S W 313 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Cultural Bias, Acculturation, Participant Observation
Document Summary
In research, cultural competence means being aware of and appropriately responding to the ways in which cultural factors and cultural differences should influence what we investigate, how we investigate, and how we interpret our findings. Researchers who are culturally competent will try to include a sufficient and representative group of research participants from minority and oppressed populations. Studies that don"t include adequate representation from minority groups in their samples are not generalizable to those populations. Nih policies state that research proposals must state detailed plans of how many women and minority participants will be recruited and retained. Recruiting and retaining participants from minority and oppressed. Approaches that are culturally sensitive regarding confidentiality. Employ local community members as research staff. Take care of transportation and child-care barriers. Steps to improve cultural competence: cultural immersion. Etc: participant observation (chapter 18, advice from colleagues who are members of the culture of interest, input from community members/leaders, focus groups.
