The use of psychological tests in varying cultures.

Other psychological tests have however been transferred validly for use in cross-cultural research. That seems appropriate if the test protocol meets certain criteria as we discussed in chapter 2. Does the content of the test or survey have similar meanings where tested? For example when measuring attitudes toward undocumented immigrants cross-culturally does the psychological domain have the same meaning in the samples tested? Does illegal immigration play approximately the same or variable roles in the countries tested? Appropriate comparative conclusions can only be drawn if the domain of illegal immigration is equivalent. Psychological testing has developed several approaches including psychometric analysis to ensure structural equivalence of test items. However, the primary motivation for the development of psychological testing is practical use for educational aptitude or job placement. However, for that use it is imperative that the researchers can demonstrate the valid transferability of the tests from the original to other cultures.

As also discussed in chapter 2 there is broadly a consensus that the testing procedure developed in one country can be utilized in other cultures. Equivalence of sampling of respondents and proper translation procedures are necessary considerations. For example proper cross-cultural testing would require the translation into the new language, and then a retranslation into the original language, and then again into the new language in order to ascertain the validity of the translation. Larsen and his co-workers followed these procedures and examined attitudes in a variety of societies utilizing unidimensional scaling techniques and based on comparative meanings and translation and survey procedures (Ommundsen & Larsen, 1997; Ommundsen & Larsen, 1999; Ommundsen, Hak, Morch, Larsen, & Van der Veer, 2002; Ommundsen, Van der Veer, Van Le, Krumov, & Larsen, 2007; Van der Veer, Ommundsen, Larsen, Van Le, Krumov, Pernice, & Pastor Romans, 2004).

Date: 2015-01-11; view: 824