Cross-cultural Survey Research Research Articles

Mental health of university students of Pakistan and Germany and the right to health care

Purpose Poor mental health in men and women is attributable to disparities in physical traits, social roles, power and health-seeking behaviours. This study aims to examine the gender differences in mental health among Pakistan and German university students and focuses on their right to seek mental health care. Design/methodology/approach Data on depression, anxiety and stress symptoms, as well as positive mental health (PMH), resilience, social support and life satisfaction, were gathered from Pakistani and German students. Findings In contrast to the Pakistani group, where no such gender differences were seen, women in Germany reported higher degrees of stress, anxiety and depression, as well as a lower level of overall good mental health. In comparison to German men and women, Pakistani women scored equally high on resilience. While gender had no bearing on life happiness in either Pakistan or Germany, women in both countries perceived more social support than men did. Research limitations/implications The study’s strengths include its large sample size and battery of mental health measures. The results of partial weak measurement Invariance (MI) on the stress subscale underlined the importance of using MI in cross-cultural studies. The validity of a direct comparisons on sum score between different language versions or country samples shall be cautious. Still, there are limitations. Firstly, the authors did not differentiate gender and biological sex, and there was no group of non-binary gender. Pakistani (N = 1,840) and German (N = 7,890) students were in unequal numbers. Again, only university students were sampled, so the results cannot be generalised to older (probably less educated) populations. Self-reported data that mainly obtained via online survey were the third limitation. This design is cost-effective and easy to administer for cross-cultural survey research. However, social desirability and memory bias are common in self-report inventories. Fourthly, although English is an official language in Pakistan and the medium of instruction in education, the authors recommend future study to use questionnaires that have been translated and validated into Urdu (Pakistan’s national language) and investigate gender differences in a general population. Fifthly, this is a cross-sectional survey; the authors were not able to explore the causality or risk factors that contribute to the poor mental well-being in Pakistan students in general or the relatively worse mental health in German women. Future studies may investigate the mechanism behind the phenomena observed in this study with longitudinal or experimental design. Last but not least, Germany and Pakistan differ in so many different aspects from culture, religions and history to social structure and economic status, which make it hard to claim whether the observed differences were due to national differences, cultural differences, economic differences, gender inequality differences or other effects. It would be helpful for future studies to include more country samples with clear definitions of different “culture” aspects for a better understanding of gender differences in other countries and in different mental well-being constructs. Practical implications The current study is the first attempt to compare the gender difference patterns in positive and negative mental health between European and South Asian counties and focuses on gender-specific approaches. Although Pakistani university students reported in general worse mental well-being, the differences between the two genders in mental health (e.g. depression, anxiety, general PMH) were not as pronounced as in the German student sample. Gender comparisons in these mental health constructs would help to improve protective factors against mental illness and to develop appropriate management programmes based on cultural differences. The results suggest that the gender differences found in western countries cannot always be directly translated into the South Asian cultural framework. Our results also highlight the importance of improving the general situation of Pakistan (students) instead of focusing on one gender. At the same time, in Germany, prevention and intervention plans are more warranted for women. It could be that once the general situation in Pakistan is improved, the gender-related differences in mental health will be clearly observed. Originality/value These findings imply the significance of cultural context when inferring gender variations in mental health. Moreover, it supports the advancement of comprehensive policies to reduce gender-related mental health inequalities and focuses on the equal rights of men and women to get mental health care.

Replication crisis and placebo studies: rebooting the bioethical debate

A growing body of cross-cultural survey research shows high percentages of clinicians report using placebos in clinical settings. One motivation for clinicians using placebos is to help patients by capitalising...

Democracy in context: using a\xa0distributional semantic model to study differences in the usage of democracy across languages and countries

Cross-cultural survey research rests upon the assumption that if survey features are kept constant, data will remain comparable across languages, cultures and countries. Yet translating concepts across languages, cultures and political contexts is complicated by linguistic, cultural, normative or institutional discrepancies. Such discrepancies are particularly relevant for complex political concepts such as democracy, where the literature on political support has revealed significant cross-cultural differences in people’s attitudes toward democracy. Recognizing that language, culture and other socio-political variables affect survey results has often been equated with giving up on comparative research and many survey researchers have consequently chosen to simply ignore the issue of comparability and measurement equivalence across languages, cultures and countries. This paper contributes to the debate, using a distributional semantic lexicon, which is a statistical model measuring co-occurrence statistics in large text data. The method is motivated by structuralist meaning theory, stating that words with similar meanings tend to occur in similar contexts, and that contexts shape and define the meanings of words. Compared to other methodological approaches aimed at identifying and measuring cross-cultural discrepancies, this approach enables us to systematically analyze how the concept of democracy is used in its natural habitat. Collecting geo-tagged language data from news and social online source documents this paper descriptively explores varieties in meanings of democracy across a substantial number of languages and countries, and maps ways in which democracy is used among online populations and regions worldwide.

Sensitivity of Goodness of Fit Indices to Lack of Measurement Invariance with Categorical Indicators and Many Groups

Using Monte Carlo simulation experiments, this paper examines the performance of popular SEM goodness-of-fit indices, namely CFI, TLI, RMSEA, and SRMR, with respect to a specific task of measurement invariance testing with categorical data and many groups (10-50 groups). Study factors include the number of groups, the level of non-invariance in the data, and the absence/presence of model misspecifications other than non-invariance. In sum, the study design yields a total of 81 conditions. All simulated data sets are analyzed using two popular SEM estimators, MLR and WLSMV. The main contribution of this paper to the methodological literature on cross-cultural survey research is that it produces revised guidelines for evaluating the goodness of fit of invariance MGCFA models with many groups.

Development of an interdisciplinary undergraduate research training program to improve retention and future success of women in STEM

In response to the national need to produce skilled and globally aware STEM students, Mount Saint Mary's University, Los Angeles developed an interdisciplinary undergraduate research program with an international fieldwork experience in the summer. The goals of the program are: (1) to train undergraduates in interdisciplinary research methodologies (cancer laboratory techniques, cross cultural survey research, and policy analysis); (2) to collect real fieldwork data in Peru and the U.S.; (3) to analyze and present the results in professional conferences and publications; and (4) to develop leadership skills and teamwork necessary for student success and retention in STEM fields.Students enrolled in the program spend two semesters doing course work. In the first semester they learn about the molecular, environmental and nutritional causes of cancer from MSMU's STEM faculty and about the disparities in policy and healthcare access in the U.S. and Peru from political science faculty members. In the second semester, the students develop research skills in both STEM disciplines and the social sciences: laboratory research skills in biology and chemistry, and survey methodology in political science. The students develop an evidence gathering plan, design a survey, and seek an IRB approval in preparation for their global research experience over the summer.During the summer, the students first interview women in urban and rural areas of California and Peru about factors contributing to their health, such as access to healthcare and nutritional habits. For the remainder of the summer, they analyze their data and study target natural products in the chemistry and biology laboratories.During the culminating, third semester of the program, the students continue doing research, as they turn their focus to the interpretation of data, presentation of their results at conferences, and future directions for the project. Perhaps most importantly, participants in this program develop leadership skills and examine barriers to success for women in STEM. We expect this combination of regular course work with a summer research component, international field study, and leadership training to be an effective way to increase success and retention rates of undergraduate students in the STEM fields at MSMU.This program is a model for future research topics thus creating a sustainable and meaningful undergraduate research training.

Cultural differences in survey responding: Issues and insights in the study of response biases.

This paper introduces the special section "Cultural differences in questionnaire responding" and discusses central topics in the research on response biases in cross-cultural survey research. Based on current conceptions of acquiescent, extreme, and socially desirable responding, the author considers current data on the correlated nature of response biases and the conditions under which different response styles they emerge. Based on evidence relating different response styles to the cultural dimension of individualism-collectivism, the paper explores how research presented as part of this special section might help resolves some tensions in this literature. The paper concludes by arguing that response styles should not be treated merely as measurement error, but as cultural behaviors in themselves.

Translating Answers to Open-ended Survey Questions in Cross-cultural Research

Open-ended probing questions in cross-cultural surveys help uncover equivalence problems in cross-cultural survey research. For languages that a project team does not understand, probe answers need to be translated into a common project language. This article presents a case study on translating open-ended, that is, narrative answers. It describes how the translation can be approached to obtain high-quality translations and how translation, coding of answers, and analysis of codes are all deeply interwoven. While the translation of narrative answers is a small field of application, the article’s content is also relevant for those who are increasingly setting up cross-cultural cognitive interviewing or for qualitative researchers in general who pay increased attention to the translation of qualitative research data.

Comparing societies and cultures: challenges of cross-cultural survey research as an approach to spatial analysis

Comparing societies and cultures: challenges of cross-cultural survey research as an approach to spatial analysis

Updated scripts for R in Eff and Dow (2009) Issue 3#1 art 1

Author(s): Eff, E. Anthon | Abstract: Changes in R necessitate updated R scripts for Eff, E. Anthon, a Dow, Malcolm M. (2009). How to Deal with Missing Data and Galton’s Problem in Cross-Cultural Survey Research: A Primer for R. Structure and Dynamics, 3(3). Retrieved from: http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/7cm1f10b

Cross-Cultural Cognitive Interviewing

Cognitive interviewing (CI) has emerged as a key qualitative method for the pretesting and evaluation of self-report survey questionnaires. This article defines CI, describes its key features, and outlines the data analysis techniques that are commonly used. The authors then consider recent extensions of cognitive testing to the cross-cultural survey research realm, where the major practical objectives are: (1) to facilitate inclusion of a range of cultural and linguistic groups and (2) for purposes of comparative analysis, to produce survey questionnaire items that exhibit comparability of measurement, across groups. Challenges presented by this extension to the cross-cultural and multilingual areas are discussed. Finally, the authors introduce the articles contained within the current special issue of Field Methods (2011), which endeavor to apply cognitive testing in specific cross-cultural survey projects, and to both identify and suggest solutions to the unique problems that face questionnaire designers and researchers more generally, in the practice of survey pretesting and evaluation methods as these endeavor to cover the sociocultural spectrum.

Cultural Trait Transmission and Missing Data as Sources of Bias in Cross-Cultural Survey Research

Ember, Ember, and Low (2007) recently reported male mortality in warfare and environmental pathogen stress as statistically significant predictors of nonsororal polygyny. Two sources of bias can be identified in their data analysis: 1) omitted variable bias due to not including a variable for cultural trait transmission, that is, Galton's Problem; and 2) bias caused by extensive deletion of cases when the basic assumption required by listwise deletion, that the missing data are missing completely at random, does not hold. We first re-estimated Ember et al.'s model after adding a trait transmission variable using the listwise deletion subsample, and then again after using contemporary multiple imputation procedures to deal with missing data. Our findings indicate that the significant effects reported for male mortality and pathogen stress are the result of these two sources of bias. The only significant predictor of the world-wide distribution of nonsororal polygyny in the current analyses is cultural trait transmission.

How to Deal with Missing Data and Galton’s Problem in Cross-Cultural Survey Research: A Primer for R

Multiple imputation (MI) has become the preferred method for dealing with missing data in survey research. MI involves three steps: creating m multiply imputed complete datasets; estimating models on each of the m datasets using any standard statistical procedure; combining the resulting multiple estimates of each statistic of interest. This paper provides R programs for MI, and offers some advice for employing MI with data drawn from the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample (SCCS). A second set of R programs combines estimates from the m imputed data sets, and also deals with the problem of network autocorrelation effects, i.e., Galton’s Problem or the non-independence of cases, using two-stage instrumental variables (IV) regression. The objective of the paper is to provide programs, advice and explanations that will help researchers employing cross-cultural survey data, especially the SCCS, to deal with the twin problems of missing data and network autocorrelation effects, using the open source statistical package R. The paper is intended to complement a recent suite of publications by Dow and Eff where both theoretical and empirical issues underlying these two problems are discussed in detail.

A Review of the Cross-Cultural Survey Guidelines Website

Earlier this year, a set of best practices for the conduct of cross-national and cross-cultural survey research were announced during the Berlin International Conference on Survey Methods in Multinational, Multi-regional, and Multicultural Contexts (http://www.3mc2008.de/). Available at: http://ccsg. isr.umich.edu/, these recommendations are intended to provide guidance to researchers who might be developing plans for cross-national, and other forms of cross-cultural, survey research. The conduct of cross-cultural survey research has rapidly grown in importance over the past several decades, and there are an increasing number of ongoing multi-national collaborative survey studies now being fielded on a regular basis by governmental, business and academic consortiums. With this increased activity, practical knowledge and experience are also being accumulated, although there have been few attempts (although see Harkness et al. 2003) to systematically organize this information and make it available to the larger survey research community, until now. This project was no small undertaking. The efforts of working groups who contributed to these guidelines had been ongoing for several years. They grew out of a CSDI (Comparative Survey Design and Implementation) initiative spearheaded by Beth-Ellen Pennell (University of Michigan) and Janet Harkness (University of Nebraska & ZUMA, Mannheim, Germany). Thirteen additional authors from multiple institutions are also credited with having contributed to these guidelines, which have been further vetted by an impressive list of reviewers. The guidelines are organized into a series of modules that cover the various steps necessary when developing, conducting and processing data from a crosscultural survey. Some of these modules deal with topics that will be very familiar to survey practitioners (e.g., sample design, questionnaire design, pretesting), albeit tailored to address cross-cultural considerations. Other modules, in contrast, focus directly on the additional methodological and operational challenges that must be confronted when conducting survey research across

Methods for Assessing and Calibrating Response Scales Across Countries and Languages

Scientific research rests on the reliable and consistent measurement of phenomenon. In cross-national or cross-cultural survey research between countries or social groups that speak different languages, the goal of replicative measurement is greatly complicated by the necessity of designing and administering questionnaires in two or more languages. This chapter examines how response categories influence the reported distribution of results. It then explains how to measure the intensity of response categories. Then, the results from American and German pilot studies of response scales and a Japanese replication are examined. The chapter also examines the use of alternative response scales. Finally, it analyses the implications of these results for cross-national research. Keywords: American pilot studies; cross-national survey; German pilot studies; Japanese replication; languages; replicative measurement; response scales; scientific research

The Determinants of Lebanese Attitudes Toward Palestinian Resettlement: An Analysis of Survey Data

A principal goal of this study has been to assess the impact of social distance on attitudes towards Palestinian resettlement using comprehensive cross-cultural survey research. The results are clear and consistent for all Lebanese sub-groups. Social distance is a significant predictor of attitudes toward resettlement for all six sub-groups examined. Specifically, social distance is inversely and consistently associated with unfavorable attitudes toward the prospect of the permanent settlement of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. These findings indicate on one hand, that the majority of Sunnis and Druze respondents endorse communal ties with Palestinians and approve their permanent economic, social and political integration. However, social distance influence political attitudes toward Palestinian resettlement, namely in the case of Christian and Shii groups. Hence, for most Lebanese the question is about their own political survival not Palestinian resettlement If the actual perceptions stand, resettlement will create a potential for communal conflict and will affect the social cohesion of the society.

The Problem of Metaphorical Nonequivalence in Cross-Cultural Survey Research

The use of questionnaire data to compare the mental health of Hmong refugee and general population high school students demonstrates the difficulty of translating between investigator and subject lexicons and, consequently, of equating the conceptual systems they signify. Whether particular psychosocial variables that are standardized for a general population can be used to study the adjustment of linguistically unassimilated ethnic minorities depends on the nature of the semantic discontinuities that exist between the source and target languages. Metaphorical nonequivalence significantly affected the responses of a subset of Hmong subjects to English survey items.

HRAFLIB: A Computer Program Library for Hologeistic Research

The Human Relations Area Files has a number of computer programs specifically designed for cross-cultural survey ( hologeistic) research. The programs can deal with many of the methodological problems routinely encountered in such research, greatly simplifying the task of data analysis. These HRAFLIB programs are being made available to the general pub lic. People who want to use them can either obtain the programs from HRAF (and adapt them to their own computer systems) or send their data to HRAF for analysis and have the output mailed back.

Dominant Epistemological Presuppositions in the Use of the Cross-Cultural Survey Method [and Comments and Reply

This article subjects to critical analysis the epistemological conceptions which have dominated the way cross-cultural survey research has been carried out and propagated within the anthropological discipline. These conceptions may be characterized as inductivist and empiricist. This orientation is critized primarily from the point of view of Popper's concept of science. In this context, problems of concept formation and theory construction as well as Galton's problem are discussed.

Eliminating the Biasing Effects of Social Distance in Cross-Cultural Survey Research Projects

Eliminating the Biasing Effects of Social Distance in Cross-Cultural Survey Research Projects