Cross-National Research Methodology and Practice by Linda Hantrais Steen Mangen

Author:Linda Hantrais, Steen Mangen [Linda Hantrais, Steen Mangen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780415494595
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2009-02-23T00:00:00+00:00

Pursuit and quest: thinking globally and acting locally

At the local/national level, survey research has never been better equipped to pursue quality research and the potential to act–to carry out demonstrably good research-is given in many survey contexts. At the cross-national level, too, the potential has never been greater to move towards a situation where we have demonstrably comparable, quality data. But the topography of cross-national survey contexts is still only sketchy. Our grasp of a global or meta-perspective on cross-national research is thus rather fragile. As indicated above, an important first step towards gaining this perspective will be the collection of meta-documentation to be used in guiding the development of standards and requirements, and in focusing cross-cultural survey methods research. The Centre for Survey Research and Methodology (ZUMA) in Mannheim, Germany, is in the process of setting up a web site home page to help draw this material together.

Global thinking is needed, in fact, in a number of senses. In order to arrive at a methodology for cross-national studies and for cross-cultural research within multicultural societies, we need to look beyond not only our own national survey standards but also our own networks, fields, and individual expertise. For instance, research being pursued in cross-cultural psychology and in the field of cognitive testing is of direct relevance to cross-national survey research. Research underway in translation studies on translation and translation assessment is highly pertinent for instrument translation. In addition, cognitive psychology has produced a range of findings for survey research still to be worked through from cross-cultural perspectives. Communication theory, linguistics, and text analysis research are each of relevance for developing questionnaire and interviewer materials across countries. In arguing that everything we basically need to conduct cross-national survey research was already available, Scheuch (1989) urged researchers not to re-invent the comparative wheel. For our part, while appreciative of the wealth of research already available, we do feel that some re-engineering is called for and, for the cross-country terrain which cross-national research often involves, we heartily welcome the invention of run-flat tyres.

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