Ethno-Measurement and Ethno-Scaling Obstacles in Community Based Research with Indigenous Populations. This is a narrated PPT file. To hear the audio, download the file and play the slide show. The contents are owned by the authors, and shared through the Global Journal of Community Psychology Practice (http://www.gjcpp.org/).
- 1. Ethno-Measurement and Ethno-Scaling Obstacles in
CommunityBased Research with Indigenous PopulationsJoseph E.
Trimble, PhDCenter for Cross-Cultural ResearchDepartment of
PsychologyWestern Washington UniversityEthno-measurement and
Ethno-scaling
2. THEMENever look for a psychologicalexplanation unless every
effortto find a cultural one has beenexhausted. - Margaret Mead
(1959, p. 16) quoting William Fielding Ogburn, one of her mentors
at Columbia University.Ethno-measurement and Ethno-scaling 3.
DEFINITIONCultural equivalence refers "to theproblem of whether, on
the basis ofmeasurements and observations,inferences in terms of
some commonpsychological dimension can be made indifferent groups
of subjects" (Poortinga,1983, p. 238).Ethno-measurement and
Ethno-scaling 4. Cultural Measurement Equivalence Concepts
functional equivalence; conceptual equivalence; stimulus
equivalence; linguistic equivalence; and metric equivalence.*Best
Practices in Human Resources, Issue 653, September 30,
1999.Ethno-measurement and Ethno-scaling 5. Response Styles of
Culturally Different Respondents(1). Not all cultural groups judge,
evaluate, and assess stimuliin a linear manner;(2). The number of
salient choice options can vary fromindividual to individual both
within and between societalgroups;(3). Responses are difficult for
some because they dont yetunderstand what the collective will
accept;(4). The conventional psychometric format common to paperand
pencil tests and instruments may not work in all culturaland ethnic
groups; and(5). The need to capture information through a paper
andpencil approach may be inconsistent and unrelated to emicstyles
of information sharing (Trimble & Lonner, 1993).
Ethno-measurement and Ethno-scaling 6. Measurement is the
Assignment ofNumbers to Objects,Stevenss (1946, 1951)
representational view isalmost universally followed and accepted.
Thisview holds that measurement is the assignment ofnumerals or
numbers to objects, or, strictlyspeaking, attributes of objects
according to aconsistent rule (Stevens 1951). The crucial pointis
that this definition presumes measurementrather than defines what
has to be fulfilled toconstitute measurement. The manifest data
areimmediately seen as being measures.Ethno-measurement and
Ethno-scaling 7. Burden of Problems of
IncomparabilityCross-cultural psychologists contendthat, comparing
elements from differing societiesleads to inadmissible distortions
of reality(Kobben, 1970, p. 584).Our own categories of explanation
anddefinition, embedded in our psychologicaltheories, may not be
appropriate when projectedon some other culture(Price-Williams,
1975, p. 23).Ethno-measurement and Ethno-scaling 8. Malinowskian
DilemmaMalinowski was most insistent that every culture
beunderstood in its own terms, that every institution beseen as a
product of the culture within which itdeveloped. It follows from
this that a cross-culturalcomparison of institutions is essentially
a falseenterprise, for we are comparing incomparables(Goldschmidt,
1966, p. 8).social facts are functions of the social system ofwhich
they are a part; therefore they cannot beunderstood when they are
detached (Durkheim,1960, p. 133). Ethno-measurement and
Ethno-scaling 9. Interpretive and Procedural CategoriesJohnson
(1998) identified 52 types ofmeasurement equivalence. He pointed
out(that) in no other field of inquiryhas thisseemingly elementary
concept (equivalence)been assigned as many alternative meaningsand
disaggregated into as many componentsas in the field of
cross-cultural research (p.2). Ethno-measurement and Ethno-scaling
10. Approaches to Comparing Behavior Across CulturesDemonstrate
that the behaviors to be compared are functionally equivalent in
the cultures. Existing categories and concepts then can be
appliedto the behavior systems in a tentative way.The imposed etic
must be modified so that it becomesan adequate description from
within each culturebeing studied. With a derived etic in hand,
measurement tools andtechniques can be devised that meet the
standardsfor cultural equivalence.(after Berry,
1969)Ethno-measurement and Ethno-scaling 11. Response Intervals1 ?
2 ? 3 ? 4 ? 5 ? 6 ? 7Are the intervals between choice alternatives
equal?Its assumed theres an integer difference butwhat is the role
of subjective culture?Ethno-measurement and Ethno-scaling 12.
Ethno-Measurement and Ethno-Scaling Obstacles in CommunityBased
Research with Indigenous PopulationsJoseph E. Trimble, PhDCenter
for Cross-Cultural ResearchDepartment of PsychologyWestern
Washington UniversityEthno-measurement and Ethno-scaling
