Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Developing Cross-Cultural Data Infrastructures (CCDIs) for Research in Cognitive and Behavioral Sciences

  • Published:
Review of Philosophy and Psychology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Cross-cultural research provides invaluable information about the origins of and explanations for cognitive and behavioral diversity. Interest in cross-cultural research is growing, but the field continues to be dominated by WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) researchers conducting WEIRD science with WEIRD participants, using WEIRD protocols. To make progress toward improving cognitive and behavioral science, we argue that the field needs (1) data workflows and infrastructures to support long-term high-quality research that is compliant with open-science frameworks; (2) process and participation standards to ensure research is valid, equitable, participatory, and inclusive; (3) training opportunities and resources to ensure the highest standards of proficiency, ethics, and transparency in data collection and processing. Here we discuss infrastructures for cross-cultural research in cognitive and behavioral sciences which we call Cross-Cultural Data Infrastructures (CCDIs). We recommend building global networks of psychologists, anthropologists, demographers, experimental philosophers, educators, and cognitive, learning, and data scientists to distill their procedural and methodological knowledge into a set of community standards. We identify key challenges including protocol validity, researcher diversity, community inclusion, and lack of detail in reporting quality assurance and quality control (QAQC) workflows. Our objective is to help promote dialogue and efforts towards consolidating robust solutions by working with a broad research community to improve the efficiency and quality of cross-cultural research.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Data Availability

Not applicable.

Code Availability

Not applicable.

References

  • Amir, Dorsa, and Katherine McAuliffe. 2020. Cross-cultural, developmental psychology: Integrating approaches and key insights. Evolution and Human Behavior 41. Beyond Weird: 430–444. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2020.06.006.

  • Apicella, Coren L, and H Clark Barrett. 2016. Cross-cultural evolutionary psychology. Current Opinion in Psychology 7. Evolutionary Psychology: 92–97. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2015.08.015.

  • Arnett, Jeffrey J. 2008. The neglected 95%: Why American psychology needs to become less American. American Psychologist 63. US: American Psychological Association: 602–614. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.63.7.602.

  • Barrett, H.C. 2015. The shape of thought: How mental adaptations evolve. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199348305.001.0001.

  • Barrett, H.C. 2020a. Deciding what to observe: Thoughts for a post-WEIRD generation. Evolution and Human Behavior 41: 445–453. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2020.05.006.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barrett, H. Clark. 2020b. Towards a cognitive science of the human: Cross-cultural approaches and their urgency. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 24: 620–638. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2020.05.007.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barrett, H. Clark. 2022. Psychology within and without the state. Annual Review of Psychology 73. Annual Reviews: 461–487. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-020821-110248.

  • Broesch, Tanya, Tara Callaghan, Joseph Henrich, Christine Murphy, and Philippe Rochat. 2011. Cultural variations in Children’s Mirror self-recognition. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 42. SAGE publications Inc: 1018–1029. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022110381114.

  • Broesch, Tanya, Alyssa N. Crittenden, Bret Beheim, Aaron Blackwell, John A. Bunce, Heidi Colleran, Kristin Hagel, et al. 2020. Navigating cross-cultural research: methodological and ethical considerations. PsyArXiv. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/thqsw.

  • Ceci, Stephen J., Dan M. Kahan, and Donald Braman. 2010. The WEIRD are even weirder than you think: Diversifying contexts is as important as diversifying samples. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 33. Cambridge University press: 87–88. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X10000063.

  • Chester, David S., and Emily N. Lasko. 2021. Construct validation of experimental manipulations in social psychology: Current practices and recommendations for the future. Perspectives on Psychological Science 16. SAGE publications Inc: 377–395. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691620950684.

  • Clark, Lee Anna, and David Watson. 2019. Constructing validity: New developments in creating objective measuring instruments. Psychological Assessment 31. US: American Psychological Association: 1412–1427. https://doi.org/10.1037/pas0000626.

  • Danziger, Eve. 2010. On trying and lying: Cultural configurations of Grice’s maxim of quality. KG: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co.

    Google Scholar 

  • Flake, Jessica K., Jolynn Pek, and Eric Hehman. 2017. Construct validation in social and personality research: Current practice and recommendations. Social Psychological and Personality Science 8. SAGE Publications Inc: 370–378. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550617693063.

  • Forscher, Patrick S., Dana M. Basnight-Brown, Natalia Dutra, Adeyemi Adetula, Miguel Silan, and and Hans IJzerman. 2021. Psychological Science Needs the Entire Globe, Part 3. APS Observer 35. https://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/entire-globe-part-3.

  • Ghai, Sakshi. 2021. It’s time to reimagine sample diversity and retire the WEIRD dichotomy. Nature Human Behaviour 5. Nature Publishing Group: 971–972. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01175-9.

  • Gurven, Michael D. 2018. Broadening horizons: Sample diversity and socioecological theory are essential to the future of psychological science. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 115. National Academy of Sciences: 11420–11427. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1720433115.

  • Gurven, M., H. Kaplan, B. Trumble, and J. Stieglitz. 2019. The biodemography of human health in contemporary non-industrial populations: insights from the Tsimane Health and Life History Project. In R. Sear, O. Burger, R. Lee (Eds.), Human Evolutionary Demography. Preprint: https://osf.io/vhcs8/.

  • Heine, Steven J., and Ara Norenzayan. 2006. Toward a psychological science for a cultural species. Perspectives on Psychological Science 1. SAGE publications Inc: 251–269. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-6916.2006.00015.x.

  • Henrich, Joseph, Steven J. Heine, and Ara Norenzayan. 2010. The weirdest people in the world? Behavioral and Brain Sciences 33. Cambridge University press: 61–83. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X0999152X.

  • Hill, K., and A.M. Hurtado. 2017. Ache Life History: The Ecology and Demography of a Foraging People. New York, NY: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351329248.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Holding, P., and P. Kitsao-Wekulo. 2009. Is assessing participation in daily activities a suitable approach for measuring the impact of disease on child development in African children? Journal of Child and Adolescent Mental Health 21(2):127–138. https://doi.org/10.2989/JCAMH.2009.21.2.4.1012.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holding, D.R., R.B. Meeley, J. Hazebroek, D. Selinger, F. Gruis, R. Jung, and B.A. Larkins. 2010. Identification and characterization of the maize arogenate dehydrogenase gene family. Journal of Experimental Botany 61(13):3663–3673. https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/erq179.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holding, P., A. Anum, F.J.R. van de Vijver, M. Vokhiwa, N. Bugase, T. Hossen, C. Makasi, F. Baiden, O. Kimbute, O. Bangre, R. Hasan, K. Nanga, R.P.S. Sefenu, N. A-Hayat, N. Khan, A. Oduro, R. Rashid, R. Samad, J. Singlovic, et al. 2018. Can we measure cognitive constructs consistently within and across cultures? Evidence from a test battery in Bangladesh, Ghana, and Tanzania. Applied Neuropsychology: Child 7(1):1–13. https://doi.org/10.1080/21622965.2016.1206823.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hruschka, Daniel J. 2020. “What we look with” is as important as “What we look at.” Evolution and Human Behavior 41. Beyond Weird: 458–459. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2020.07.011.

  • Hruschka, Daniel J., Douglas L. Medin, Barbara Rogoff, and Joseph Henrich. 2018a. Pressing questions in the study of psychological and behavioral diversity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 115. National Academy of Sciences: 11366–11368. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1814733115.

  • Hruschka, Daniel J., Shirajum Munira, Khaleda Jesmin, Joseph Hackman, and Leonid Tiokhin. 2018b. Learning from failures of protocol in cross-cultural research. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 115. National Academy of Sciences: 11428–11434. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1721166115.

  • Ijzerman, Hans, Natalia Dutra, Miguel Silan, Adeyemi Adetula, Dana M. Basnight Brown, and Patrick Forscher. 2021. Psychological Science Needs the Entire Globe, Part 1. APS Observer 34. https://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/global-psych-science.

  • Jensen, Lene Arnett. 2012. Bridging universal and cultural perspectives: A vision for Developmental Psychology in a global world. Child Development Perspectives 6: 98–104. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1750-8606.2011.00213.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kline, Michelle Ann, Rubeena Shamsudheen, and Tanya Broesch. 2018. Variation is the universal: making cultural evolution work in developmental psychology. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 373. Royal Society: 20170059. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2017.0059.

  • Lee, Jerry W., Patricia S. Jones, Yoshimitsu Mineyama, and Xinwei Esther Zhang. 2002. Cultural differences in responses to a likert scale. Research in Nursing & Health 25: 295–306. https://doi.org/10.1002/nur.10041.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Legare, Cristine H., and Mark Nielsen. 2015. Imitation and innovation: The dual Engines of Cultural Learning. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 19: 688–699. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2015.08.005.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leonelli, Sabina. 2017. Global data quality assessment and the situated nature of “best” research practices in biology. Data science journal 16. Ubiquity press: 32. https://doi.org/10.5334/dsj-2017-032.

  • Lew-Levy, Sheina, Sarah M. Pope, Daniel B.M. Haun, Michelle A. Kline, and Tanya Broesch. 2021. Out of the empirical box: A mixed-methods study of tool innovation among Congolese BaYaka forager and Bondongo fisher–farmer children. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology 211: 105223. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2021.105223.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marlowe, F. 2010. The Hadza: Hunter-Gatherers of Tanzania, vol. 3. Berkeley: University of California Press. https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520945449.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Meadon, Michael, and David Spurrett. 2010. It’s not just the subjects – There are too many WEIRD researchers. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 33. Cambridge University press: 104–105. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X10000208.

  • Muthukrishna, M., J. Henrich, and E. Slingerland. 2021. Psychology as a Historical Science. Annual Review of Psychology 72:717–749. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-082820-111436.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nelson, LaRon E., and Dianne Morrison-Beedy. 2008. Research team training: Moving beyond job descriptions. Applied Nursing Research 21: 159–164. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apnr.2006.09.001.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nielsen, Mark, Daniel Haun, Joscha Kärtner, and Cristine H. Legare. 2017. The persistent sampling bias in developmental psychology: A call to action. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology 162: 31–38. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2017.04.017.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rad, M.S., A.J. Martingano, and J. Ginges. 2018. Toward a psychology of Homo sapiens: Making psychological science more representative of the human population. PNAS Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 115(45): 11401–11405. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1721165115.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rai, Tage S., and Alan Fiske. 2010. ODD (observation- and description-deprived) psychological research. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 33. Cambridge University press: 106–107. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X10000221.

  • Rossier, J., A. Ouedraogo, D. Dahourou, S. Verardi, and F.M. de Stadelhofen. 2013. Personality and personality disorders in urban and rural Africa: Results from a field trial in burkina faso. Frontiers in Psychology 4: 79. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00079.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rowley, S.J., and T.C. Camacho. 2015. Increasing diversity in cognitive developmental research: Issues and solutions. Journal of Cognition and Development 16(5):683–692. https://doi.org/10.1080/15248372.2014.976224.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Savage, P.E., N. Jacoby, E.H. Margulis, H. Daikoku, M. AngladaTort, S.E.-S. Castelo-Branco, F.E. Nweke, S. Fujii, S. Hegde, H. Chuan-Peng, J. Jabbour, C. Lew-Williams, D. Mangalagiu, R. McNamara, D. Müllensiefen, P. Opondo, A. Patel, and H. Schippers. 2021. Building sustainable global collaborative networks: Recommendations from music studies and the social sciences. In E. H. Margulis, D. Loughridge, & P. Loui (Eds.), The science-music borderlands: Reckoning with the past, imagining the future. MIT Press. Preprint: https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/cb4ys.

  • Silan, Miguel, Adeyemi Adetula, Dana M. Basnight-Brown, Patrick S. Forscher, Natalia Dutra, and Hans Ijzerman. 2021. Psychological Science Needs the Entire Globe, Part 2. APS Observer 34. https://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/psychological-science-needs-the-entire-globe-part-2.

  • Urassa, Mark, David W. Lawson, Joyce Wamoyi, Eshetu Gurmu, Mhairi A. Gibson, Purnima Madhivanan, and Caitlyn Placek. 2021. Cross-cultural research must prioritize equitable collaboration. Nature Human Behaviour 5. Nature publishing group: 668–671. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01076-x.

  • Venkatachalam, Aardhra M., Anjali Perera, Sonja E. Stutzman, DaiWai M. Olson, Venkatesh Aiyagari, and Folefac D. Atem. 2020. Methods for cleaning and managing a nurse-led registry. Journal of Neuroscience Nursing 52: 328–332. https://doi.org/10.1097/JNN.0000000000000542.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Welch, G., F. von Recklinghausen, A. Taenzer, L. Savitz, and L. Weiss. 2017. Data Cleaning in the Evaluation of a Multi-Site Intervention Project. Egems (generating Evidence & Methods to Improve Patient Outcomes) 5(3):4. https://doi.org/10.5334/egems.196.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wen, Nicole J., Aiyana K. Willard, Michaela Caughy, and Cristine H. Legare. 2020. Watch me, watch you: Ritual participation increases in-group displays and out-group monitoring in children. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 375. The Royal Society: 20190437. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2019-0437

  • Wickham, Hadley, and Garrett Grolemund. 2017. R for data science: Import, tidy, transform, visualize, and model data. 1st ed. Sebastopol, CA: O’Reilly Media.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yenni, Glenda M., Erica M. Christensen, Ellen K. Bledsoe, Sarah R. Supp, Renata M. Diaz, Ethan P. White, and S. K. Morgan Ernest. 2019. Developing a modern data workflow for regularly updated data. PLOS Biology 17. Public Library of Science: e3000125. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000125.

  • Zuilkowski, Stephanie Simmons, Dana Charles McCoy, Robert Serpell, Beatrice Matafwali, and Günther Fink. 2016. Dimensionality and the Development of Cognitive Assessments for Children in Sub-Saharan Africa. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 47. SAGE Publications Inc: 341–354. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022115624155.

Download references

Funding

This research was supported by a National Science Foundation Grant [1730678] and a Templeton Religion Trust Grant [TRT0206] to Cristine H. Legare. This research was also supported by grant, P2CHD042849, Population Research Center, awarded to the Population Research Center at The University of Texas at Austin by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA

    Oskar Burger, Lydia Chen, Alejandro Erut & Cristine H. Legare

  2. The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

    Frankie T. K. Fong

  3. Durham University, Durham, UK

    Bruce Rawlings

Authors
  1. Oskar Burger
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Lydia Chen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Alejandro Erut
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Frankie T. K. Fong
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Bruce Rawlings
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Cristine H. Legare
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

OB, LC, CL drafted the manuscript. BR, FF, and AL reviewed the manuscript and provided feedback.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Oskar Burger.

Ethics declarations

Ethics Approval

Not applicable.

Consent to Participate

Not applicable.

Consent for Publication

Not applicable.

Conflicts of Interest/Competing Interests

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare that are relevant to the content of this article.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Burger, O., Chen, L., Erut, A. et al. Developing Cross-Cultural Data Infrastructures (CCDIs) for Research in Cognitive and Behavioral Sciences. Rev.Phil.Psych. 14, 565–585 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13164-022-00635-z

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13164-022-00635-z

Search

Navigation