Running Head: PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH MULTICULTURAL CHALLENGES 1

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PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH MULTICULTURAL CHALLENGES 2

Evaluation of Multicultural Challenges in Conducting Psychological Research

Overview
Culture influences the way people act, interact, and behave in a society. It is claimed that

societies that comprise people of different cultures, also referred to as multicultural presents

various dynamics in regard to interaction, thinking, perceptions, and relationships (Smith &

Trimble, 2016). Therefore, when conducting a research, such socio-psychological dynamisms

ought to be considered to uphold justice, equity, and cultural diversity. But to what extent are

the multicultural tenet and guidelines considered and practiced in contemporary

psychological research. It is based on this inference that this paper evaluates multicultural

challenges in conducting psychological research using two research cases presented in

subsequent sections in the paper. Also, the paper erects some multicultural questions and

checklists to expedite the evaluation.

Multicultural Challenging Questions

1. Does the research set criteria for minority inclusion as study participants?

2. Is the minority group appropriately represented and labelled?

3. Are multicultural groups appropriately considered in sample selection?

4. Is the study informed consent multicultural sensitive?

5. Are the control and experimental study participant’s multicultural equal?

6. Does the use of language, literature, sign, and objects in study appropriate for

multicultural?

7. Are the study participants being assessed in their cultural conducive environment?

8. Does the criteria of success in the research appropriate with cultural backgrounds?

9. Does the research outcome/results compare based on multicultural orientation?

PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH MULTICULTURAL CHALLENGES 3

Evaluation Checklist
1. Cultural documentation; Identify the study participant on the basis of their culture, race,

gender, and ethnicity to establish the adherence to study multicultural criteria.

2. Verify minority and majority participant group presentations to ensure appropriate

labelling.

3. Check if each group label is in the appropriate area across the study

4. Double check to establish if the study sample selection is equitable across groups

5. Verify if the study has multicultural sensitive informed consents.

6. Confirm if the study has no combined comparable groups during intervention.

7. Verify if the control and experimental groups are appropriately arranged for study

specifications.

8. Check for language and literature, sign, and object use for multicultural appropriateness

or barriers.

9. Verify if the study participants are evaluated in their cultural appropriate environment.

10. Compare the study with acceptable backgrounds for results validity.

11. Check if participants whose cultural diversity are suitable with the researcher’s results

beneficence.

Study Evaluation Based on the Checklist

1. The health Oriented pedagogical project (HOPP) - a controlled longitudinal school-

based physical activity intervention program (Fredriksen et al, (2017).

The study sought to examine the impacts of a school-based physical activity

intervention program on psychological and academic performance. It was a randomized-

controlled study suitable for the cultural diversity sensitivity category. The research claimed

to have recruited school-based children from all socioeconomic layers, however, did not

either specify on the cultural identity of the participants or indicated the minority groups and

gender composition of the sample. For instance, the composition of females is not provided,
PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH MULTICULTURAL CHALLENGES 4

ethnic, and participants from rural schools. Also, the study did not indicate exclusion criteria

for a section of participants’ groups. Particularly, reasons for exclusion of those aged above 7

years but still in lower level of primary school, from participating in the experimental study.

The study appropriately incorporated multiple generational groups since school

teachers and parents. They were equally involved in the experiments along with the main

study participants who were the pupils for both intervention and controlled schools.

Nonetheless, on the negative side, the study claims to have exerted an estimated

socioeconomic level for controlled schools. However, no comparative cultural composition of

intervention schools in terms of social-economic and diversity is provided or labelled. Prior

Informed consent was administered as part of sample recruitment. As such, the study shared

the same with the pupil’s parents and school administration, which suites our multicultural

evaluation criteria.

On a reputable note, the study considered low cost options that offered a culturally

appropriate experimental environment to the participants. For example, children were

assessed at school premises using credible functional literacy and mental assessment tools

such as ILC, SDQ, SPPA, as opposed to multiple choice questionnaire tools, which are cited

to undermine participant’s culture and socioeconomic orientation such as those with limited

knowledge (Miller, 2004). Also, the functional literacy tools are accepted both in Europe and

the US. The study sample and results are not sensitive towards race, ethnicity, or any other

minority groups in the school. For instance, groups in the experiment were distinguished

appropriately for results comparison. However, the results are too general and are not

disaggregated based on gender or age group and race and ethnicity identity or label. The

generality of results could elicit questionable validity and beneficence of the research

outcome on the minority groups.

PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH MULTICULTURAL CHALLENGES 5

The sensitivity aspect of culture diversity in the Fredriksen et al, (2017) is credible.

For instance, the use of language, signs, and literature in the research do not portray any

adverse cultural implications and communication gaps. However, significant challenges

emerge as to why the article does not clearly outline, identify, and labelled age, gender, and

socio-economic groups of the study participants across the research design and methodology,

results as well. Further, the consequence of study results seemingly shows inadequate

benefits in regard to social change particularly for the socio-economically minority study

participants, which the research claims to have used for sample recruitment and intervention

estimation. Consequently, the study does not explicitly put emphasis on multicultural

sensitive questions as well as tapping on the culturally diverse groups in their reporting

(Miller, 2004).

2. The psychometric testing of the functional, communicative, and critical health literacy
tool. Patient Education and Counseling (Zegers et al, 2020).

The research implemented a cross-sectional research to examine validity and

reliability of the English version of the FCCHL tool in urban and rural socioeconomically

vulnerable and unstable, chronic comorbid adults in the United States (Zegers et al (2020).

The study was conducted in a cross-cultural environment and the sample selection included,

identified or perhaps labelled all the groups clearly such as the education, the disabled,

gender, and race. The aspects present appropriate multicultural appropriateness in the

research as listed in our evaluation criteria. Besides, the study drew samples from both rural

and urban settings, which based on our criteria checklist helped to improve cultural diversity

in regard to equal demographic presentation of the rural minority residents.

The Zegers et al (2020) study incorporates the use of voluntary participation through

seeking informed consent that catered for participant’s dignity and culture, particularly for

the minorities. The controlled, pre, and post intervention experiment tools were multicultural
PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH MULTICULTURAL CHALLENGES 6

sensitive. For instance, the research exerted the use of a Functional, Communicative, and

Critical Health Literacy (FCCHL) tool, which effectively enhanced functionally meaningful

pairing in order to reduce unfamiliar convention from different socio-cultural participant’s

background in the study. The tool comprised relevant cultural object-sorting cognitive tasks

and grouping of the study objects into functionally meaningful pairing. In contrast to other

data collection techniques such as multiple-choice questionnaire, FCCHL tool increases

validity and reliability in the identified cross-cultural population while keeping multicultural

biases such as limited knowledge among participants at bay (Miller, 2004). For such elderly

and vulnerable study participants, using a functional mental assessment tool by the

researchers as opposed to questionnaires had a significant implication towards addressing the

educational and generational cultural appropriateness.

In the entire research reporting and data collection tools, no language and literacy

barriers such as idioms, slangs, signs, or objects that undermine participants’ cultural

orientation are noticed. Also, the experiment was undertaken in a natural environment

encompassing interviews for both groups. The controlled and intervention groups each had

equal race, ethnicity, gender, and age presentation. The study experiment results are also

comparatively analysed and presented to capture implications for socio-psychological change

across multicultural groups.

PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH MULTICULTURAL CHALLENGES 7

References

Fredriksen, P. M., Hjelle, O. P., Mamen, A., Meza, T. J., & Westerberg, A. C. (2017).
The health Oriented pedagogical project (HOPP)-a controlled longitudinal school-
based physical activity intervention program. BMC Public Health, 17(1), 1-14.

Miller, J. G. (2004). Culturally Sensitive Research Questions and Methods in Social

Psychology. In C. Sansone, C. C. Morf, & A. T. Panter (Eds). The Sage handbook of
methods in social psychology (pp. 93-116). Thousand Oak, CA; Sage

Smith, T. B., & Trimble, J. E. (2016). Foundations of multicultural psychology: Research

to inform effective practice.

Zegers, C. A., Gonzales, K., Smith, L. M., Pullen, C. H., De Alba, A., & Fiandt, K.
(2020). The psychometric testing of the functional, communicative, and critical health
literacy tool. Patient Education and Counseling.