Source: http://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/1251/2738
Timestamp: 2019-04-20 16:55:25+00:00

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Abstract: This article attempts to offer a response, from a general perspective, to the question of how culture reveals itself in the application of qualitative research methods in intercultural communication. When we use the term "culture" it is important to bear in mind that culturally attributed social interaction processes are themselves the result of socially constructed processes. They are part of an individual-collective dialectic with multiple potential meanings, which are emergent and in constant reformulation from a wide variety of social and cultural perspectives. Much of the recent research in intercultural communication has been directed towards the study of these systems of culturally related meanings. The literature we review offers perspectives from a variety of disciplines and insights into the role of culture in communication processes.
According to TRIANDIS (2000), research that studies culture and, more specifically, cross-cultural and intercultural communication in its various forms and social contexts, can approach the theoretical foundations and methodological design of their work from three different perspectives: the indigenous one, the cultural one and the cross-cultural one.
The "indigenous" approach focuses on the meaning of concepts in a culture and how such meaning may change across demographics within a given culture context. The focus of such studies is the development of knowledge tailored to a specific culture without any special claims to generality beyond the confines of that particular cultural context. The main challenge with the indigenous approach is the difficulty involved in trying to avoid the influence of pre-given concepts, theories and methodologies and therefore the difficulty of determining what the term indigenous (ADAMOPOLOUS & LONNER, 2001) really means in any given culture.
The "cultural" approach is used to describe those studies which make special use of ethnographic methods. More traditional experimental methods can also be used in conjunction within this approach. Here again the meanings of constructs in a culture are the main focus of attention and there is little of direct comparison of constructs across cultures. The aim is to advance the understanding of the individual in a sociocultural context and to emphasize the importance of culture in understanding his or her behavior. The challenge with this approach is a lack of a widely accepted research methodology (ADAMOPOLOUS & LONNER, 2001).
The researcher play a fundamental role of the in the process of information gathering and data analysis. That is, in qualitative studies the investigator is constituted as the principal instrument in the process of information gathering, in interaction with reality.
We would like to thank Matthias OTTEN for his supervision, contributions and support for the last months of work.
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María Assumpta ANEAS, Dra. is a member of the research group GREDI (Group of Research on Intercultural Education) at Barcelona University. She is a professor in the Department MIDE (Methods of Research on Education). Her principal research area is that of Intercultural Competences, qualitative research methodologies and the integration of the migration. She is a member of IAIR, and is currently president of SIETAR Spain.
María Paz SANDIN, Dra. is a member of the research group GREDI (Group of Research on Intercultural Education) at Barcelona University. She is a professor in the Department MIDE (Methods of Research on Education). Her research work started in 1992 with research into intercultural education, and during her professional career she has carried out numerous assessments, participated in action research processes as well in participative evaluation ones in secondary schools. In recent years her work has centered on qualitative research methodologies and on the treatment of qualitative data using computer software.
Aneas, María Assumpta & Sandín, María Paz (2009). Intercultural and Cross-Cultural Communication Research: Some Reflections about Culture and Qualitative Methods [57 paragraphs]. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 10(1), Art. 51, http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0901519.

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