Wen Nicole J, Amir Dorsa, Clegg Jennifer M, Davis Helen E, Dutra Natalia B, Kline Michelle A, Lew-Levy Sheina, MacGillivray Tanya, Pamei Gairan, Wang Yitong, Xu Jing, Rawlings Bruce S
Department of Psychology, Centre for Culture & Evolution, Brunel University London, London, UK.
Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
Evol Hum Sci. 2025 Feb 21;7:e17. doi: 10.1017/ehs.2025.3. eCollection 2025.
The recent expansion of cross-cultural research in the social sciences has led to increased discourse on methodological issues involved when studying culturally diverse populations. However, discussions have largely overlooked the challenges of construct validity - ensuring instruments are measuring what they are intended to - in diverse cultural contexts, particularly in developmental research. We contend that cross-cultural developmental research poses distinct problems for ensuring high construct validity owing to the nuances of working with children, and that the standard approach of transporting protocols designed and validated in one population to another risks low construct validity. Drawing upon our own and others' work, we highlight several challenges to construct validity in the field of cross-cultural developmental research, including (1) lack of cultural and contextual knowledge, (2) dissociating developmental and cultural theory and methods, (3) lack of causal frameworks, (4) superficial and short-term partnerships and collaborations, and (5) culturally inappropriate tools and tests. We provide guidelines for addressing these challenges, including (1) using ethnographic and observational approaches, (2) developing evidence-based causal frameworks, (3) conducting community-engaged and collaborative research, and (4) the application of culture-specific refinements and training. We discuss the need to balance methodological consistency with culture-specific refinements to improve construct validity in cross-cultural developmental research.
社会科学领域跨文化研究的近期扩展，引发了对研究文化多元群体时所涉及的方法论问题的更多讨论。然而，这些讨论在很大程度上忽视了在不同文化背景下，尤其是在发展研究中，构建效度（确保工具测量的是其预期测量的内容）所面临的挑战。我们认为，由于与儿童合作存在细微差别，跨文化发展研究在确保高构建效度方面存在独特问题，并且将在一个群体中设计和验证的方案直接应用于另一个群体的标准做法，存在构建效度较低的风险。借鉴我们自己以及他人的研究工作，我们强调了跨文化发展研究领域中构建效度面临的几个挑战，包括：（1）缺乏文化和背景知识；（2）将发展理论与方法和文化理论与方法相分离；（3）缺乏因果框架；（4）表面化和短期的伙伴关系与合作；（5）文化上不适当的工具和测试。我们提供了应对这些挑战的指导方针，包括：（1）使用人种志和观察方法；（2）制定基于证据的因果框架；（3）开展社区参与和合作研究；（4）应用针对特定文化的改进措施和培训。我们讨论了在跨文化发展研究中平衡方法论一致性与针对特定文化的改进措施以提高构建效度的必要性。
