Culture and Research Collection

Be inclusive, aware and culturally competent

The Methodspace focus for September 2022 was on culture and research. We explored issues researchers face when conducting inquiries within their own cultures, or in different cultures. We heard about the experiences of cross-cultural research collaboration, listening to the real stories, so we could learn how to overcome obstacles.

What is culture? Culture is difficult to define. Here are a few ways that researchers and theorists have described culture:

“Culture consists in patterned ways of thinking, feeling and reacting, acquired and transmitted mainly by symbols, constituting the distinctive achievements of human groups, including their embodiments in artifacts; the essential core of culture consists of traditional (i.e. historically derived and selected) ideas and especially their attached values.”
— Kluckhohn (1951)

“Culture is shared mental software, the collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another.” — Hofstede (2001)

“Culture acts as a pattern in the way people perceive, relate to, and interpret information signals that influence both individual as well as group behavior.”— Goodenough (1994)

Entire fields of study are dedicated to explanations of culture, but even at a cursory level we can see that culture involves shared ways of thinking, perceiving, and understanding. Whether the context is a community, organization, or online discussion group, there are insiders who share those ways and outsiders who do not. Where do researchers fit… and how can they conduct research if they do not? Look at posts from September 2022 and from the Methodspace archives to find a variety of perspectives.

Use the code MSPACEQ422 for a 20% discount on SAGE research methods books, valid from 1 October – 31 December.