ETHNIC RESEARCH

ETHNIC RESEARCH
The psychological study of ethnic behavior draws
from many disciplines. The psychologist involved in
ethnic research obtains information and data from
such fields as ethnology, sociology, anthropology,
social psychology, medicine, and social work. In their
guidelines for research applicants, the federal govern-
ment and research sponsors increasingly ask for more
interdisciplinary collaboration. These guidelines fit
well into the study of ethnic behavior, because impor-
tant data outside the traditional realm of psychologi-
cal research can be relevant.
Ethnic research can be found under many terms;
for example, interdisciplinary, cross-cultural, minori-
ties, racial, ethnic, multicultural, and indigenous pop-
ulations. Those involved in these studies make
distinctions among these terms. But for most people,
some of these terms are frequently used in a synony-
mous manner. Ethnic research can also be found
under groupings such as Arabs, Asians, African
Americans, Gypsies, Hispanics, Native Americans,
European-Americans, and tribes.
The researcher looking for ethnic studies done
prior to the 1960s will need to be aware that terms
Ethnic Research———197have changed for ethnic groups. For example, the
contemporary term African Americans was preceded
by different terms to designate this group; Indians are
now often referred to as Native Americans; Oriental is
no longer acceptable; instead, Asian and more specific
terms such as Chinese and Japanese are preferred.
As with the term minority, the term ethnic is difficult
to define and there is controversy as to how to define it.
Most definitions of ethnic refer to groupings of people
classified according to common racial, national, tribal,
religious, linguistic, or cultural background. By this
definition, everyone belongs to an ethnic group.
However, it is common practice for those who control a
society to refer to those not in their group as ethnic. In
the United States, the term ethnic group usually desig-
nates those who are not of European ancestry. In the
research literature, those who are not of European
ancestry are often contrasted with  Caucasians and
European Americans. These latter terms are also prob-
lematic because they engender many of the same
problems as those encountered for designating ethnic
groups. No matter which terms are used, there are
issues as to whether the terms are accurate, and there
are issues of how to measure and determine which
people to include and exclude in the group.
Ethnic research draws from, and is applicable to,
an enormous range of human activities. Wherever
humans are studied, it is highly likely that there are
people of different ethnic backgrounds. The studies of
ethnic groups can apply to political science, interna-
tional studies, marketing, education, the military, and
many other areas of endeavor.
Just as there are many reasons for conducting
research on ethnic group members, there are also
many groups that engage in these activities. Many
countries have governmental agencies and depart-
ments that study ethnic behavior, and these can serve
many functions. Governmental agencies can engen-
der the perception in the ethnic community that the
government is interested in them and cares for them.
Information that is gathered can provide a possible
avenue for ethnic community members to express
themselves. The data that are obtained can serve as a
rationale for the government to channel resources.
The data can also be used to obtain information on
how to exploit and control a particular ethnic group.
Just as with governmental groups, nongovernmental
groups can serve varied functions. Universities, chari-
ties, commercial enterprises, and political, social, and
religious groups often have their own agendas when
they conduct research on ethnic groups. Their functions
can be benign or detrimental; often they are both.
Ethnic research can increase the understanding of
the dimensions and robustness of human behavior.
When approaches, techniques, tests, theories, and
hypotheses are applied to different cultural groups, it is
possible to obtain information on the strengths, weak-
nesses, and cultural biases involved. For example,
studies in one culture can find that suicidal behavior is
inversely correlated with socioeconomic status, and a
generalization can then be made that this relationship is
part of the human condition. If researchers do not find a
similar correlation in another culture, their hypothesis
would need to be examined under a different rubric—
that is, suicide and socioeconomic status are not neces-
sarily correlated for all peoples, and there can be
different factors involved in different cultures. Most of
the theorists in psychology assert that what they espouse
is universal. However, very few of them actually test
their approaches and techniques under cross-cultural
conditions, and when they do, their analyses and con-
clusions are usually biased. Submitting our ideas and
instruments to the crucible of cross-cultural examination
can increase our understanding of human behavior.
Ethnic studies can help delineate universal and
culture-specific behaviors. If a behavior is observed
across cultures, then there is a greater likelihood that
the behavior is universal. If a behavior is observed in
only one culture, then cultural factors can be more
cogent in the expression of that behavior. Being able to
distinguish between the two can help determine more
effective approaches and treatments. For example,
schizophrenia is observed in all cultures, providing
evidence that it is a universal condition. Therefore,
treatment approaches used in one culture might be
applicable across a wider range of cultures. In contrast,
ataque de nervios is a condition more prominent in
Latinos from the Caribbean who have experienced
stress. Many of those with this condition are women
over 45 years old from a lower socioeconomic back-
ground. In this case, there is likelihood that effective
treatment would entail the consideration of cultural,
social, and economic factors. This is not to say that
culture-specific treatments are not also applicable in
the treatment of schizophrenia. But one can say
that cultural factors can be more involved in disorders
such as ataque de nervios than in schizophrenia.
Psychologists involved in ethnic research can help
delineate which behaviors are more universal and
which are more culture-specific. Such information can
198———Ethnic Researchhelp teachers, salespersons, psychologists, military
recruiters, and those who work with various ethnic
group members obtain greater understanding of their
particular culture and how to interact with them.
Ethnic research in psychology is not an endeavor
that is relevant only to the group being investigated.
Studies of people in one culture can help people in dif-
ferent cultures. Just as areas such as those in medicine
have found that drugs (e.g., herbs) and approaches (e.g.,
acupuncture) from other cultures can benefit us, so, too,
can ethnic studies enhance our understanding and
options. For example, one culture can believe that the
avoidance of eye contact is a sign of deviousness.
Another culture can view the avoidance of eye contact
as a sign of respect. Such awareness can lessen the like-
lihood of the person in the first culture from assuming
that when someone in their own, or another, culture
avoids eye contact that the person is devious, dishonest,
or engaging in subterfuge. Such knowledge can aggran-
dize perspectives and ameliorate the negative connota-
tion associated with some behaviors. Another example
is from studies of eating disorders: as minorities
become more acculturated into European American,
middle-class values, their rates of bulimia and anorexia
increase. Perhaps studies of ethnic groups that have
lower incidences of eating disorders can provide val-
ues, perceptions, and attitudes that are healthier than
those of the European American middle class that
induce eating disorders. We can benefit from learning
about the behaviors of other cultures. Their behaviors
can expand our repertoire of ways to cope with our
environment and enable us to look at behaviors from a
less limiting ethnocentric perspective.
Ethnic research can have important consequences.
It has been used in many different ways. For exam-
ple, research into IQ scores has resulted in contro-
versial interpretations of ethnic differences in
intelligence among groups. Research into the utiliza-
tion of services has resulted in determining where
and how to provide services. Census surveys have
resulted in determining which groups obtain
resources. Marketing research has provided informa-
tion on how to persuade ethnic members to buy prod-
ucts and how to obtain their votes. Developmental,
neurological, linguistic, and educational research
have helped schools determine whether they should
provide bicultural education. The integration of
African Americans and European Americans was
facilitated by psychological studies (e.g., psycholog-
ical research that indicated that attitudes can follow
behavior, so that if European Americans were forced
to integrate public swimming pools, their initial
resistance would change—which is what happened).
These and a host of other research studies in many
fields have influenced politicians, the public, and
society in general.
When one investigates, understands, and contends
with the issues involved in ethnic research, the result
is to obtain a good grasp of many of the key issues
involved in psychological research and methodology.
Among the usual problems that confront the ethnic
researcher are the following:
1. How to define ethnicity. This is a multifaceted
variable. For example, an individual’s self-identification
can change over time, or people in the person’s environ-
ment can change their definition of the person’s ethnic
identity, or the various governmental agencies and the
states can differ or change their definitions.
2. How to choose a representative sample.
Sampling problems have been a recurrent feature in
ethnic research. Samples in ethnic research are often
small and drawn from local participants. This makes
generalizations difficult. A sample from a Native
American tribe in the Southwest of the United States
raises the issue of which Native American groups the
sample can be generalized to. To validly gauge Latino
behaviors and perceptions, a sample would need to
consider the enormous variations within the Latino
community (e.g., there are Latinos from Argentina,
Mexico, and Puerto Rico).
3. How to classify those of multiple ethnicities.
There are an increasing number of people with more
than one ethnicity. The question often arises as to how
to categorize them. Should they be in a separate mul-
tiethnic category? Or should they be relegated to an
ethnic group—and if so, which ethnic group should
they be placed in?
4. How to obtain accurate data.When a researcher
obtains information from individuals and institutions,
political, economic, and social factors often influence
the provision of ethnic data. For example, an institu-
tion can inflate its figures because funding is contin-
gent on having a higher number of ethnic members, or
the institution can inflate its figures out of concern
that that they would be perceived as inhospitable to
certain groups. There are many reasons why inaccu-
rate information might be provided.
Ethnic Research———199Because ethnicity is greatly influenced by political
and social factors, it is difficult to develop a scientific
definition and measure of it. For the most part, the
American psychologist involved in ethnic research
uses the terms and definitions of the lay culture—
which change frequently, making any objective, rela-
tively stable definition and measurement of ethnicity
controversial and difficult.
Ethnic research is a broad term. Typing the term in
a search engine resulted in 57,400,000 hits;  ethnic
psychology research resulted in 6,980,000 hits. To
determine the areas the term ethnic research covered
in psychology, a library search was conducted. The
search covered 1,300 periodicals, books, book chapters,
and dissertations, from 1887 to the present.
Unlike anthropology’s Human Relations Area Files
(HRAF) at Yale, which stem from an attempt to create
a central point for gathering and facilitating world-
wide comparative studies of human behavior, society,
and culture, there has been no comprehensive under-
taking in the United States to centralize and catalog
ethnic research in psychology. However, there have
been periodical reviews of material published in
selected areas of psychology. Reviews of professional
periodicals indicate that there has been an increase in
ethnic minority articles. An analysis of the articles
published in the  Journal of Counseling Psychology
indicated a 6% increase in ethnic minority articles
between 1976 and 1986. A follow-up study found a
12% increase from 1988 to 1997. Reviews of the con-
tents of the Journal of Multicultural Counseling and
Development between 1985 and 1999 indicated that
21% of the articles dealt with multicultural compe-
tence/counseling; 14% with psychosocial adjust-
ment/development; 10% with multicultural training/
curriculum; and 9% with worldview; 8% were on
women and 6% were on men. African Americans were
written about the most. The elderly were written on
the least (1%). About 3% of the articles were on reli-
gion, disability, sexual orientation, and forms of diver-
sity; about 48% were expository or descriptive, 47%
were quantitative, and 3% were original qualitative
research; 4% were on identity development; 2% were
on acculturation; and 2% were on racism, discrimina-
tion, and prejudice. Within each of the major ethnic
groups, there was underrepresentation of articles deal-
ing with such areas as career development, academic
achievement, indigenous models of healing/alternative
treatment, assessment, systemic influences, profes-
sional issues, religion, sexual orientation, disabilities,
the middle-aged, and the elderly. However, despite the
increase in ethnic research, reviews of the literature
indicated that there has been, and continues to be, an
underrepresentation of  ethnic views in the editing,
reviews, selection, analysis, and publication of psy-
chological literature.
There is an abundance of material on ethnic
research that is conducted from a psychological per-
spective or that is relevant to ethnic psychology. There
are journals that focus primarily on ethnic psychology
research. There are handbooks, encyclopedias, Web
sites, and books. These, along with many federal
agencies, often provide guidelines on how to conduct
ethnic research. The content and guidelines that they
provide are often the same—this article summarizes
much of what has been published.
The general quality of ethnic research is highly vari-
able. There are many reasons for this. Part of the vari-
ability is because of the quality of the research, and part
of it is because of the perceptions of ethnic research.
The variability of the quality of the research can be the
result of many factors, including the confounding fac-
tors entailed in ethnic research, poor scholarship, and
the lack of support for such studies. Variability owing to
perceptions can be attributed to the influence of per-
sonal values, biases, and misunderstanding. Although
the consequences can be highly significant, the results
of many studies, even if statistical terms and techniques
are used, are basically anecdotal, in large part because
of the approaches, statistics, and instruments that are
used and because the research is often conducted in an
ad hominem manner. Variability can also result from
the manner in which the data are presented—poor
studies that have surface validity and that are under-
stood are more likely be read and valued, whereas good
studies that are complicated and pedantic are not as
likely to be read and are valued only by a cabal of the
few. The latter phenomenon is not unique to the study
of ethnic psychology; it is a common feature of much
of psychological and scientific literature.
Ethnic studies are often undervalued. This percep-
tion can be influenced by thosewho viewethnic studies
as of secondary or tertiary relevance compared with
studies of the general U.S. population. The research is
often valued less because it is viewed as partisan activ-
ity; that is, the research is the expression of the
researcher’s biased perspective, or the research is
viewed as relevant only to the group being investigated.
A significant reason why measuring ethnicity can
be a problem is that it is defined as a construct. In the
200———Ethnic Researcharea of assessment, it is usually easier to measure
physical, overt phenomena than to measure social and
cultural constructs. In studies using more obtrusive
constructs, such as achievement and abilities, the reli-
ability coefficient is about .90. The reliability coeffi-
cient for constructs such as personality, interests, and
values, by contrast, is around .80. Ethnicity is in the
latter category; therefore, lower reliability and validity
can be expected in studies using it as a variable. Even
using overt, physical criteria can produce spurious
results. For example, if skin color were to be used, the
results would be questionable because biological vari-
ations in skin color are in clines, which have charac-
teristics that overlap between populations.
Perhaps one of the most salient features of ethnic
research is that nothing can be taken for granted. The
givens—the accepted methods, measures, approaches,
concepts, and analyses—are questioned in ethnic
research. The problems of doing psychological
research in general are accentuated in ethnic research.
The following are some examples of these problems:
1. The conceptual problems that start and guide the
researcher can be problematic. The researcher is
limited by the beliefs, mores, definitions, behaviors,
perceptions, and paradigms of the larger, general
U.S. population. There is often the assumption of
the universality of these factors—in effect, that what
is apropos for mainstream America is apropos for
ethnic groups. This assumption has often been
wrong.
2. There are often greater problems in getting ethnic
group members to participate in research. There are
a number of possible reasons for this problem with
participation. The ethnic group member often does
not value the research that is being conducted. The
ethnic member can view the data to be collected as
possibly harmful; for example, data on the number of
illegal immigrants in an ethnic community could be
used to bring in immigration officials. It is usually
easier to sample European Americans. They are the
largest group in the United States. They often feel
less threatened by research—perhaps because they
dominate the country and can control the misuse of
the research—and they can have greater recourse if
the research is used in a detrimental manner.
Furthermore, perception of the possible exploitive
nature of the research is lower in the dominant group,
whereas ethnic communities often feel the research
will promote gains for the researcher and the com-
munity will not garner any benefits.
3. The ethnic sample is often smaller compared with
samples from the general U.S. population. This dis-
parity can have enormous ramifications. For instance,
a large sample will be more generalizable. The smaller
sample decreases the credibility of the study. If a strat-
ified sampling technique is used, the effects of the
larger sample from the general U.S. population will
statistically mitigate the effects of the ethnic group.
4. Another strident problem is that of equivalence—the
constructs, terms, and test format can have different
effects on different groups. For example, there can be
differences in the perceived magnitude of a behavior.
That is, if a person in one ethnic group responds that
he or she is a  1 on a scale of depression, is that  1
equivalent to the response of a person in another eth-
nic group? In ethnic research, the problems of equiv-
alence raise many issues—including issues of
reliability and validly.
5. If the measurement depends on the observer to accu-
rately measure the behavior, then there can be a prob-
lem of observer bias. This problem is illustrated in a
study of European American and Chinese American
therapists’ perceptions of Chinese patients. The
European American therapists were more likely to
evaluate the Chinese patients as more depressed,
more inhibited, less socially poised, and having
greater social skills deficits. The Chinese American
therapists rated the same clients as alert, ambitious,
adaptable, honest, and friendly. There have also been
studies that found that members of ethnic groups
sometimes present themselves differently to thera-
pists of different ethnicity.
Ethnic research provides an excellent training
opportunity to learn the problems of conducting, evalu-
ating, interpreting, and statistically analyzing research.
It provides good training in questioning basic assump-
tions and evaluating all aspects of research