{"title":"Pretesting Methods in Cross-Cultural Research","authors":"E. Aizpurua","doi":"10.3768/rtipress.bk.0023.2004.7","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Introduction In recent years, substantial advances have been made in the field of multinational, multiregional, and multicultural research (commonly referred to as 3MC survey research; Johnson, Pennell, Stoop, & Dorer, 2018). This research magnifies challenges associated with monocultural studies and poses unique ones at both the organizational and methodological levels. Because cross-cultural surveys seek to make comparative estimates across populations, the data must be valid and reliable for each specific group, as well as comparable across them. Even when questionnaires are carefully translated and adapted, groups may systematically differ in the way they interpret certain questions or respond to them, posing a threat to the validity of the comparisons. In this context, pretesting becomes particularly beneficial to identify potential problems in survey questions and to assess comparability (Willis, 2015). This chapter introduces the concept and importance of pretesting in cross-cultural survey research. The most common methods used to pretest 3MC surveys are described, highlighting recent applications and developments, as well as current challenges. These methods include crosscultural cognitive interviewing, online probing, vignettes, and behavior coding. Next, reference is made to the combination of multiple pretesting methods to assess and improve cross-cultural surveys. In the last section of this chapter, the main challenges and opportunities of pretesting in comparative contexts are discussed.","PeriodicalId":424313,"journal":{"name":"The Essential Role of Language in Survey Research","volume":"95 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2020-04-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"4","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"The Essential Role of Language in Survey Research","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.3768/rtipress.bk.0023.2004.7","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 4
Abstract
Introduction In recent years, substantial advances have been made in the field of multinational, multiregional, and multicultural research (commonly referred to as 3MC survey research; Johnson, Pennell, Stoop, & Dorer, 2018). This research magnifies challenges associated with monocultural studies and poses unique ones at both the organizational and methodological levels. Because cross-cultural surveys seek to make comparative estimates across populations, the data must be valid and reliable for each specific group, as well as comparable across them. Even when questionnaires are carefully translated and adapted, groups may systematically differ in the way they interpret certain questions or respond to them, posing a threat to the validity of the comparisons. In this context, pretesting becomes particularly beneficial to identify potential problems in survey questions and to assess comparability (Willis, 2015). This chapter introduces the concept and importance of pretesting in cross-cultural survey research. The most common methods used to pretest 3MC surveys are described, highlighting recent applications and developments, as well as current challenges. These methods include crosscultural cognitive interviewing, online probing, vignettes, and behavior coding. Next, reference is made to the combination of multiple pretesting methods to assess and improve cross-cultural surveys. In the last section of this chapter, the main challenges and opportunities of pretesting in comparative contexts are discussed.