Methodology and research design principles

¶ … Norms

Psychological Observations and Norms: Comparison in terms of Multicultural and Traditional Research Methodology

In the field of psychology, research methods vary significantly based on the sources of information that are focused on, how that information is samples, and the types of instruments that are used in data collection. Generally, methods vary in terms of whether they collect qualitative, quantitative data, or both. This research methodology further contains both multicultural and traditional research models. In using this methodology, one has the opportunity to research certain variables in order to pinpoint similarities, differences, strategies for dealing with patients, participants, and test-subjects, and discrepancies in the research itself. In comparing and contrasting observation and norms in terms of each type of research, for instance, it can be seen that both have a tendency to produce fundamental problems for researchers during the implementation of these variables cross-culturally.

Psychological Research Methods

In order to fully understand the problems that such research methods can produce for researchers, one must first understand the basics of the traditional research model and the multicultural research model, respectively. Traditional psychological research has been involved primarily with trying to understand the various drives and motivations behind human actions (Cline, 2010, p.1). Further, psychologist note that this attention to discrete substances and relationships means that "we arrive at generalizations about humanity, but we can lose sight of the human being we were looking at to begin with" -- the human being who makes things happen and who act within the world (Ash, Dreher & Hancock, 2006, p.315). While traditional research focuses on a more generic view of the human condition, it still seeks to gain the information necessary to understand research findings on a more scientific or "black and white" level. While traditional research seeks to pinpoint the definitive answers in its test groups in terms of how participants react to testing on a more generalized scale in terms of the human condition, multicultural research seeks to expand this by incorporating more distinctive observations on a personal participant level. This is done in hopes of gauging research results that will not only provide answers to the bigger questions that are being addressed, but assert specific answers to how these findings affect individuals from many different walks of life specifically.

In looking at the standards of multicultural research, the researcher aims to delve more deeply into the personal makeup of the researched participant than in traditional research. In undertaking multicultural research, one is taking into account a large representation of diverse cultural factors in the subjects that are being studied. Multicultural research though defined very broadly, may include research related to race, culture, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, disability, religious affiliation, and socioeconomic status.

Observation and Norms in Cross-Cultural Implementation

In viewing observation and norms in terms of psychological research, one can see that there is a distinct tendency for results to vary in terms of whether a more traditional approach is taken vs. A multicultural approach, especially in viewing these factors cross-culturally, or looking at how cultural factors influence human behavior. According to Walter J. Lonner, (2000) cross-cultural psychology can be thought of as a type of research methodology itself, rather than an entirely separate field within psychology, which can act as a bridge between a distinctly traditional method and this field (Lonner, 2000, p.23).

Author and psychologist Dennis Fox (2009) notes that "psychology's traditional practices and norms can hinder social justice, to the detriment of individuals and communities in general and of oppressed groups in particularly" (Fox, 2009, p.4). He goes on to demonstrate that in holding traditional research methods in psychology at the forefront of standards, especially in cross-cultural research, traditional methods tend to strengthen the status quo and discredit challenges to dominant views (Fox, 2009, p. 38). This view is added to in looking at research by other psychologists. Drs. Louise Kidder and Michelle Fine note that mainstream psychology's traditional research practices can sometimes advance critical psychology's goals, as by quantifying the existence of inequality, yet narrowly-focused hypothesis-driven research often misses sources and consequences of injustice that open-ended qualitative methods are more likely to expose (Fine and Kidder, 1997, p. 154-55).

In looking at the aforementioned research, it becomes clear that observations and norms in terms of research may be hindered by undertaking research with the traditional approach. Aspects of research findings that may have been overlooked in viewing the participant group as a whole rather than in breaking these groups down further into sub-categories of cultural similarity, or in assessing each participant on a completely individual level, may find themselves thrown out, over-looked, or improperly analyzed or categorized. In looking at this type of discrepancy between traditional and multi-cultural research, it becomes clear that observations and norms would likely be categorized or defined completely differently from research method to research method.

Whereas observations and norms in the traditional method would prove to vary consistently from individual to individual, the bases for these norms may be completely skewed from where they should be in ignoring the cultural factor. However, in making these observations on an individual basis in terms of culture, the question remains can norms accurately be determined? Should these norms be categorized on a broader scale or a more culturally-subjective scale? It is in looking at this factor that the problem of discrepancy in research becomes distinctly clear.