarkable differences (distortions of the Hofstede material in my opinion). The author of the article is one of the leading experts of Hofstede studies in Hungary. 

Article's full reference format: Falkné Bánó Klára 2014. Identifying Hungarian cultural characteristics in Europe's cultural diversity in the 21st century: a controversial issue. In: Solt Katalin (szerk.) Alkalmazott tudományok I. fóruma: konferenciakötet. Budapest: Budapesti Gazdasági Főiskola. 195-206.

Downloadable: http://publikaciotar.repozitorium.bgf.hu/209/

Hi Charlott,

If you are comparing countries/societies without having any preconceived idea about the entrepreneurial characteristics of a particular country/society, then cultural dimensions are appropriate. 

However, if there is reason to believe that one society in particular has demonstrated stronger characteristics than others, then you may want to use that country as your "base" and compare the others' relative positions to it.  In this case, cultural distance is better. For example, you can refer to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor and identify which country has the highest rate of new venture formation.  Let's say, Germany.  Using Germany as the base, you can then compare the cultural values of other countries in relation to it.  In other words, you are using the cultural distance between those countries and Germany.

Hope this helps.

Aida Idris PhD, University of Malaya, Malaysia

I am not in Politness studies but search for Ahmad Izadi articles. he is working in this area.

It helps a lot. Thanks!

Dear Filipa

I don't have experience with Mplus, I prefer SAS and SPSS for statistical analysis, this software effective and widely used.

Good Luck

The Caregiver Strain Questionnaire paper is available on ResearchGate 

Dear Monica Opole

The scientific community is a diverse network of interacting scientists. It includes many "sub-communities" working on particular scientific fields, and within particular institutions; interdisciplinary and cross-institutional activities are also significant. Objectivity is expected to be achieved by the scientific method. Peer review, through discussion and debate within journals and conferences, assists in this objectivity by maintaining the quality of research methodology and interpretation of results.

History of scientific communities

The eighteenth century had some societies made up of men who studied nature, also known as natural philosophers and natural historians, which included even amateurs. As such these societies were more like local clubs and groups with diverse interests than actual scientific communities, which usually had interests on specialized disciplines.Though there were a few older societies of men who studied nature such as the Royal Society of London, the concept of scientific communities emerged in the second half of the 19th century, not before, because it was in this century that the language of modern science emerged, the professionalization of science occurred, specialized institutions were created, and the specialization of scientific disciplines and fields occurred.For instance, the term scientist was first coined by the naturalist-theologian William Whewell in 1834 and the wider acceptance of the term along with the growth of specialized societies allowed for researchers to see themselves as a part of a wider imagined community, similar to the concept of nationhood.

Membership, status and interactions

Membership of the community is generally, but not exclusively, a function of education, employment status, and institutional affiliation. Status within the community is highly correlated with publication record. Scientists are usually trained in academia through universities. As such, degrees in the relevant scientific sub-disciplines are often considered prerequisites for membership in the relevant community. In particular, the PhD with its research requirements functions as a marker of being an important integrator into the community, though continued membership is dependent on maintaining connections to other researchers through publication, technical contributions, and conferences. After obtaining a PhD an academic scientist may continue through post-doctoral fellowships and onto professorships. Other scientists make contributions to the scientific community in alternate ways such as in industry, education, think tanks, or the government.

Members of the same community do not need to work together.Communication between the members is established by disseminating research work and hypotheses through articles in peer reviewed journals, or by attending conferences where new research is presented and ideas exchanged and discussed. There are also many informal methods of communication of scientific work and results as well. And many in a coherent community may actually not communicate all of their work with one another, for various professional reasons.

Speaking for the scientific community

Unlike in previous centuries when the community of scholars were all members of few learned societies and similar institutions, there are no singular bodies or individuals which can be said today to speak for all science or all scientists. This is partly due to the specialized training most scientists receive in very few fields. As a result, many would lack expertise in all the other fields of the sciences. For instance, due to the increasing complexity of information and specialization of scientists, most of the cutting-edge research today is done by well funded groups of scientists, rather than individuals.However, there are still multiple societies and academies in many countries which help consolidate some opinions and research to help guide public discussions on matters of policy and government-funded research. For example, the United States' National Academy of Science (NAS) and United Kingdom's Royal Society sometimes act as surrogates when the opinions of the scientific community need to be ascertained by policy makers or the national government, but the statements of the National Academy of Science or the Royal Society are not binding on scientists nor do they necessarily reflect the opinions of every scientist in a given community since membership is often exclusive, their commissions are explicitly focused on serving their governments, and they have never "shown systematic interest in what rank-and file scientists think about scientific matters". Exclusivity of membership in these types of organizations can be seen in their election processes in which only existing members can officially nominate others for candidacy of membership. It is very unusual for organizations like the National Academy of Science to engage in external research projects since they normally focus on preparing scientific reports for government agencies.[8] An example of how rarely the NAS engages in external and active research can be seen in its struggle to prepare and overcome hurdles, due to its lack of experience in coordinating research grants and major research programs on the environment and health.

Nevertheless, general scientific consensus is a concept which is often referred to when dealing with questions that can be subject to scientific methodology. While the consensus opinion of the community is not always easy to ascertain or fix due to paradigm shifting, generally the standards and utility of the scientific methodhave tended to ensure, to some degree, that scientists agree on some general corpus of facts explicated by scientific theory while rejecting some ideas which run counter to this realization. The concept of scientific consensus is very important to science pedagogy, the evaluation of new ideas, and research funding. Sometimes it is argued that there is a closed shop bias within the scientific community toward new ideas. Protoscience, fringe science, and pseudoscience have been topics that discuss demarcation problems. In response to this some non-consensus claims skeptical organizations, not research institutions, have devoted considerable amounts of time and money contesting ideas which run counter to general agreement on a particular topic.

Philosophers of science argue over the epistemological limits of such a consensus and some, including Thomas Kuhn, have pointed to the existence of scientific revolutions in the history of science as being an important indication that scientific consensus can, at times, be wrong. Nevertheless, the sheer explanatory power of science in its ability to make accurate and precise predictions and aid in the design and engineering of new technology has ensconced "science" and, by proxy, the opinions of the scientific community as a highly respected form of knowledge both in the academy and in popular culture.

Political controversies

The high regard with which scientific results are held in Western society has caused a number of political controversies over scientific subjects to arise. An allegedconflict thesis proposed in the 19th century between religion and science has been cited by some as representative of a struggle between tradition and substantial change and faith and reason.[citation needed]. A popular example used to support this thesis is when Galileo was tried before the Inquisition concerning the heliocentric model.[9] The persecution began after Pope Urban VIII permitted Galileo to write about the Copernican model. Galileo had used arguments from the Pope and put them in the voice of the simpleton in the work "Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems" which caused great offense to him.Even though many historians of science have discredited the conflict thesis it still remains a popular belief among many including some scientists. In more recent times, thecreation-evolution controversy has resulted in many religious believers in a supernatural creation to challenge some naturalistic assumptions that have been proposed in some of the branches of scientific fields such as evolutionary biology, geology, and astronomy. Although the dichotomy seems to be of a different outlook from a Continental European perspective, it does exist. The Vienna Circle, for instance, had a paramount (i.e. symbolic) influence on the semiotic regimerepresented by the Scientific Community in Europe.

In the decades following World War II, some were convinced that nuclear power would solve the pending energy crisis by providing energy at low cost. This advocacy led to the construction of many nuclear power plants, but was also accompanied by a global political movement opposed to nuclear power due to safety concerns and associations of the technology with nuclear weapons. Mass protests in the United States and Europe during the 1970s and 1980s along with the disasters of Chernobyl and Three Mile Island led to a decline in nuclear power plant construction.

In the last decades or so, both global warming and stem cells have placed the opinions of the scientific community in the forefront of political debate.

Thank you for your inputs. But what if our professor asks us why we limited our study to only one country? Can our answer be "we followed two of our literatures which compels us to study only one country as the two literatures only studied one country each"? Thank you again!

Hope attached one is useful for your investigation. 

I might be able to help. Can you be a bit clearer about what you are looking for when you say "recommend a cross-cultural assessment"?

Hola Jose,  if  you have a personal email, I can send you some papers (PDF) of some lists of Old World Hallucinogens by a late colleague, anthropologist, Weston LaBarre.  Dr, LaBarre is author of the Peyote Cult (the definitive book on the peyote religion, used by Native Americans to help set up new charter church groups across the USA).  He also authored the book, The Ghost Dance" which is about the origins of religion, and in that tomb, Dr. LaBarre discusses the theory that most religions began with primitive humankind accidentally consuming plants of an entheogenic nature allowing one to see things they had never seen before and considered the reactions as coming from a deity.  I also have three great short papers by Dr. LaBarre form the late 1970s which lists other cultures that used such plants as sacraments, etc.  

I can also provide you with a list of references to mushroom use in Africa from my CD-ROM, Teonanacatl: A Bibliography of Entheogenic Fungi.  which covers their history from 5,000 years bp through December 2012.  At that time I ran out of funds to update the data and my bibliography has more than 3,000 references, more than 10,000 cross-references all linked to author-date citations, over 2306 annotations, Over 360 references on Soma featuring mainly, Amanita muscaria, and more than 1680 screen sized photographs pertaining to every aspect of psilocybian and other entheogenic Fungi.  Also included in that CD-ROM are several articles and a complete listing of the Wasson/Archives linked form Harvard University.

Other papers include my colleague and co-author of 7 academic papers with me on entheogenic fungi, he published a paper on Old World Hallucinogens.  In my library I have close to over 90 % of every book, journal and magazine articles on psilocybian producing mushrooms as well as papers and books on many other drugs.  One of my mentors over the years was the late Dr. Richard Evans Schultes,  He is known as the Father of Ethnobotany.    Please send me an email and I can supply you with several well written papers on some of the plants of Africa and on shrooms as well.

Happy New year to you and your loved ones, From Seattle and in symbiosis of our interest in this subject matter.

Best Regards,

John W. Allen

May be first it depend on what differences we are targeting? for example are we interested in cross cultural difference in eating habbit, in methods of treatment, ..etc...

Next, the data collection method could be questionnaires, interviews, qualitative approach. It could happen that people from different cultures are living in the same area, or one can use Internet to collect data from different countries.

While Colson and others have valid points, Brassard's suggestion also has merit. As I just noted in another of Alan's questions, native peoples who still live or feel connected to the land might relate to the "rock art". And, not necessarily natives to that specific area. We know that prehistoric pottery designs were replicated throughout the eastern U.S. Were these by independent invention or dissemination, as in this means that?

As mentioned, I noted that pottery designs from a late prehistoric site in south Louisiana were shown to a local Chitimacha Indian basket maker. Come to find out, the pottery motifs matched traditional basket weaving designs that had been passed down from generation to generation. Each design had a name and meaning/lore, some of which have been lost in tribal memory.

Hello

Most of the work I came across used them as moderators. An excellent PhD thesis which discussed these dimensions is 'Culture, Demography and Individuals’ Technology Acceptance Behaviour: A PLS Based Structural Evaluation of an Extended

Model of Technology Acceptance in South-Asian Country Context'. Try to have a look at it, I think it will be helpful. 

Regards

Nisreen 

We completed recruitment, thank you for all answers,

Piotr

See Doug Wilkinson's 1966 study of the Baffin Eskimos' perception of crowding (LAND OF THE LONG DAY, 1966, Toronto: Clarke Irwin & Co).  Wilkinson's friend Idlouk wanted to know how Wilkinson's people lived, and when told of the cities, Idlouk shook his head in disbelief/disapproval; he couldn't understand how people lived like that (p. 12):  "His mind could not accept the fact that so many people could live and work in such a confined space" as Manhattan--and he had bad dreams about it.  He said he kept waking up, thinking of all those people in such a small space: "...pushing and shoving, fighting to breathe.  I see people stacked up one atop the other and I become one of them striving to climb upward to reach open air.  I awake in a sweat...and for a long time I cannot sleep."  To Idlouk, his camp of 31 people was uncomfortably crowded.  He was always happy to return to his camp, but after a few days, he grew "tired of many people so close to me.  I want to get away..., out into the open spaces of ice-covered sea where I can look out and see no other soul.  Then I breathe deeply; I am happy; I feel like a man again...." (p. 13)  IN SHORT, the perception of crowding is very much relative to one's cultural perspectives.  See my "Discussion" (pp. 431-452) of these matters in LONG-TERM SUBSISTENCE CHANGE IN PREHISTORIC NORTH AMERICA (eds. Dale R. Croes, Rebecca A. Hawkins, and Barry L. Isaac, 1992, Greenwich, CT: JAI Press [Supplement 6, Research in Economic Anthropology]).  [Also note, therein, the material I cite from Dominique Legros' study of the Tutchone Athapaskans of Yukon Territory--who are so overpopulated at a density of 0.7/100 sq. km that the group is divided into sleek "haves" and starving "have-nots".]

The study of mottos is interesting as these reflects the aim and objects of that particular institutes or organization. In India many mottos are taken form ancient Sanskrit literature.  Many ideal examples such as "Satyamevajayte" means victory is always of  truth, "Savidyayavimuktaye" means Knowledge which liberates, " Nahigyanensadrashampavitramihvidyate" means nothing pious like knowledge, etc.

Methodology is not normally a term applied to writing a book (as opposed, say, to doing field or laboratory research), or at least not that sort of a book. 

In a sense the book 'Human Universals' is a "review" of the literature.  They are written all the time in many fields (n psychology, sociology, and of course anthropology). But there is no standard methodology for writing a book about cultural or biological universals. Brown did search the term 'universals' to go through various published journal indexes that listed references for further investigation.  

 In particular, aside from the anthropological evidence for cultural and biological universals, Brown paid attention to the evidence in psychology and evolutionary psychology.  

He also drew on his own field experiences in Brunei, Bali, Mexico, and of course the US--hence he relied on the comparative method.  That in turn was much supplemented by a long interest in world ethnography.  He had prepared for field work in Latin America.  He studied with Africanists (Leo Kuper, M.G. Smith, Victor Turner) to learn British Social Anthro, and thereby read a lot of African ethnography.  All this adds up to the comparative method.

 There is a section of my book where Brown discusses how he assessed the universality of problematic cases for universals and he dealt with the quantitative issue of absolute vs near universals. Much of this is not dignified with the term methodology but is standard method across many fields as part of what constitutes objective or scientific writing.

Brown followed in the footsteps of Murdock and others who had focused on the study of universals, but produced a more nuanced account of universals that had been neglected by the majority of anthropologists who tended to focus on cultural differences.  

Of course Brown does not deny tremendous cultural variation and differences throughout the world.   But the neglect of cultural and biological universals often led anthropologists to 'exoticize' humans in various regions of the world, reducing the ability to empathize with the so-called 'other.'   Anthropologists must emphasize both the similarities and differences of people and societies they investigate to produce a more comprehensive understanding of humanity.  

Dear Srividya, can you provide me the Ward and Kennedy scale

Dear Dr. Luengo

Your problem is related to the old concept of "ethnogenesis," the way a group of people acquire an ethnic identity. See the wikipedia article for an introduction to this literature.  For the formation of local identies is Latin America in the wake of the Iberian conquest, see George Foster's classic book.He argued that Iberia was rife with petty local religious heresies reflecting local identities. The Catholic Church went to some trouble to select settlers that we orthodox in their beliefs so as to keep the Americas free of such heresies. But the Indian and Mestizo communities in the Americas preserved pre-Hispanic beliefs or reinvented new ones reflecting local identities. Foster's work more generally will provide you an introduction to the large anthropological literature on Latin America. Cultural evolutionists like myself have paid some attention to making a formal evolutionary theory of these processes. Social psychologists have a useful literature called social identity theory.

Best, Pete

Foster, G. M. (1960). Culture and conquest: America's Spanish heritage. New York: Werner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, Inc.

McElreath, R., Boyd, R., & Richerson, P. (2003). Shared norms can lead to the evolution of ethnic markers. Current Anthropology, 44(1), 123-129.

Haslam, S. A. (2001). Psychology in Organizations: The Social Identity Approach. London: Sage Publications.

My answer may seem to be unusual since I'll approach the subject from a chemist's bird's eyes. In chemistry, we used to classify catalysts into (2) types: (i) Homogeneous (which means that the catalyst exists in the same phase as reactants). (ii) Heterogeneous (which indicates that the catalyst exists in a phase different from the phases of the reactants). This classification went on for years & is still adopted in general introductory courses.

Recently, progress in the field of catalysis increased the types to (4). The two additional types are: (iii) Homogeneously heterogenized catalysts. (iv) Heterogeneously homogenized catalysts.

Now, apply types (iii & iv) to answer the question about co-existence between nationalism and multiculturalism within a national state setting and there ought to be a way out from what appears to be a paradox. Human intelligence can work out a satisfactory resolution which is good for all provided that earnest intentions prevail.  

There is no specific answer to this question but if your discipline is social sciences then the factors are mostly likely correlated, which means oblique rotation (promax) should be used. If your discipline is where the factors are uncorrerlated then varimax is ideal. The advantage with varimax is that the factors are independent and not affecting each other, which eliminates the issue of collinearity and allow you to adjust for your factors in regression analyses. Correlated factors are a bit difficult to deal with. My experience is having used both that is your factors truly are uncorrelated then you will bet be able to use promax (but this can vary). 

Hello Dr Baumann,

If you're still looking for this question, you should check out the following recent paper by some very good colleagues of mine:

W. Yao (*) • C. Baumann • L.P. Tan (2015), Wine Brand Category Choice and Confucianism: A Purchase Motivation Comparison of Caucasian, Chinese and Korean Consumer, in F.J. Martı´nez-Lo´pez et al. (eds.), Advances in National Brand and Private Label Marketing, Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-20182-5_3

Post-colonial and diaspora literature studies has become significant in the realm of socio-cultural and political discourse due to the ongoing colonization through globalization of the world. The once ruled nations under the realm of colonial expansion. After the colonization the world has developed new culture from the influence of colonial empire. This new culture has been a centre of attraction to the literature studies. For works i wud go with Rahimi ali but suggesting not to forget Gayatri chakraborty Spivak

try this article: https://www.academia.edu/7380042/Compare_and_contrast_cultural_frameworks_developed_by_Geert_Hofstede_and_Fons_Trompenaars

We are all knowlegable, I'm sure, of denotative and connotative meanngs and differences.  It is unclear what it is you are meaning of trying to say. 

Cultural connotations are quite  different than myths.  What do you meanr by "color terms?"  Be very specific.  I don't thikn that ed, blue, green, yellow differ in cultures (altough theymay among artists).  Culture do differe  in their clothing, concepte of beuaty and beliefs about nature.  But how are you relation ghtis to "color terms" and denotative and connotative meaning.  Again, cultural connotton is NOT myth.

Dear Sheila,

we are doing some cross-cultural validation studies from english language to german language. For