Research

These resources discuss the importance of addressing diversity in psychological research and strategies for doing so.

Books

Bhui, K. (Ed.). (2002). Racism and mental health: Prejudice and suffering. Philadelphia, PA: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

This edited volume discusses how science has been used to promote racism.

Davis-Russell, E. (Ed.). (2002). The California School of Professional Psychology handbook of multicultural education, research, intervention, and training. San Francisco, CA: Jossey- Bass. .

In this volume, the particularly relevant chapters are “A Multicultural Awareness in Research Practices: A Self-Reflective Process” and “Qualitative Methods: An Essential Tool for Multicultural Psychology.”

Ivey, A. E., & Ivey, M. B. (2010). Intentional interviewing and counseling: Facilitating client development in a multicultural society. Australia: Thomson Brooks/Cole.

This guidebook for training in interviewing and counseling techniques uses  case studies, sample interviews, and a variety of other tools to assist readers in learning to adapt their skills to individual differences as well as cultural diversity.

Nagata D. K., Kohn-Wood L. and Suzuki L. A. (Eds.). (2012). Qualitative strategies for ethnocultural research.  Washington, DC, US: American Psychological Association, Washington, DC. doi:10.1037/13742-000

Several chapters in this volume explore strategies for, and issues in,  the use of qualitative research methods in ethnocultural communities. Some of the specific communities addressed include survivors of Japanese internment, Muslim  and Arab youth in the United States and Israel, Head Start parents, American Indian community members,  newcomer Latino youth, Haitian immigrant  women, and female Korean doctoral students.

Samuda, R. J. (1998). Psychological testing of American minorities. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

This book examines the testing of ethnic minority populations and criticizes the way some results have been interpreted, especially the conclusions of the Hernnstein and Murray (1994) book, The Bell Curve.

Suzuki, L. A., & Ponterotto, J. G. (2008). Handbook of multicultural assessment: Clinical, psychological, and educational applications. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Using a combination of  technical information, empirical research findings, and case studies, his handbook addresses critical issues in multicultural assessment, including major instruments and procedures, cognitive and educational assessment, and cross-cultural sensitivity and ethics.

Trimble, J. E., & Fisher, C. B. (2006). The handbook of ethical research with ethnocultural populations and communities. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

This book has sections on the foundations of research with ethnocultural populations, conducting research with specific ethnic minority populations, conducting research with families and communities, and the rights and responsibilities of individuals, communities, and institutions.

Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Bell, M. P., Kwesiga, E. N., & Berry, D. P. (2010). Immigrants: The new "invisible men and women" in diversity research. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 25(2), 177-188. doi:10.1108/02683941011019375

This article discusses and documents the exclusion of  immigrants in diversity research in the field of management. The authors explain, for example, that the employment experiences of native-born Hispanic-Americans differ from those who are immigrants, in that immigrants tend to have lower wages, poorer benefits, and receive less desirable interpersonal treatment . Suggestions are provided for increasing the inclusion of immigrants in management research.

Borshuk, C. (2006). Introducing diverse perspectives into research methods classes. Teaching of Psychology, 33, 256–258.

The author suggests questions for discussion and exercises that address bias in psychological research methods and ways to overcome that bias.

Carter, L. (2004). Thinking differently about cultural diversity: Using postcolonial theory to (re)read science education. Science Education, 88, 819–836.

The author uses postcolonial theory to critically analyze views on multicultural education.

Cauce, A. M. (2011). Is multicultural psychology a-scientific?: Diverse methods for diversity research. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 17(3), 228-233. doi:10.1037/a0023880

This author discusses the compatibility of multicultural psychology and empirical/positivist psychological science, emphasizing both qualitative and quantitative methods, including those that come from a positivist tradition, for use in  conducting research with diverse populations.

Corral, I. (2010). Methodological and statistical issues in research with diverse samples: The problem of measurement equivalence. In I. Corral, &, H. Landrine, (Eds.), Handbook of diversity in feminist psychology (83-134). 83-134. New York, NY: Springer.

As more inclusive research strategies increase external validity, potential issues of equivalence may threaten internal validity. This chapter discusses problems of sample and measurement equivalence in research with diverse groups, and provides strategies for designing methodologically sound studies with diverse samples.

Council of National Psychological Associations for the Advancement of Ethnic Minority Interests. (2000). Guidelines for research in ethnic minority communities. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

This resource includes chapters from Stanley Sue and Derald Wing Sue on research with Asian American populations; Linda James Myers, Samella Abdullah, and George Leary on research with person of African descent; Maryann Santos de Barona and Andres Barona on research with Hispanics; and Justin D. McDonald on research with Native Americans.

Crosby, J. M., Gundy, J. M., Armstrong, A. B., Nye, E. W., Boman, A., Nelson, C. R., & Twohig, M. P. (2010). How well are we doing at reporting participant characteristics in our research? The Behavior Therapist, 33(7), 133-135.

This article investigates action in response to the  American Psychological Association (APA) call for authors to report sample demographic characteristics and for editors and reviewers to request  this information.

Dennis, R. M. (1995). Social Darwinism, scientific racism, and the metaphysics of race. Journal of Negro Education, 64, 243–252.

The author reviews what he claims are historical, racist roots of famous philosophers and scientists.

DiWorth-Anderson, P. (2011). Introduction to the science of recruitment and retention among ethnically diverse older adults. The Gerontologist, 51, S1-S4. doi:10.1093/geront/gnr043

The articles in this special edition explore the recruitment and retention of ethnically diverse, older adult research participants.  

Ejiogu, N., Norbeck, J. H., Mason, M. A., Cromwell, B. C., Zonderman, A. B., & Evans, M. K. (2011). Recruitment and retention strategies for minority or poor clinical research participants: Lessons from the healthy aging in neighborhoods of diversity across the life span study. The Gerontologist, 51, S33-S45. doi:10.1093/geront/gnr027

Based on their research on health disparities, these authors discuss the challenges of recruiting and retaining racially and socioeconomically diverse participants. 

Fairchild, H. H. (1991). Scientific racism: The cloak of objectivity. Journal of Social Issues, 47, 101–115.

The author claims to refute the socio-biological perspective as supporting racial differences.

Filiault, S. M., & Drummond, M. J. N. (2009). Methods and methodologies: Investigating gay men’s body image in westernized cultures. Critical Public Health, 19(3-4), 307-323. doi:10.1080/09581590802626463

Using the example of research on the body image in gay men, this literature review investigates and makes recommendations regarding methodology used with this population.  These include: recruitment methods, the use of Internet research, inconsistent definitions of homosexuality and bisexuality, a lack of longitudinal data, the need for psychometric standardization, and openness regarding methodology on the part of qualitative research.

Henrich, J., Heine, S. J., & Norenzayan, A. (2010). The weirdest people in the world? Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 33(2-3), 61-83. doi:10.1017/S0140525X0999152X

The authors review research on visual perception, fairness, cooperation, spatial reasoning, categorization and inferential induction, moral reasoning, reasoning styles, self-concepts and related motivations, and the heritability of IQ to demonstrate that participants from Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD) societies are among the least representative populations for studying human behavior. 

Kwan, C. M. L., Chun, K. M., & Chesla, C. A. (2011). Cultural norms shaping research group interviews with Chinese American immigrants. Asian American Journal of Psychology, 2(2), 115-127. doi:10.1037/a0024184

Using  as illustration a 4-year qualitative study of diabetes management among Chinese American immigrants, this article describes and recommends the use of group interview processes.  According to the authors, group interview processes  were a response to the following cultural norms: sensitivity to social hierarchy, monitoring public display of strong emotions, face concerns, and emphasis on group harmony.

Leong, F. T. L., Leung, K., & Cheung, F. M. (2010). Integrating cross-cultural psychology research methods into ethnic minority psychology. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 16(4), 590-597. doi:10.1037/a0020127

These authors advocate for increased collaboration and communication between scholars engaged in cross-cultural psychology and in racial and ethnic minority psychology.   They discuss the applications to racial and ethnic minority research of three methodological issues key to cross-cultural research.  These include:  approaches to evaluating and establishing measurement equivalence, advances in the understanding of conceptual equivalence, and the combined etic–emic approach. 

Liu, W. M., Sheu, H., & Williams, K. (2004). Multicultural competency in research: Examining the relationships among multicultural competencies, research training, and self-efficacy and the multicultural environment. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 10, 324–339.

Based on results of a Web survey of graduate students, the authors discuss the relationship between multicultural competency, research training, the multicultural environment, and multicultural research self-efficacy. Multicultural competency predicted students' research anxiety; social desirability predicted multicultural research utility, multicultural competency, and the research training environment; and multicultural competency predicted students' perceptions that their graduate training programs were multicultural.

Miner, M. H., Bockting, W. O., Romine, R. S., & Raman, S. (2012). Conducting Internet research with the transgender population: Reaching broad samples and collecting valid data. Social Science Computer Review, 30(2), 202-211. doi:10.1177/0894439311404795

Based on their own research experience, the authors detail the challenges and advantages of using Internet survey methods for research with transgender individuals.

Mio, J. S., & Iwamasa, G. Y. (1993). To do, or not to do: That is the question for White cross-cultural researchers. The Counseling Psychologist, 21, 197–212.

The authors discuss why ethnic minority communities may distrust White researchers, and ways in which White researchers can conduct such studies in collaboration with respected ethnic minority researchers.

Poupart, J., Baker, L., & Horse, J. R. (2009). Research with American Indian communities: The value of authentic partnerships. Children and Youth Services Review, 31(11), 1180-1186. doi:10.1016/j.childyouth.2009.08.012

This article describes the use of Reality-Based Research with American Indian communities.  This strategy, based on community-based participatory research  methods, has the goal of developing better connection and collaboration between American Indians who might benefit from the research relationship and the researchers themselves. Examples are provided from a research project on tobacco use.  

Riggs, D. W. (2007). Recognizing race in LGBTQ psychology: Power, privilege and complicity. In V. Clarke & E. Peel (Eds.). Out in psychology: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer perspective (pp. 59-76). New York, NY: Wiley.

This chapter explores various strategies for addressing race in within LGBTQ psychological research and argues for greater attention to the role of oppression and  White privilege as opposed to focusing on categories of racial identification.  

Sears, D. O. (1986). College sophomores in the laboratory: Influences of a narrow data base on psychology’s view of human nature. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 515–530.

The author explores the how conclusions based on college students in research may be faulty.

Shelton, K. L., Delgado-Romero, E., & Wells, E. M. (2009). Race and ethnicity in empirical research: An 18-year review. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 37(3), 130-140. doi:10.1002/j.2161-1912.2009.tb00097.x

This study investigated the ways that race and ethnicity were reported and used in empirical studies published in diversity-focused journals from 1990 to 2007.

Sue, S. (1999). Science, ethnicity, and bias: Where have we gone wrong? American Psychologist, 54, 1070–1077.

Many reviewers have insisted that whenever an ethnic minority population is studied, there is an insistence to compare their results to a White control group. However, when a study involves White participants, there is not an insistence on comparing their results to an ethnic minority control group.

Wong, J. P., & Poon, M. K. (2010). Bringing translation out of the shadows: Translation as an issue of methodological significance in cross-cultural qualitative research. Journal of Transcultural Nursing, 21(2), 151-158. doi:10.1177/1043659609357637

Based on a translation exercise conducted with three bilingual Cantonese-English translators, the authors discuss methodological issues involved in translation in cross-cultural qualitative research.

Woolf, L. M., & Hulsizer, M. R. (2007). Understanding the mosaic of humanity through research methodology: Infusing diversity into research methods courses. In D. S. Dunn, R. A. Smith, & B. Beins (Eds.), Best practices for teaching statistics and research methods in the behavioral sciences (pp. 237–256). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

This chapter highlights the means by which a research methods course can benefit from infusing diversity-related content. Six areas of diversity (i.e., race/ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, cross-cultural/international) are discussed related to various methodological topics such as sampling, quasi-experimental designs, internal versus external validity, questionnaire construction, and more. Representative research topics and examples explore the complexity involved in conducting research responsibly, particularly research that involves diverse populations. The CD-ROM that accompanies the text includes class exercises designed to demonstrate diversity-related research concerns.

Yang, Y., Harkness, J. A., Chin, T., & Villar, A. (2010). Response styles and culture.  In J. A. Harkness, . . . T. W. Smith (Eds.), Survey methods in multinational, multiregional, and multicultural contexts (pp. 203-223).  Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.   

This chapter reviews the research literature on cultural variability in response style and discusses the implications of response style differences for cross-cultural comparative research.