Culturally Relevant Research Approaches

Culturally Relevant Research Approaches

Analysis and Description of Traditional Research Addressing the Question of its Cultural Relevance

Traditional research has more to do with a scientific process where the researchers identify a problem in a particular cultural group, formulate a research question, conduct a research study, and formulate a hypothesis predicting an answer. After this, they perform some experiments that analyze their data to find out if these experiments back their hypothesis or not and then take note of their observations. Finally, the researchers propose a solution to the problem based on their findings. For instance, Iwamoto & Liu (2010) conducted a research study to find out the moderating and direct effects of race-related stress, Asian values, ethnic identity, and racial identity on the positive psychological well-being among Asian international and Asian American college students. They surveyed 402 Asian international college students and Asian American college students. Their results indicate that racial identity status dissonance, immersion-emersion, internalization, Asian values, and ethnic identity belonging and affirmation are significant predictors of the psychological well-being of the study groups (Iwamoto & Liu, 2010).

Moreover, their results show that conformity, dissonance, and Asian values moderate the connection between race-based stress and well-being. More specifically, they found that people in low race-based stress circumstances who also showed low Asian values, low dissonance attitudes, and high conformity attitudes started high when it came to well-being but decreased as race-based stress increased. Their research study highlights the significance of how racial identity statuses, ethnic identity, and Asian values uniquely and jointly elaborate and moderate the impacts of race-based stress on positive well-being. This research study is considered traditional because it was systematic, highlighting an expected hypothesis about a particular cultural group, isolating the rest of the population, and testing the hypothesis through the survey done in the cultural group.

Analysis and Description of What Comprises Culturally Relevant Research

There is a growing number of foreign-born people or immigrants in the U.S., and these people speak a different language apart from English. In the 2008 Census Bureau data, 20%, which equals 55.8 million people, spoke a different language from English, marking a 20% increase from the survey done in 2000 (Casado, Negi & Hong, 2012). This means that the field of research has to go beyond traditional research methods. Understanding the needs of a particular cultural population is crucial since, for instance, the ability to speak English affects how a cultural population communicates and navigates through social institutions.

Much research evidence shows that limited English adeptness is often a barrier to adherence and access to necessary services and treatments (Casado, Negi & Hong, 2012). For example, in this case, some Asian Americans may not have already learned the English language in the U.S. This may limit them from accessing some services in the U.S., let alone sharing their views and opinions with researchers. In such a case, if a researcher is an English speaker, they would have to consider strategies such as a trusted translator. Thus, the culturally relevant research would have to comprehend this cultural group’s health and social service needs to minimize the gap in accessing quality services.

The criteria of culturally relevant research are to develop approaches/strategies to understand and identify a particular cultural group’s unique issues (Casado, Negi & Hong, 2012). This means that culturally relevant research entails research that recognizes that culture is critical in a research process and that there is the usage of cultural standpoints or perspectives of both the researched population and the researcher as a framework for design, collection of data, and interpretation of data (OMSI, 2010).

Three Research Studies That Address Asian Americans

The first research study was by Lee et al. (2010), who focused on obtaining and discussing detailed information on the use of health care by the Asian American population. The research study tried to identify barriers to accessing health care among Asian Americans. They discovered that cultural attitudes, communication, physical and financial factors, as well as lack of interpretation services were critical barriers to accessing health care among Asian Americans.

Another critical research study by Sue et al. (2012) was about the mental health of Asian Americans and why there was a limited number of Asian Americans who sought mental health treatment. This study found that culture was a significant barrier to seeking mental health care among Asian Americans and that future studies needed to address cultural considerations in reporting bias of the symptoms and conceptualization of mental disorders.

The research study by Sadhwani (2020) examines the opportunities and constraints for pan-ethnic and national-origin turnout of Asian Americans in the presence of a co-ethnic candidate. This study finds that Asian American candidates show a considerable increase in pan-ethnic turnout but are conditional on the Asian American percentage in the district. Across the origin groups in the nation, this research study shows that the impact of a co-ethnic candidate varies. Based on their findings, the voting behavior of Asian Americans is vastly nuanced and identifiably different from that of other minority voters in the U.S.

 Evaluation of the Key Differences between Traditional Research and Culturally Relevant Research

As seen in the studies above, traditional research is focused on the final product more than the process, whereas culturally relevant research focuses more on the process. Traditional research utilizes a scientific process that looks into validating or nullifying the set hypothesis before the research is done; it, therefore, focuses on finding out how the results relate to the hypothesis. On the other hand, culturally relevant research focuses on the context, communication style, awareness of power differences and identity, relevance of the study, empowerment, disclosure, time, and reciprocation (Casado, Negi & Hong, 2012). For instance, a culturally relevant research study would want to know if the research meets the mutual objectives and goals of the study population and the researcher. In traditional research, the goals and objectives of the study population may not be part of the research.

Another example is based on context. Culturally relevant research would conduct focus groups with leaders of an Asian American community and their providers and enlist a linguistically and culturally specific committee that has community leaders to consult in the research development process. This helps identify the problems of crucial concerns relevant to the community. On the contrary, traditional research is more individualistic and focuses on a predicted answer rather than discovering the study community’s main issues.

The lack of contextualization in the traditional research may make Asian Americans reluctant to participate and even seek mental health services, for instance, because they would feel their real needs based on their cultural understanding are not comprehended by the researchers.

 Relationship of Culturally Relevant Research to the Promotion of Social Justice for Asian Americans

As one of the criteria of culturally relevant research, conducting a contextual analysis is necessary to determine the historical, political, socio-cultural, and behavior of Asian Americans. For instance, on discovering the disparity in seeking health care services and several uninsured individuals in the U.S., a culturally relevant researcher would work towards developing strategies that would identify and comprehend the issues that Asian Americans face, including issues in regards to language, beliefs, opinions, family structure, income, social status, and social workers among others. This would allow the community to be fully represented. For instance, the representation of community leaders, interpreters, and other Asian-speaking social workers would help the researchers understand the real needs and issues that Asian Americans face. This would be in addition to how they would like the solution to look, rather than imposing solutions that they would not relate with politically, historically, socially, culturally, and even economically.

How to Engage in Collaborative Practice to Advocate for Appropriate Services

In conclusion, the best way to engage in collaborative practice to advocate for appropriate services is to work closely with the community under study, in this case, Asian Americans. For instance, I could develop a focus group that includes all stakeholders, such as providers, interpreters, Asian American social providers, traditional providers, elders, and community leaders. This would help understand the concerns and actual needs of the population more than adopting an individualized learning approach, such as the case of traditional research.

References

Casado, B. L., Negi, N. J., & Hong, M. (2012). Culturally competent social work research: Methodological considerations for research with language minorities. Social Work, 57(1), 1-10.

Iwamoto, D. K., & Liu, W. M. (2010). The impact of racial identity, ethnic identity, Asian values, and race-related stress on Asian Americans and Asian international college students’ psychological well-being. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 57(1), 79.

Lee, S., Martinez, G., Ma, G. X., Hsu, C. E., Robinson, E. S., Bawa, J., & Juon, H. S. (2010). Barriers to health care access in 13 Asian American communities. American journal of health behavior, 34(1), 21-30.

OMSI (2010). Culturally Responsive Research Framework. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjg8O6a_oT2AhUYtKQKHWcwBucQFnoECAoQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fomsi.edu%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2FCRR_Framework_REVEAL.pdf&usg=AOvVaw2H0h6pvp0pXLryJv2WvI6I

Sadhwani, S. (2020). Asian American Mobilization: The Effect of Candidates and Districts on Asian American Voting Behavior. Political Behavior, 1-27.

Sue, S., Cheng, J. K. Y., Saad, C. S., & Chu, J. P. (2012). Asian American mental health: a call to action. American Psychologist, 67(7), 532.

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This is the second component of your course project. In this assignment, you will evaluate the differences between traditional research and approaches considering culture. What is different between these two approaches, and how might each approach impact the promotion of social justice? You will examine three research articles of your choice featuring the cultural group you have selected. You will then evaluate the research method conducted for its cultural competence level. To ensure this is a scholarly research paper, explore research-based articles and books about cultural issues and culturally relevant research by searching the Capella University Library databases.

Assignment Instructions

To help you understand some of the unique challenges of culturally relevant research, review the readings concerning culturally relevant research approaches in the Study activities for Unit 5 and Unit 6. Then, search for scholarly sources in the Capella University Library and locate at least three articles that add to your knowledge of the cultural group you have chosen to explore for your final project. Review these articles in APA format, a 3–5-page paper. In your paper, include the following:

An analysis and a description of traditional research, addressing the question of its cultural relevance.
An analysis and a description of what comprises culturally relevant research.
An analysis and a description of at least three research studies that have addressed the cultural group you are exploring.
An evaluation of the critical differences between traditional and culturally relevant research and how that impacts the cultural group you are exploring.
Discuss the relationship of culturally relevant research to promoting social justice for the group you are studying.
Identify how to engage in collaborative practice to advocate for appropriate services.
Note: Following the assignment requirements and using the identified headings outlined for your paper under the APA formatting requirements is essential. Papers submitted without the required headings will not be accepted for grading.