Developing Cross Cultural Measurement

Abstract

This book provides an overview of issues and techniques relevant to the development of cross-cultural measures and provides a step-by-step approach to the assessment of cross-cultural equivalence of measurement properties. The readers are introduced to an overview of the definitions of culture and a brief discussion of cross-cultural anthropology, psychology, sociology, and political science and the influences of these fields on social work. The book describes the process of cross-cultural instrument development, from formulating the research aims to the assessments of cross-cultural measurement properties. There are guides and recommendations for building a cross-cultural research support team for various critical tasks. The book addresses the issues of adopting and adapting existing research instruments. The processes and issues of cross-cultural translation and assessments are presented and discussed in detail. The book offers a discussion of the foundation of measurement theories and the entire process of instrument development from the definitions of abstract concepts, the construction of observed indicators, and assessment of the validity and reliability of the new instruments. The book demonstrates the application of item distribution analysis, internal consistency analysis, and exploratory factor analysis as a preliminary assessment of cross-cultural equivalence of research instruments. In addition, the book explains and illustrates the application of confirmatory factor analysis and multisample confirmatory factor analysis to evaluate the factor structure and testing of cross-cultural measurement invariance.