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Multicultural research methodologies are one of the newest research fields to be implemented in recent decades. Traditional research methodology has been established for centuries, and has a very orthodox view of things like norms, measurement instruments, sampling, and observation. Multicultural researchers quickly found out that applying these same factors to their own research was inappropriate; the field of multicultural research demanded a different perspective if any sort of useful and accurate findings were ever going to be issued. Two areas where there is great difference between multicultural research and traditional research are measurement instruments and norms. In these two areas it is easy to demonstrate how traditional research has a much easier time being performed with the standard and well established concepts involving measurement instruments and norms. However, when a multicultural researcher attempts to answer a question or reinforce a hypothesis he or she will quickly find out that they must perform their research in a way that is very different from those in the traditional field. Measurement instruments are an excellent place to begin looking at the way multicultural and traditional research methodologies contrast. As the world becomes increasingly globalized and corporations begin to operate in many different countries encompassing different and diverse cultures, there is a clear need for accurate multicultural research on a myriad of topics. Even simple surveys like product satisfaction are more difficult for a multicultural researcher. Various countries and populaces simply have different viewpoints and this can cause entire research designs to have to be suited to specific nations, or even specific populations within those nations. For example, traditional researchers have found that it can be extremely difficult to get individuals in Latin America to participate in one of traditional researchers move time honored measurement
Cited: Morrow, Susan L. (2001) “Qualitative research methods for multicultural counseling: Handbook of multicultural counseling” Thousand Oaks, CA, US: Sage Publications Gottfried, Paul Edward. (2002) "Multiculturalism and the Politics of Guilt: Toward a Secular Theocracy," University of Missouri