Cross Cultural Relations - Essay Example

This leads to an additional problem with cross-cultural research. Researchers often rely on each other’s research in the form of secondary research or for further developing a methodology for new research. As research is often based on quantitative analysis of data, scientific research methods do not align well with unproven findings. Calling it such only perpetuates the amount of erroneous data assumed to be empirically sound; this leads to even greater distortion in second and subsequent research projects.

Understanding the prevalence of this occurring leaves all cross-cultural research leaves us to question the validity of all cross-cultural research in question.Often it is a researcher’s own bias that assumes or categorizes people into one group or another. This can be particularly inherent in cross-cultural research where a clear understanding of a cultural area may not be understood by the researcher. Viewing the result, or perceived results, based on their own stereotypes can lead to trying to show a causal relationship where none exists.

Without fully understanding a culture this becomes an easy pitfall. Although not done intentionally, in most cases, these biases cause us to draw incorrect inferences and worse report the finding.Researchers have defined this as the ‘interpretation paradox’ of cross-cultural research. It is easy to find vast differences between very divergent cultures in this discipline. These can be obvious to the average traveler, for instance, when visiting a foreign country. However, seeing th