Marín G
Acta Psiquiatr Psicol Am Lat. 1986 Sep;32(3):183-92.
This paper suggests that research on human behavior conducted in Latin America must be particularly careful in avoiding the false assumption that methods and constructs developed in one culture are equally valid in another. Three areas are proposed in which researchers must be particularly careful: Proper understanding of the emic/etic difference, that is properly differentiating between what is universal and applicable across cultures (etic) and what reflects the peculiarities of one cultural group. Establishment of appropriate equivalences: Conceptual (where constructs have the same meanings across cultures); linguistic (whereby words share the same connotative and denotative meanings); and, metric. Control of variables related to an individual's subjective culture that may influence response patterns and accuracy (e.g., social desirability, self-presentation needs, etc.).
本文指出，在拉丁美洲进行的关于人类行为的研究必须格外谨慎，避免错误地假定在一种文化中开发的方法和概念在另一种文化中同样有效。文中提出了三个研究人员必须格外谨慎的领域：正确理解主位/客位差异，即正确区分跨文化通用和适用的内容（客位）以及反映某一文化群体特性的内容。建立适当的对等关系：概念对等（即概念在不同文化中具有相同含义）；语言对等（即词汇具有相同的内涵和外延意义）；以及度量对等。控制与个体主观文化相关的可能影响反应模式和准确性的变量（例如，社会期望、自我展示需求等）。
